Camping on the beach

The village like many along the cost in Senegal was a fishing village, but what we found was it’s where they skin and dry the fish for popular Senegalese dishes. The smell was awful, ten times worse than the port we past in the morning, as dead fish were laid out to dry in the sun and flies were everywhere. As we walked towards the village leaving the beach, the stench increased to the point that Kat was retching and holding her nose so we hurried to find somewhere quite and smell free to rest. She was very upset with herself for not being able to control her body’s reactions, Ben thought of the scented Chinese fan to help Kat with the smell which she had to told to her nose.

We asked a local man where we could buy some water and food and he kindly showed us to the local shop, having to past the fish stalls again Kat discreetly continued to hold the fan to her nose as we walked past. We sat on the bar stools and ordered some soft drinks and water then went to sit in the shade on a wooden bench outside the shop. The strangest thing happened while we sat playing cards a radio crackled on and the soothing sounds of "Whispers in the morning" song came through then the radio then was turned off – obviously not a fan. We brought some snacks and headed to the end of the road where a huge tree stood giving a massive shadow.

We sat down to rest but within minutes a group of kids came running in our direction; no chance of that sleep we needed as the kids pestered us for 3 hours! It’s was Kat’s living nightmare… One of them even had a Shepherd’s machete. Ben was quite upset that he wasn’t able to eat the snacks purchased earlier without having to share them with the group of kids; we had a little breather when they went off to pray but left us with a guy who was waiting for something, we were not sure what. After our rest/pest we headed back to the beach and continued walking to Point-Sarene, grabbing more water and food for the walk ahead.

A few miles on we found a little beach hotel and it looked idyllic it was 7pm by now so we asked how much it would be for one night, the prices worked out to be 25,000cfa (₤33) but we only had 18,000cfa cash on us and they didn’t or didn’t want to accept payment by card claiming it was broken, mentioning that the nearest bank was in Mbour which we had left that morning. We continued our walk alone the beach after having a couple of well earned beverages.

The next hotel we found just around the alcove of the coastline looked to be abandoned, we asked the only person there if it was open and he said yes when we asked how much he didn’t know and said he would get some one to help, after waiting half an hour a receptionist turned up and said it was 60Euros and breakfast was included, we explained that the place was abandoned, the pool looked like a swamp and we would be leaving at 5am so didn’t need breakfast. The price was not negotiable so we left and tried to find somewhere safe to camp.

Our first night camping had to be on a beach. It was 8.30pm when we found an open part of land just off the beach behind a wall so the tent wouldn’t be visible by the ramblers on the beach. It was dark and windy now and we pitched the tent ok making sure the guide ropes were out. We hadn’t eaten dinner but decided it was too dark and far too windy to start cooking. Kat had the last 2 cookies Ben had left her and Ben ate the slightly stale bread. It took ages to get to sleep getting used to the surroundings, the strange noises and listening to the sea and wind. Slightly scared we fell asleep only to wake up at 11:30pm thinking we had slept for hours; it was so hot in the tent our body’s dripping with sweat and Kat needed the toilet as she still had a bad tummy. Ben escorted her to keep watch/guard but it was a good chance to get the see breeze. We finally fell asleep again setting our alarms for 5am, wanting to be up early to pack up before being seen and get walking while it was cool.

We left at 6am after Ben getting frustrated with his broken boot laces and difficulties packing bags and the tent in the dark. Kat needed the loo one again we started walking, wondering how there was anything in her to come out! About half an hour walk we came to an old fortress jutting over some rocks which we had to clamber over and around, it was a good job we didn’t leave any earlier as doing some of the maneuvers in the dark would have been too risky. We had to walk across a small ledge with the sea crashing against the wall of rocks that we had to walk over, timing our footsteps with the waves so not to get too wet. Just past the fortress we met some beach combers who were looking at what’s been washed up over night, we said bonjour and got grumbles back. A little further on we came to a bunch of fishermen preparing their boats for the morning catch. Walking past the boats out of no where a dog goes for Ben’s leg making us both jump which luckily scared the dog back, after walking on a bit the dog then went for Kat’s leg but she turned around and shouted viscously back as the owner came to call the dog back before anything bad happened to us or the dog.

At 8:30am we started walking on a man-made path not sure where it was leading and in desperate need of showers and a good night’s sleep…

written by

Kat and Ben on July 17, 2009 from Nianing, Senegal

from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure

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