Occupy Wall Street Hits Senegal? Printemps Arabe En Afrique?

A few years ago, Roland and I carefully planned out a trip to Mali-- Bamako, Ségou, Djenne, Mopti, Bandiagara, Dogon Country, and Timbuktu. We missed most of the country of course; we only had a month. But we saw a lot of Mali and a lot of variation. On the way there I stopped in Dakar for a week. I loved it and Roland decided to stop there on the way back. Were we in Senegal? Of course. Dakar is the capital and largest city (population of the metro area is almost 2.5 million). But there are over 13,000,000 people there and cosmopolitan, connected Dakar has little to do with the interior. When you've been to Kédougou, Matam, Tambacounda, Saint-Louis and Ziguinchor you can say you've seen Senegal.

So today I said to Roland, "let's forget going to Russia this summer and just hop on a plane and head for Senegal next week for a few weeks instead. There's an election coming up and I'd like to blog about it." Roland's up for anything. Lately he's been pushing Ethiopia, Namibia, a return trip to Myanmar and Laos. When I mention Paris, Tuscany, Amsterdam or anyplace where normal people want to go, he always counters with something like Tashkent or Mozambique. But he follows the news of the countries we've been to pretty closely and he was well aware that the elections I wanted to cover in Senegal were as likely as not to lead to a civil war or, at least, widespread violence. In fact, it's starting already, with rioting in the capital. Things got off to a bad start when Aboulaye Wade, the unpopular ancient despot-- age unclear-- decided he was taking the unprecedented step of running for a third term-- barring the country's most famous person, international music star Youssou N'dour, from running and barring demonstrations of an Occupy Dakar movement (Y'en a Marre, roughly, "We're Fed Up"). Friday fighting in Dakar intensified.

Senegalese police engaged in running battles with protesters firing tear gas and rubber bullets in central Dakar Friday to head off a planned protest against President Abdoulaye Wade's third-term bid.

Burning tyres, debris and rocks littered the streets around Independence Square, which police had sealed off to prevent the rally.

Riot police on trucks and foot chased protesters to prevent them from converging there, firing rubber bullets, water cannon and volleys of tear gas throughout the afternoon.

Cat-and-mouse battles continued into the night in the seaside capital, leaving several people including a western photographer and local journalist injured, AFP reporters witnessed.

A policeman was seen firing his gun during a scuffle at the Sandaga market, and an AFP journalist found a spent 9mm bullet casing in the street after protesters lobbed rocks at the police during the ongoing battles.

One police officer fell off a truck after being hit by a rock.

It was the fourth day the opposition had called for mass protests in the capital and a fresh rally has been called for Saturday.

The chaos at the market was sparked by the arrival of music superstar Youssou N'dour.

N'dour has been blocked from running in the election himself but has attended most protests and is fiercely critical of 85-year-old Wade.

Police fired tear gas at least twice at the car carrying N'dour as he was surrounded by fans and dozens of journalists.

When at one point he made as if to get out of his car a police officer in a nearby pick-up shouted at him "Get out of here" as his men launched tear gas.

Police briefly detained opposition presidential candidate Cheikh Bamba Dieye as he attempted to join the protest.

Normally bustling, central Dakar cleared out ahead of the protest Friday afternoon, with shopowners closing up and curious residents and office workers looking on from buildings lining the teargas-filled streets.

With N'dour blocked from running, the 13 opposition parties haven't settled on a consensus candidate to take on Wade, who probably has little chance to win in Dakar but can make enough promises to win in the rural hinterlands, that parts of Senegal few of us ever see. Oh, yeah, Roland said no.

Howie reports, briefly, from "a place so foreign" that it feels as if he's gone to another planet

An overview of Bamako from the elevated north

In an e-mail from Howie, still in Bamako, I had this: "Right now I am in a place so foreign that I would have thought I would have had to go to another planet to find anything like it."

On his Around the World Blog you'll find a new post today, asking "How Safe Is It for Americans to Visit Dakar in Senegal and Bamako in Mali?" You'll find his assessment of both personal and health safety issues. (Hint: He has found both cities quite safe, the greatest "danger" being the mosquitoes in Dakar and the exhaust fumes in Bamako.)

He concludes, regarding Bamako:

I've walked all over the city, including to really remote areas without paved roads or the blessings of any kind of modernity, and the only vibe is friendly, friendly, friendly. People are unimaginably poor, but this is a Moslem country, and the level of personal ethics is very high.

I might also add, there are American flags everywhere and people walk around with Obama T-shirts! This has got to be one of the safest cities for tourists I've ever visited anywhere.

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Cross-posted from Howie's travel blog: First Day In Mali

The pride of Mali: Bassekou Kouyate, master of the ngoni

[Note: This item, with update, appeared today. (A further post, "You Can't Always Count On The Guide Books, a sequel to the first Senegal post, cross-posted here," appeared on Monday.) -- Ken]

Ahhhh . . . Mali, land of my dreams; well, that might be a little exaggeration, but ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to go to Timbuktu. And after I read Paul Bowles' The Sheltering Sky, I knew for sure I would travel to that city someday (even though I have a feeling it was set in Gao, not Timbuktu; just a guess).

A few years ago Roland and I drove to the end of the road in Morocco, Mahamid, where there is nothing but flies and sand dunes and a guy and his son willing to take you out into the desert on camel. And a big blue sign that says something to the effect of "Timbuktu 52 days (by camel)." We decided to go with the guy and his son for a jaunt into the Sahara -- but not all the way to Mali.

Today I finally arrived. Senegal does not prepare you at all -- except that they share a language (French) and a currency (CFA). The weather in Dakar was very pleasant, around 80 by day with a nice breeze off the ocean and high 60s/low 70s at night. Bamako, the Malian capital, isn't an inferno, but close enough. It's hot and dusty.

And Dakar is almost like Europe in comparison. In Dakar you can't open your eyes without seeing at least one white face -- 25,000 Frenchmen live there, and at least as many Lebanese. Here I haven't seen any white people since I arrived. I sat next to a French anthropologist on the 90-minute plane ride from Dakar, and she told me there are about 2,000 French residents and the same number of Lebanese. I also ran into quite a few missionaries and missionary children on the plane and in the airport, including a huge guy and his huger wife and two huge children who are stationed way in the interior in a small town I had never heard of. He said he's from Iowa but he was born here -- his parents having been missionaries too -- and has lived here all his life, although goes back to Iowa every few years to visit.

So far -- and I know this is unrelated to everything else I'm about to experience in Mali -- the infrastructure is superb. The highway from the airport was excellent, far better than Dakar's in every way, although where the Dakar 'burbs looked pretty well off and even glitzy, the Bamako 'burbs could have been almost anywhere in the Third World. I kept flashing back to Pakistan.

I'm staying at the Hotel Salam and OMG! It is really top of the line, not just top of the line for a dumpy place but really nice for anywhere. The hotel in Dakar, the Sokhamon, was small (31 rooms) and boutique-y, with a certain charm but hobbled by amateur management. This place is impeccable. I might add that the price for a single is CFA 90,000, but I had made a reservation online and it was only CFA 50,000. It's hard to translate that into dollars, because the exchange rate for the dollar is absurd and if you change your money into euros and then buy CFA with Euros, the difference -- in your favor! -- is a lot.

OK, I went to sleep after I wrote that last paragraph, my Internet time having expired, and today is . . . hot and dusty and humid. The hotel computers, fancy as they look, aren't working, so I walked a mile or so to a market area and found an Internet cafe that is in pretty good shape and cheaper than the hotel's (of course). The town is very spread out -- the opposite of extremely compact Dakar.

People here seem less outgoing and exuberant than in Senegal, where everyone was ready to party at any time. People seem more shy and standoffish here. There are a plethora of "guides" who have overcome this. The hotel is still nice the morning after, but below the spit and polish . . . well, I should temper my gushing enthusiasm a little, although the food in the restaurant was excellent and there is wonderful Malian music in every public space.


UPDATE: ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE AFTER A FULL DAY

And what a day! A travel tip for this part of the world: be sure to print out your confirmed reservations for everything. None of the hotels or airlines have had records of my reservations. OK, that was today's travel tip.

What an amazing place Bamako is! Forget what I said about it reminding me of backwater Pakistan; that was just the fancy superficial sights. You can't imagine what this is like once you get out of the modern business-tourist ghetto. I keep imagining that Dogon country is going to be the most primitive place I've ever been to. The back alleys of Bamako . . . well it makes Pakistan look like NYC!

But this is the most pro-American place I've been to since Clinton was president. And it's more than just the predictable pictures of Obama everywhere. There are USA decals and stickers and flag symbols in taxis and all over the place. I saw more albinos than white people, but there are a couple of thousand French people living here. Still, it seems like it is the U.S. that has captured the imagination of the people. Feels good after years and years of everyone hating America everywhere 'cause the fucking rednecks, fascists and greedheads got Bush into office!

Anyway, I was all over town today. Taxis are cheap; anyplace in town costs either 1,000, 1,500 or 2,000, depending on a combination of distance, your bargaining skills and how willing you are to whore out some Obama stories. After a full day -- including the discovery of a fantastic Moroccan restaurant called La Rose des Sables, just down the street from the Chinese Embassy. One warning: "vegetarian" doesn't necessarily mean "no meat," only that there are vegetables in the dish.

The highlight of the day, though, was a trip to the studio where Mali's greatest musician, Bassekou, is recording his follow-up record. This guy is great, and what an amazing band he's put together. I'll do a post on that once I can uploads some pics and music and after I see the live concert tomorrow night.

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Howie reports back from Senegal

Hotel Sokhamon, Dakar (Senegal)

I kept meaning to mention that it's a good idea to keep an eye on Howie's Around the World travel blog for news of his trip to Mali which he may not feel is suitable for DWT. And of course I kept meaning to do this myself. It's only now that I discover this post from Saturday, his first day in Senegal. -- Ken


First Day In Senegal

My Air France flight from L.A. to Paris was an hour early -- and there's an adequate lounge at DeGaulle with free computer use (Macs, no less) -- but... what Lady Luck giveth... So the flight to Dakar was delayed by 4 hours or so. Traveling on a flight -- in this case two -- with a flat bed makes a tremendous difference. I slept a lot on both flights. Still, I arrived in Dakar around 1 AM and the airport was a typical confusion. No need to rush through customs, since it took an hour for my bag to come trundling down the conveyor belt.

Luckily for me, I noticed on the plane that a young family was split up because of my seat, so I offered to trade. I said "luckily," because my new seat was next to a Montreal guy who's been living in Dakar for a decade. Not only did he offer a wealth of valuable information, his wife and friend picked him (and me) up at the airport. It makes a big differance -- especially in an unfamiliar country at 2AM.

I'm staying at a chic boutique hotel, Sokhamon, on the sea in a posh part of town that seems to be a government quarter. There are upscale highrises and gated villas all around, and up the street is the National Assembly. The town seems pretty cosmopolitan at first glance, and not inordinately foreign for anyone used to Third World cities. It's my first day in Sub-Saharan Africa ever, but I feel pretty much at home. It also feels quite safe.

The weather is warm but not hot, and if not for the need to sleep with the blanket over my head as protection from at least one persistent mosquito -- who buzzed in my ear all night, eager no doubt to give me malaria -- the room would have been quite pleasant.

When I woke up, at 3 in the afternoon, the malarial mosquitos had taken off, and I haven't noticed any of the dengue fever (aka bonebrake fever) mosquitos on patrol. The malaria guys only do evenings and nights. I wish I had brought some bug spray. I did bring Purell, and when I unpacked, I noticed it had spilled all over my pack.

The hotel is tranquil and artsy and a little on the posh side, at least attitude-wise. It's around 100 bucks a night, same as the five-star hotels like gigantic Le Meridien. I tend to prefer smaller, more personable, relaxed places. This place has a buiness center with a computer and free Internet access; what more could anyone ask for?

I spent the afternoon and early evening walking around with a friend of a friend from The Gambia. We've been corresponding online for a month or so, and it was kind of like meeting a long-lost friend. He showed me around town and helped me get a hang for directions and stuff. Tonight I'm going to a live music club called Just For You.

UPDATE: ORCHESTRA BAOBAB

Incredible band, great music; good food. And I met 6 awesome Dutch women driving 3 jeeps across Africa. All during the night, different local musical luminaries got up onstage and performed as guests of Orchestra Baobab. There were some magical moments and it felt very special.

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