Jon and I have been vacationing from our mini-retirement (I know, life is real hard) in the beautiful, tropical south of Senegal, the Casamance. Between having what seemed like our very own pristine beach, to the small but vibrant coast village of Cap Skiring, relaxing in the Senegalese tropics has been a fabulous get-a-way from the hustle and bustle of Bamako and Dakar. People are unbelievably friendly here, despite the large amount of French tourists, and we've been loving meeting people and chatting in the streets, shaking hands with kids and generally being around the liveliness of small-town Senegal.
We were even lucky enough to have a taxi driver of ours be so excited that we were from America that he brought us to his village, introduced us to his father (who is also the village 'chef' and gave us a special insight as to how to collect and produce palm wine. It was great (the little surprise excursion, not the palm wine).
We took a tour through the new Ecoparc de la Casamance, a new nature reserve designed to protect the forest and educate young people. We were stunned by the other-wordly 'Fromager' trees, twisting vines, huge termite mounds and lanky coconut palms. We're back to Dakar tomorrow, taking the overnight ferry up the coast. One more week in Senegal and then we're off for our ridiculously long overland bus ride from Dakar to Marrakesh. Enjoy a sampling of photos! Click on the images to enlarge them.
