Memorable Taxi Experiences in Dakar

During my parents’ stay here in Senegal, we managed to log numerous hours in taxi cabs getting around Dakar and back and forth between Thies. In those two weeks, I definitely spent more time in cabs than my nine months here combined. The experiences endured during the time my parents were here, made me think about all my memorable taxi cab experiences since I arrived in Senegal. Here they are…

September 26, 2006 - On the way to a party at the American Club with 3 other Volunteers, we realized long into our trip that the taxi we were in had no brakes. It isn’t everyday that you pull up to an intersection and have to do circles in the median so you don’t hit the stopped cars or cars entering the intersection. Shortly afterwards, we nearly died in a head on collision…I will remember that night the rest of my life.

December 26, 2006 – This was on the last day my parents were in Senegal and I was making trips between the hotel and my house to bring home all sorts of goodies. By that point in our stay at the hotel, I stopped going to the concierge desk asking for a taxi because I was not to keen on the taxi garage they called and just walked outside the hotel groups and hailed cabs. On this trip, I had a large duffle bag, messenger bag, and a rice sack bag, so I just decided to have the concierge call a cab in. Learning from past trips with the cabs utilized by the hotel, the drivers I encountered were terrible and only wanted to rip people off, so before I got in, I told the guy where I was going and told him the price (2,000 CFA or $4), which is somewhat a lot. From my observations, he agreed and understood. About two miles down the road, he pointed to a restaurant and asked if that was where I was going. I kinda looked at him oddly and told him Patte D’Oie (my neighborhood), so we went about a quarter mile down the road and he slowed down and pointed to another restaurant. Once again, I said “Patte D’Oie.” At that point he raised his price to 3,000 CFA which is a ridiculous price and he was taking advantage of the system. I refused to pay or play his little games, so I told him to drive to the police station. Instead of doing that, he said he was driving back to the hotel. Through the course of this, we were having a wolof numb chuck match. I’m sure I said some pretty bad things, but it was warranted. At that point, as he was turning around in the middle of the road, I just opened the door to the cab and made him stop in the road. I got all my stuff out, and right there, was a mini-car (16 passenger vehicle) going right to Patte D’Oie. So, instead of paying 2,000 CFA, I got into the mini-car, paid 200 CFA for two seats (had a lot of stuff) and laughed all the way home. The taxi man shouldn’t have played a game he had no chance in winning…I’m sure he was whining all the way back to the garage.

July 22, 2006 – On the way from downtown to a party in the north western portion of Dakar with another Volunteer and two girls visiting from the States that we were taking care of for the night, the cab driver stopped in a weird part of town, nowhere near where we needed to be, thinking that was were there. We told him he was in the wrong place and he lost it. He tried to raise the price on us and everything. This is after he reassured us he knew where we were going when the price was negotiated. The other Volunteer, Laurel, who had much more experience in Dakar than I, got in a wolof wrestling match with the game. It was her insistence that we go to the nearest Gendarmerie to settle the dispute. After having front row seats for about 5 minutes, it ended with a knockout and the guy relenting to take us to where we were supposed to go.

Fall, 2006 – Taking a cab from downtown Dakar one evening with another volunteer, my stomach began to feel a little gassy. Sometimes, if not all the time, the food does that to you. Because I had the back seat to myself, I felt that I had jurisdiction in getting a little gas out…sometimes you just gotta do it. Well, I don’t know what I ate that night, but the taxi driver’s reaction was what made cab ride a memorable one. He just started shaking his head going “Pas bon, pas bon”. Needless to say, there was some laughter afterwards.

December 14, 2006 – Taking a cab from the hotel Le Meridien President with my parents to the hospital I work at, we got out and paid the taxi driver 3,000 CFA ($6), which I think was the first time I’d paid that much for a cab in Senegal. The taxi driver refused to accept it. At that point, I told my parents to get out of the car. The taxi man was ridiculous but he wouldn’t let me get out of the car. At one point, I think he tried to grab my wallet. Because it was my parents first real day in the city, I really had no choice but to succumb to his intelligence in taking advantage of toubabs. Taxi man won.

December 19, 2006 – Heading out downtown Dakar with my parents, we were going through a residential area and then all of a sudden, you could feel the taxi man had applied the brakes hard, slid a little on the sandy pavement, and hit the stopped car in front of us. I’m not gonna lie, I kinda wanted to laugh, and actually did without the driver knowing. The taxi man got out, pretty much knowing it was all his fault, the driver of the new Peugot got out to inspect the damage, and the funny thing was, was that the taxi incurred all the damage. We were pretty much rolling when the traffic started going again.

Due to the frequency of fender-binders, road rage, and stops by police, they may seem like highlights in the States, but the odds are different here.