My trip to the land of Teranga.

My mother’s cousin invited my family to Senegal during the holidays to visit the country. I was excited to go on this trip and really happy to discover another culture and environment.

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The day of the trip, we prepared our luggage after having breakfast to be at the airport on time. When we arrived we learned that our flight was delayed for one hour and a half. So we decided to stay in a coffee shop to wait for our departure. After the wait, we flew to Senegal and after a trip of seven hours we finally arrived to our destination. It was night time so we headed directly to the hotel and had a full night of sleep.

The morning after, we took a twenty minute boat ride to Gorée island which was used for slave trade in the past. After the visit we went to a restaurant for lunch. We ate gambas, which is a giant shrimp, it came with an onion based sauce on the side which I did not find to be very tasty. After lunch we headed back to the hotel and spent the rest of our day in our rooms.

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The morning of the second day, we traveled to another town called Saly. This town has two parts a poor part and a touristic one. We decided to stay in the touristic part in a beautiful resort near the beach. Our hotel’s oceanside was filled with coconut trees which made our view fantastic and also made it irresistible for me to take a dip in the Atlantic. After taking a shower, I prepared myself to dine with my family. At dinner I ate beef and fish skewers as main course and many types of tropical fruits like mango, papaya, watermelon and melon as dessert. After this delicious dinner and wonderful moment with my family, I was ready to call it a night.

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My third day in the country, I went back to Dakar in order to catch a flight the day after. This day was a relaxed one where I had the a chance to rest a little bit.

It was finally the day of the trip to the south of Senegal, I was very excited to discover that part of the country. Upon arriving to Casamance, we found our hotel’s shuttle waiting to take us. The ride between the airport and the hotel lasted one hour and a half. By the time we reached the hotel it was one in the afternoon so we went directly to have lunch in the hotel. The restaurant we chose had tables laid on the sand with a beautiful view on the ocean. We ate salad and some seafood with a very tasty sauce then we were ready to swim. After swimming we stayed for a while on the beach to enjoy the setting.

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It was dinner time, so we went to another restaurant in the same hotel which was located on the terrace with the palm trees and the sea for decor. In the background, the sound of waves and djembes in the distance, or a sweet music atmosphere was calming and relaxing. We ended up staying a couple of days in this beautiful hotel of thirty charming bungalows with traditional diola roofs spread out in a lush tropical park of 4 hectares overlooking the magnificent beach.

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It was a very pleasant stay and I’m not against the idea of coming back and staying even longer the next time. On the eighth day we came back to Dakar and for the two last days we stayed at the Tunisian ambassador’s residence which happens to be the husband of my mother’s cousin. The day before the last we decided to visit Lake Retba but when we arrived to my surprise the lake wasn't as pink as I expected. I was very disappointed because I was excited and curious in the beginning to see such a special lake.

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We ended up coming back to the residence for dinner. I was left open mouthed, when I was served and saw Kafteji in my plate. It’s the last type of food that I expected eating in Senegal because it’s a very popular Tunisian dish.

The last day we woke up at 6 in the morning to take our flight at 10AM. We took breakfast and we directly headed to the airport. That was the end of my trip in Senegal I found this country to be very beautiful and the people were very nice, generous and welcoming. I was happy to be back in my bed as i was able to rest properly after a tiring trip.