Senegal - Casamance

It is a strange area, in my eyes and opinion. Although it belongs to Sub Saharan it feels not so, not the desert, of course, it is not the country with tropical forests and not really savanna either. Warm wind harmattan comes from Sahara and brings dust that makes it, for me at least, difficult to classify the area.

 

Unfortunately it was the felling of trees in Casamance so it was pretty sparse there. Too bad. Dry it was there quite a bit, and dusty even on trees and leaves. Wondering how it looks there after the rainy season, if everything is clean and fresh.

I expected that it was more rain forests there, palms on the beaches, like I have seen in Cote d'Ivoire or Cameroon for example. But that was not the case.

There were large areas of lagoons, however, almost all the way between Abene, Ziguinchor and Cap Skirring can say.

Actually, I went to Casamance to look at a house that I saw on the internet and liked it very much. 

It was for sale and even the price was really good. But I decided not to buy it anyway because I'm used to travel and explore new countries, not to sit in one place all the time. Though the house I still like a lot, not just from the pictures but in reality too.

We thought we could rent a car and go a bit around and have the hotel as a base. But it proved a bit problematic so we rented a taxi every time and even for several days instead. 
And I had to sit and enjoy in all cases in Abene on hotel Atlantic Abene.  

But it was very nice place, relaxing, we were the only clients there so we enjoyed the silence and peace. The owner Patrik and his mother took care of us and it was nothing we lacked. Sometimes it is a little nice, to not to do anything, only sit, read a book, take a promenade to village Abene, looking at the sea and people. 

The water was actually quite warm, even if it was only February so I could take and swim a couple of times, alone on the beach, no other tourists, even if there were going time to time some of them. But not so many. Really pleasant it was.

Of course children were there playing, they are overall everywhere, happy and joking and so.

And so many cows walking along the sea, such I never saw before.

We rented a taxi for a few days and went through Bignona, Ziguinchor and then to Cap Skirring. On the way from Ziguinchor to Cap Skirring was a bit more trees but not so much anyway, most was the lagoons. But nice. 

Village Cap Skirring I did not like so much, it felt a bit chaotic and it was too much built up. But around lagoons and on Hotel Bolongs Passion which was right on the lagoon, where we stayed, it was fine. It was located in a very nice and well kept garden with a view over the lagoon. We wanted to take a trip there, but in the afternoon it was not possible for the tide was out so we could take the tour on the morning instead. Unfortunately we did not it neither because of strong wind.

 

I not understand why it says it is popular, nice place. 
There were no palms either, only what 
was funny was pirogs, and fishermen.

There have been so many new house, not fancy either, house on the house, all the way perhaps even until Guinea Bissau.

Cannot put the picture here because I wanted not to take a picture of the house which had nothing to say. 

So this both pictures are from the main street in the town Cap Skirring.

 

 

A couple of time we took a  taxi to Kafountine, one small fishing village near Abene, about 10 km from there.

It was a lively place with so many pirogs, fishermen and women cleaning and drying fish. And so many seagulls who were waiting to pick up a fish and gorging on it.

 

Also did a mangrove tour which was interesting and fun to see pelicans and other birds. We were lucky and saw a beaver, he stood there and looked at us quite a long time.  

The tour arranged for us Patrick from hotel Atlantic Abene and he said that normally the beaver is hiding pretty fast when he see the people. But we were lucky and got to see him for a long time.
Small monkeys jumping there from tree to tree we saw as well. It was a real nice stay straight through, all the days were fine and we enjoyed only.

There somewhere a beaver was seen and was hidden. 

          The picture below I am a little proud over
          that I managed to take it with a pelican. ☺

Both in Cap Skirring, but in Abene and also in Ziguinchor, it was empty of travelers, lots of the hotel was closed and we were told that people are afraid of Ebola and they stopped going to Senegal. It's a shame that people take so little information about how it is, then they would know that Senegal is free from Ebola. There was only one case, he was a "deserter" from Guinea to seek help at a hospital in Senegal. But afterwards there was no one who became ill.

I can heartily recommend Atlantic Abene, it was near the sea, in a nice garden, quiet and peaceful it was there. Good food we got, got really looked after and nearly spoiled out of everybody. It was nice walks, the village was about 20 minutes to go.

Abene is a little, nice and tidy village with a couple of cafes and restaurants.

A giant tree we got to witness well, actually it was seven trees who grown together, more than 100 hundred year old. You could see crocodiles in a small lake on the edge of the village, if you are lucky (I had not). 

What I did not like in Casamance where too much rubbish at the roadside, so scratchy I have not seen anywhere else, terrible. Too bad that the people do not think about how much they pollute the environment.

Next time I'm going to Senegal, I want to fly to Dakar and rent a car there. Then go all the way to Casamance and apart from staying a few days in Abene at the Atlantic hotel so I want to go a little east of Ziguinchor, also visit nature park Niokolo-Koba and then back to Dakar. And probably St. Louis, when I'll be there, I cannot miss it of course.

By the way, the airport in Cap Skirring is closed, not because of a lack of travellers but due to some dispute about the plot, or how it was. So the closest you can fly is Ziguinchor, or as we did to Banjul and from there across the border to Seleti in Casamance.

Beaches are long and width, empty of the tourists and people also, but as said already, cows like to go there and gorging on fish. In villages are harbor with many pirogs because peoples main food and also income are the fish. It is interesting to go on the beach and look at fisherman to work with nets and other jobs associated fishing.