Dakar, Senegal, Africa

We docked at the capital of Senegal, Dakar, at about 7am after 7 days at sea. We are ready for land!

Senegal is a poor country of some 18M; Dakar, 3M population. A dominant Muslim country, ‘they tolerate the 5-10% of Catholics who live there’.

We took a 30-minute ferry to start our 4-hour excursion of the island of Goree. This island is said to be the gateway for the slave trade to Brazil, the West Indies, and to America. Over 300 years, as many as 15M slaves passed through the "Door of No Return". This experience reminded me of how ignorance, greed, and avarice can grip the minds of men. Such enormous pain created here.

Our primary focus for the tour was to visit the Maison de Enslaves, (House of Slaves) and Door of No Return – museum/memorial dedicated to the victims. This house was constructed in 1776 as a holding place for slaves who were to be exported to various destinations in the New World. Conditions were horrible. 15-20 enslaved people were put in single, small dark cells, only allowed to go outside 1x a day to relieve themselves. They were usually held for 3 days to 3 months before they exited the “Door of No Return”. Families were separated – men, women and children kept in separate cells. Many people died from disease. There is controversy over how many slaves actually passed through here – some historians say as low as 26,000; others say over 15M.

After the tour, we passed local people living life – tending to their goats and donkeys pulling carts. We saw happy young boys playing soccer in the ‘park’ of broken concrete and dirt, and young girls frolicking on the beach enjoying themselves in the beautiful island sun. Both the men and women here in Dakar dress in very colorful garb.

It was Sunday and we happened upon a Catholic church with service underway. We also stopped by an art workshop where men were working on sand art. We stopped at a restaurant for a drink and were treated to some African music.

Goree Island is actually a pretty place with colorful pastel colonial houses and buildings. The island itself is a paradise -- in sharp contrast to the history of the island under the European colonials.Læs mere