Dakar

Well we made it here in our own significant pieces, after a very long day including a day out in Paris. Before I start this blog though, massive thanks to Burchy who got us to the airport in plenty of time. Much appreciated, sir!

After an early morning kip in Heathrow terminal 2, we checked onto our Paris flight at about 7am (a flight which Barney slept through all of, take off and landing included). Dree had organised to meet a French friend from university for lunch, so me and Barney decided to do some sight-seeing. We saw Notre Dam Cathedral, the Palais du Justice, La Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, all on foot within 3 hours. Needless to say we were shattered and were glad to be back in Paris airport for our connecting flight. We even sorted out train tickets for ourselves - aren't we clever!

The trip only took about six hours and thank God we'd booked accomodation and pick-up from the airport. There were dozens of taxi drivers outside the terminal vying for a fare. Eventually found our contact and got taken to our hotel - Hotel du Phare - in the hills just to the north of Dakar. Run by a Belgian, our place is very clean, with a lot of added extra's that we need to get used to not having - i.e. a locking room, a mattress with pillows, hot water, a restaurant...

Had an early night - well was gone ten by the time we got to the hotel, after being up since 8am on the Wednesday, so we were knocked out. Slept well and took a taxi to the Malian Embassy. Our taxi driver knew the hotel owner, but did try to get us to agree to hiring us for the whole day. Something we didn't want. The embassy was a quiet place, and we filled out the simple form (in French), before Barnes realised he didn't have any passport photos, and we realised we didn't have enough money. Luckily, there was a supermarket down the road, where we changed some Euros (pretty useless) and a smiling man took Barney's photos with a really old-school camera. Maybe he was smiling at the ears...

As we left the embassy who should appear but our contact from the airport, apparently told to make sure we were alright by the owner. He got us a taxi into town but we left him after a while because we didn't want to be chaperoned all the time. The streets are rammed with all sorts; mobile phone touts, beggars, hawkers selling everything from clocks, through Etch-a-sketch's to sanitary towels and jewelry! The traffic's pretty bad and we have ended up walking about 500m into the heart of Dakar, hassled non stop along the way.

Just about to have some lunch now, before a bit more of a wander and then back to the hotel. Think we're heading out on the town tonight - we have heard a lot about Dakar nightlife. But we will get taxi's everywhere and leave almost everything in the room (very safe). The area is a suburb of Dakar, close to the coastline, where town planning seems to have gone AWOL, and houses springing up all over the place, in no particular order. Fires burn by the side of the road, vendors shout on mobile phones, while selling papers and baguettes in the roasting sun and battered yellow-and-black-panelled Citreons bounce over the uneven, dusty road. It is a very strange thing to feel like the minority for the first time in my life. Especially when we are told by everyone we meet (from traders to taxi drivers) to watch out for pickpockets.

There is an email pinned in the lobby of our hotel, from some tourists who stopped a few months back, and I cannot remember exactly what it said, but I'll try and paraphrase as accurately as I can - "For those who are new to Africa, Dakar will come as a shock. We stayed in the excellent hotel for our three days here, as the centre of the city is not a nice experience. You are hassled from entry to exit by everyone that passes, and you cannot enjoy the city as much as you would like."

I have only been in Dakar for less than 24 hours, so time shall tell, but our feeling is to head north to St Louis before passing back through to get our Mali visas, and then heading down south. Not a fantastic first impression, but this is not the Africa we came for!