Our professor told us he wanted our trip to Sokone to be a surprise and that it was. We left Dakar at 9 AM CFA (meaning it was closer to 9:30). The drive was a scenic 5 hours on some of the nicest roads in Senegal. Sokone is located on the main route from Dakar to Gambia and President Wade, in his attempt to get on the publics good side before elections, has financed the paving of the majority of the route. Our hotel, or auberge, was a little piece of green paradise. Grace, Lauren, and I had our own thatched roof hut; each meal was eaten outside under a canopy surrounded by flowers and birds and butterflies, and from somewhere in the distance the sound of the tam-tam.
After lunch, and dessert, and juice….we visited a center for the handicapped where people come to learn life skills as well as a few trades by which they can make a living. Right down the road was a women’s organization that produces cereal products such as millet, corn, and dried byssap juice. When we returned to the auberge around 5 o’clock we found a group of men organizing all sorts of drumming equipment and coolers and a peace corps volunteer named Casey. We all piled back into the van-all 17 of us plus drums-and started driving. After about 15 minutes we turned off any sort of road and were on a small path, usually reserved for horse drawn carts, making our way through the bush, more affectionately known as ‘ca all ba.’ It was here that our guide, Baba, hopped out and headed toward a small opening in the tall corn and I decided to ask where we were going. I turned to the man next to me, one of the drummers, and attempted to pose the question in Wolof. It didn’t take long convey my question and Tam kindly corrected my grammar, then proceeded to copy me each time I said it possibly thinking I was working on my pronunciation. It wasn’t until Lauren was laughing hysterically and I finally switched to French to ask ‘seriously, where are we going?’ that he responded. And where were we going? ‘Fii rekk,’ or ‘just there…’ gesturing toward and empty field and some overgrown brush.
Our destination, a small opening in the forest where we found a man named Armando. We had asked during the ride down to Sokone whether or not we would be far enough south to find palm wine, something we had been wanting to try but which is impossible to find in Dakar. Our professor called Baba, owner of the auberge and sort of tour guide, to give him time to search the town. Apparently Baba decided that if we were going to try palm wine we needed to see exactly how it was prepared. Thus we arrived in the middle of this forest of palm trees, with a band of tam-tam players and a cooler full of palm wine, to watch Armando get ‘inspired’ and climb a tree and tap it for juice. We learned how to make a funnel from palm leaves and attempted to climb the tree with a hoola hoop looking tool made out of rope. After a bit more dancing and drinking we headed back to the auberge for the night.
The next day was possibly the busiest day I’ve experienced in Senegal. After breakfast we headed out to explore the mangroves, which are trees that grow in the delta and along the rivers. There are a number of initiatives to protect/replant mangroves because so many have been illegally cut to harvest the clams that grow on their roots. Another women’s organization keeps bees around the edge of a large mangrove forest with two purposes. One, the bees keep people from entering and cutting the roots. Two, the women harvest, treat, and sell the honey they collect from the bees.
After visiting the treatment facilities, we headed out to Tabakouta, a somewhat touristy town just south of Sokone. Here we hopped in a pirogue for about a 40-minute boat ride out to Diorom Boumag islands. Here we swam in the delta, kayaked through the mangroves, explored l’Ile aux coquillage, and saw a magnificent sunset as headed through the land of birds. Overall it was a wonderful day. Pap Diop and Baba were great guides, we met some French vacationers who ate lunch with us and shared in interesting drink that was a mix between wine and liquor. By the time we made it back to the auberge around 8:30, I would have been happy with dinner, some tea, and bed, but no…we had a fête to attend! All through dinner the drumming outside kept getting louder and louder and we could here people arriving. After we were done dinner, Baba came out and said as soon as we were ready Awa, the women who organized the big celebration would come with a few friends to accompany us out. About five minutes later we were sitting in the middle of a large circle of at lease 150 people, facing the tam tam players. The ‘fête’ lasted about an hour and a half, during which we were repeatedly dragged to the center of the circle to dance for what seemed to be about half the town. As if three toubabs dancing by themselves in the middle of a large circle isn’t enough, every Senegalese woman knows how to dance, and well. So our attempts at the ‘youza,’ a modern Senegalese dance, were quite entertaining. As was my quick display of Irish Dance, which Grace made me perform, and which amazed many of the people watching. After we had sufficiently embarrassed ourselves, at some sign invisible to us, the gathering was over and in less than two minutes everyone was gone. It was the quickest I have ever scene a party clear out. We spent the rest of the night drinking Attaaya with a few of the men who help out at the auberge and being mesmerized by the stars, which were ridiculously bright.
Saturday morning we made a quick visit to the high school to learn about a program called Sisters to School. It’s a program started by retired Peace Corps volunteers who wanted to help at risk women and young girls receive an education. After our visit we headed back to Dakar making a quick stop in Kaolak to drop off Ishmaela, one of the auberge workers, and Jamie, another Peace Corps volunteer.
While our drive to Sokone took just about five hours, the trip home took more like seven. On the upside we stopped at a roadside stand and all bought delicious watermelons as a small gift for our families! The only critique I had of the trip was that it was too short. And possibly the fact that it came at a time when I had three large papers to write…which is what I’m off to do now. Until next time, happy turkey day to all!!!
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