Darsen Ouest

I am wanting another sea day but here we are in Senegal.

After a quick breakfast, Bob and I headed to the Star Theatre.

Our excursion today is the Bandia Animal Reserve.

We made our way to the bus and were greeted by a guide who speaks very good English. Come to find out, our guide is from Florida and has been living in Senegal since 1999. She raised her three children in Senegal. They have subsequently all moved back to the United States.

Our guide spoke highly of Senegal. She indicated that Senegal is slated to host the next Youth Olympics because Senegal already has facilities built such as basketball and soccer stadiums.

She went on to say that the buildings that look like they are falling down are actually being renovated so they can be rented for people coming to the Youth Olympics. In my opinion, she is trying to find an excuse for the poor conditions of housing because we passed mile after mile of partially completely building. Many buildings look like they have been in an uncompleted state for so long that they have started to fall down.

We were also told that the country was very clean. I guess that we should not believe our lying eyes as we saw trash everywhere. Albeit there was less trash here than in many of the other countries we have visited.

The guide also indicated that there was no drugs or gangs in Senegal.

We found it hard to believe everything thing our guide said because she came across as very biased.

We had the experience on the 2019 WC where one couple was taken by a " private guide" to a store and were held in the back room until they made "purchases".

In addition, a couple of female crew members were also taken and held until money was paid.

We doubt that major culture improvement has happened in 5 short years. Maybe we are biased.

After about an hour of listening to our guide's propaganda, we arrived at the Bandia Game Reserve. We were happy that the weather was beautifully cooler. We had a great time seeing God's creation.

The Bandia Game Reserve does not have lions or elephants. We saw many animals and had a very pleasant game drive.

We got back to the ship at 1:45 PM just in time to have lunch before the World Cafe closed.

After lunch, we showered because Senegal is very dry and dusty.

Next, it was time for a nap as my Lyme symptoms have been troublesome today.

We attended the church service. The service consisted of singing worship songs.

We had dinner with Dale and Jenni at the Chef's Table. We talked about our impressions of Senegal. Dale did see a filthy, smelly market with very aggressive peddlers which was juxtaposed to wealthy enclaves and an impressive "white house" that he also saw.

Our impressions of Senegal is that it is a country working to become a developed nation but it has a long way to go.

I welcome any research on these animals.

Oliver Emerson, can you assist in confirming that I have labeled animals correctly?Okumaya devam et