Saly Apartment Complex

On Sunday we were up bright and early at 5 o’clock and ready to start our two week holiday to Saly in Senegal. We were at the ferry port just before 7 o’clock for the first ferry. The lady vice president was also on the ferry with her entourage of kafo dancers one of which had a huge headdress on. Once across the river to Barra we managed to get a taxi to the border post then once passports had been stamped we crossed the border on foot. We decided to give the kids a donkey cart ride for the short journey to the set plase garage. These cars are Peugeot 406’s which have been converted to seat seven people and are used for long distance journeys. We were lucky that a car was nearly full so after Paul had negotiated a price for three seats and our luggage we left just after 9 o’clock. We were at the back of the car where the boot would normally be with Bradley sitting between Paul’s legs. The first hour of the journey was on a good tarmac road, this didn’t last though as we hit a road full of pot holes. The driver took us off road via a sand track which ran alongside the tarmac road dodging trees and undergrowth. He seemed to know just when to slow down as we hit some bumps or deep sand. We passed through villages and open areas of savannah grassland before arriving at a large town called Koalak. This is the main route for up county into Senegal so the road was much busier and we were pleased to be back onto a decent tarmac road. We were now heading for the town of Mbour which is were we had to leave the set plase and find a taxi which would take us the short ride to the coast of Saly. We arrived at our apartment just before 2 o’clock and were very impressed with the resort and our apartment, the pool was large and very clean.

How high can you go!

Our Appartment

Beach Walk

We decided to take a walk along the beach back to the centre of town to call at one of the supermarkets we had passed on the way in so we could stock up on food and drink. The walk was lovely each complex has its own private beach which is cleaned and raked every morning with the occasional stall selling crafts. Our complex beach area was just adjacent to the small Marina. There were lovely little thatched villa’s draped with bougainvillea leading directly onto the beach. It took us about thirty minutes to reach the supermarket which was very well stocked and had its own deli and meat counter. Back at our apartment we headed to the pool for a couple of hours before cooking dinner and a much needed nights rest.

Pool Day

On Tuesday we decided to spend the day at the pool Paul first went off to the office to get some information and look around the area. When he arrived back he had managed to find a small minimart which stocked most things including fresh baguettes of bread which was handy. On the evening we went out for a meal, after much searching we finally found a restaurant which sold a variety of meat, pizza and pasta dishes however everything was wrote in French. We choose pizzas and carbanara which were delicious however on the night Bradley threw up all over his quilt luckily we had a washing machine (woo hoo) much to my delight. Over the fortnights stay we found that the resort was very much a secret haven for French tourists and expats, with few actually speaking any English so we had to brush up on our French Paul doing most of it.

We spent Wednesday morning around the pool just incase Bradley was ill again. On the afternoon we took a taxi to the centre and looked around some of the craft shops as we needed to buy Abigail another Christmas present. Whilst we were walking I ended up walking into a concrete block (too interested in what was in the shops) hitting my shin. This caused a sudden rush of blood to the area which swelled up to the size of a golf ball. I thought I had cracked a bone at first but was still able to move and stand on it. Paul sat me down and asked for some ice from one of the staff in a restaurant. As soon as he saw my leg he ran off for the ice. I sat with Bradley with my leg raised and the ice pack directly on the swelling. Abigail and Paul went off to look at a dress she had seen in one of the shops we had passed. When they returned Abigail had picked a dolphin beach dress which was much too big for her oh well it will be ok for the beach.

Somone Lagoon

On Thursday morning we took a taxi to the next resort of Somone which has a large lagoon. We walked along a beach next to the lagoon and were approached by a pirogue the driver asked if we would like a trip around the lagoon so we decided to take a look. We set off along a shallow lagoon so shallow that we watched a lady walking across the middle of the lagoon. There were sand bars here and there so not too deep. We first stopped off at a bonsai baobab which our guide said was a sacred site. It looked as if it was covered in small white flowers but as we got closer we realised they were shells which people had put onto the branches. We travelled on through the mangroves then in the distance we saw a couple of animals running across a mud flat our guide said they were hyenas, we were doubtful and afterwards thought they could have been jackals. The guide pulled up to a shallow area where we got out of the boat and walked for a while on the sand banks. There was a small island with loads of pelicans on it but unfortunately we didn’t see any flamingos as we had hoped. When we got back to shore we were taken to his restaurant where we bought a drink. Bradley decided to have a play on the drums and was joined by one of the waitresses. From here we took a walk around the shore into the next bay. When we arrived back we were taken back across the lagoon to the beach and then we headed back to our apartment for lunch.

Bandia Game Reserve

When we were about to eat our lunch Pascal from the office arrived asking if we would like to go to Bandia Game Reserve as he had a group of French leaving at 3 o’clock which we could join. We were intending to go so we quickly ate lunch and were picked up on time and then had a twenty minute drive to the game reserve. The reserve was very much like Fatala which we had visited with Mike and Jenny back in February however there were much more animals to see. We were allocated a guide who sat in the back of the jeep with us and we set off down the sand tracks into the bush. It didn’t take us long to see a group of Impalas feeding from bushes. As we drove on further we saw some Rhinos laying down in a shade of trees and then a group of Giraffes, one was a very large male who just stood his ground looking at us. Next we saw some more Antelopes as well as Zebras grazing together. Bradley was pleased when we spotted some Ostriches as these were what he wanted to see. I found these hard to get a good photo of as they ran when they heard the jeep. The driver then took us to a large baobab tree within the reserve, he explained that in olden days they were used to bury the dead beneath. Within the roots of this tree there were quite a few bones scattered about. We continued on crossing a bridge over a lake which had crocodiles basking in the sun and then Abigail spotted some warthogs running with their tails up in the air. We finally made our way to the exit stopping of at an enclosure containing Hyenas and another one with some giant tortoises in. We finally walked to the restaurant area which overlooked the lake with crocodiles in it. We left the game reserve and were back before 7 o’clock for a late dinner.