Sali is as close to a resort/beach town as I've seen in Senegal. It is lined with tourist friendly shops and nice looking hotels and resorts. When Arnie was trying to make the reservations to come, all of the recommended places were booked. We had finally found a place called The Savana that was on the water and had a price where meals were included.
Arnie was excited to show me what it was like to live the life of a "rich" (comparatively) person and since we were arriving later in the evening, I was looking forward to getting to rest in a nice hotel room and have some good food waiting.
However, it was at the Savana that I learned the difference between "nice" and "African nice." The room was a total let-down. There weren't fitted sheets on the bed. Just flat sheets that didn't even cover the bed completely, and no bed net. We had to put a ton of mosquito repellent on to keep from being eaten alive. The tv only had five channels that turned out to only carry the news, in French, of course. The a/c unit barely worked and only shot the air down to the ground. The food was terrible. Rubbery, practically raw steaks for dinner with a Styrofoam-ish mousse cake dessert the first night. Greasy eggs and fly infested fruit for breakfast the next morning for breakfast. Dinner the second night tasted good but caused Arnie to be sick to his stomach for the rest of the night.
Arnie was, to say the least, very disappointed. However, as he has said to me several times while I've been here, "C'est Afrique!" or "It is Africa!" What is extraordinary and alarming is that what to us is a very low class experience and one that, had we been in the states, would have caused us tremendous alarm and caused us to complain quite loudly, I'd imagine, is like paradise to those Africans who live in grass huts and sleep on dirt floors.
We had planned to stay for three nights but ended up leaving a day early. Strangely enough the hotel staff didn't make any comment about it.
The day that we did spend in Sali, we spent going to Bandia Animal Preserve. We paid for entrance to the park and for a guide who hopped into our SUV so that we could drive through the park ourselves in our nice air conditioned vehicle instead of having to get into the back of a safari vehicle on hard benches in the open air.
Our guide wasn't very talkative which was fine by me since she really didn't speak any English and Arnie is not in the habit of translating for me in front of people. I wing it most of the time, drawing on what little I remember from my two years of French in high school way back when. Which basically means that I don't understand most of what is said to me beyond "hi, how are you doing?"
Oryx Antelope, I think.
Since the guide kept calling them "Antelope Cheval" in French, I can't be sure.
Three zebra
Although our guide, Ami, wasn't chatty, she did a good job showing us all that Bandia had to offer, which mostly consisted of antelopes and ostriches. We did see some giraffes and zebras that was great fun. Arnie and I were able take a lot of pictures so I can show my girlies when I get home. I have some budding artists that I imagine would just love it!Since the guide kept calling them "Antelope Cheval" in French, I can't be sure.
Three zebra
The only carnivores that were to be seen here were the hyenas, which were in an enclosure and are not allowed to mingle with the rest of the animals, and the crocodiles, which live in the pond next to the restaurant and get fed regularly enough to keep them from being interested in the other animals of the park. Our guide did point out, however, that it didn't keep them for occasionally snatching a monkey or two when the mood struck them but that the cooks didn't mind that so much since the monkeys are very pesky.
I think the highlight of our visit to Bandia was seeing the rhinoceros. Ami said that sometimes there are days when they can't find the rhinos. We were lucky that they were right next to the trial we were on and we could get some great photos. She then offered to take a picture of us if we got out. She cautioned us to go slowly and not to make any sudden moves. We got the pictures and got back in without the rhinos moving or caring we were there. It was only when we were uploading the pictures that night that we realized how curious it was that our guide stayed in the car to take the picture! Oh well, everything turned out fine and we have a great picture!
We ended our visit having lunch at the park's restaurant. The food was great and we had a wonderful time watching the monkeys playing in the trees next to us. The best part of lunch was our table! It was an old McDonald's picnic table. I actually haven't seen a McDonald's here in Senegal. I just love how the Africans never waste anything :)
1 comment:
You will never forget this wild and crazy visit to Africa. Thanks for sharing
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