A Trek to the Beach.....

Three years in and a little less then a month and a half to go, adventures are still to be had here in Senegal.

A buddy of mine mentioned a few weeks ago that he was pondering the idea of walking from his site, N'gaye Mekhe to the beach. As of last week, he had yet to go on the trek, so being up for the challenge, I mentioned my interest. The wheels of motion began and two more recruits were found.

As of yet, most likely anyone reading this may not see the significance in this. Well, the trek had not true paths to follow over uncharted terrain for about 21 to 25 miles. The only information we knew to be concrete was to travel west and we needed to hit a phosphate factory. What looked flat on a 3 year old Google satellite image of our route must have changed some.

On Friday afternoon, the four of us met in Thies for the 'Chicken Challenge' at one of the best chicken dibiteries in Senegal. The 'chicken challenge' required each of us to eat a whole chicken, plate of fries, and a salad.....you may say this is a lot of food, which it is, but at one point, we thought it could have been our last meal. By the end of it, we were grossly full.


View Trek - May 10, 2009 in a larger map

Spending the night in N'gaye Mekhe, we were mentally prepared for the 5 am wake up, not to the mosques' call to prayer, but the terrible sound of cell phone alarm clocks.

As we had planned, we were on the full moon illuminated beaten path out of N'gaye right at 5:30. The first hour and a half were marked by the four of us shooting firworks off (you gotta have some excitement for the trip) and the onlyroads we would be on for a long time. We hit the village at the end of the road and as we had planned, utlizing the compass on a very technological watch that we realized we really didn't know how to operate, we went west. Actually, we decided to follow our shadows and a set of power lines more than the technologies of the fancy watch, but better safe than sorry (i suppose).

After 4 or 5 hours we came across the first set of terrain change. There were some really cool compacted dunes with crevasses intertwined in them. We could have spent the rest of the day there and been content, but we had to press forward. We were a bit stumped in exactly how we should cross these dunes, so we just started hiking across them till we came across the phosphate mine, which turned out to be hours ahead.

As we approached the huge mine, we came across some beautifully irrigated land, that had once been part of the mine. We felt that the mine would be somewhat guarded and our prescense wouldn't be welcomed, but we were dead wrong. Everyone was very friendly, even the guard we came across....suppose they don't get too many American hikers passing through. They even let us climb on the broken tractors, actually, we just climbed and they said nothing. One group of mechanics asked us to join them for tea, but the sun was rising, and we had a lot more walking.

Having to backtrack just a bit, we wrapped around the northern edge of the mine until we (actually just Oliver) hit a patch of quick sand and sand about a foot into the group. First for everything.

As we started distancing ourselves from the mine, the blisters on Dan and Thomas's feets were getting bigger, but then again, you should probably break in chaco's before going on a 20+ mile hike through sand or just wear shoes.

Getting closer to Mboro but not knowing exactly where we were, except for the need to go west, we came across even more beautiful gardens then on the other side of the mine. The gardeners we met couldn't have been more helpful in providing us directions for the rest of the way.

Finally, after about 9 hours and 45 minutes walking, we hit pavement and started walking in the direction we needed to go. We were no longer headed to the beach, but for much needed food and to meet up with our buddy Devon.

All along our route, we met great people, until we got to Mboro where we were called 'red ears' a few times and a nicely dressed lady walking on the road asked us for money, for no reason at all...followed by another even older lady down the street, dressed equally as nice, asking for a 'bon bon'. After awhile, you get tired of this and have no patience....especially after walking all day.

Finally, we made it to Mboro, meeting Deven on the side of the road with drinks in hand for us. After 10 hours and 30 minutes of walking and roughly 25 miles later, we had made it, minus making it to the beach.

After spending a couple hours in Mboro hanging out, we all decided to go back to the comforts of our own sites....primarily because at this point we were all sore, drained, sunburnt, exhausted, etc.

Much like last week, the trip into Dakar was not the fastest. What should have been about a 2 hour trip turned into a 4 hour one. I had to fight falling aslee, knowing that once I closed my eyes, I wouldn't be waking up until morning.

The minute I walked into my door at 11:30 and completed a much needed shower, I was faced with one of the best nights of sleep I had in a long time.