Senegal | Country Gallery | Its nature, people, culture and cities

[Matthias Offodile]

As Senegal is still a country that is pretty unknown to people from the non-francophone world. I would like to introduce it to this forum.

General information:

Area: 196,190 square kilometres (land; 192,000 sq km, water; 4,190 sq km)
Coastline: 531 km
Population: 10,5 million
Capital city: Dakar (population; 2 million)
People: Wolof (36%), Fulani (17%), Sérèr (17%), Toucouleur (9%), Diola (9%), Mandingo (9%), around 200 000 Lebanese and 38 000 French.
Languages: French (official), Wolof, Pulaar, Diola and Mandingo.
Religion: 94% Islam, 1% indiginous beliefs and 5% Christian.
Government: Republic under multi-party democratic rule.
President: Aboulaye Wade
Visas: Visas are not needed by citizens of the France, Canada, Norway, South Africa, Japan, Israel, USA and several other African countries.


Map of Senegal:






Presidents of Senegal:

Senegal has had three presidents in its post-independant history

The one that left a heavy imprint on the country´s history and was even well-known beyond French-speaking countries was Léopold sédar Sehghor.
The founding father of independent Senegal, Leopold Sedar Senghor, has died at the age of 95. He was a literary genius and wrote a great collection of very fine poetry. And his poems are studied in universities in a lot of French-speaking countries. He was one of the first African leaders to allow democracy and a free press, Mr Senghor was a pioneer.
He was also one of the first African presidents to retire gracefully. In 1981 after 20 years in power he handed over peacefully to his prime minister.
Mr Senghor lived long enough to see one remarkable result of his political liberalism. In the year 2000 in a thoroughly democratic election in Senegal, the long standing opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade, who had been a thorn in Senghor's side for many years, won the presidency.
Senghor entertained very strong French links throughout his life
Leopold Sedar Senghor achieved other firsts as well:
Leopold Sedar Sengho was a respected poet
A poet and scholar when not being a politician, he was the first African to join the highly prestigiuos elite French literary institute as one of its key figures, the "Academie Francaise" in Paris. In Senegal and or other African french speaking countries a lot of places, universities and streets were named after him but also streets, a boulevard and a public park has been named after him in France.
Leopold Sedar Senghor left a legacy of free thinking and free debate in Senegal - a legacy which still marks it out as a very unusual African state.





Léopold Sehghor with his French wife Collette





SECOND PRESIDENT OF SENEGAL, Abou Diouf (1981-2000): He currently lives in France after stepping down. He is currently the head of "la Francophonie".



his beautiful Senegalse wife Elisabeth Diouf (by the way Jacques Chirac is the godfather of one of the kids of Elisabeth´s Diouf daughters. It simply shows how personal the relationship even between the elites of the two countries is)



THIRD PRESIDENT WHO IS A TECHNOCRAT: HIS NAME IS WADE (from 2000)



And his French wife Viviane Wade:



.....history will tell who comes next.....


Dakar

Porte_du_Millenaire.






























this is "ile de la Gorée" many tourist come to this island which is very close to Dakar. It is very pituresque although it had a dark past:

[Matthias Offodile]

more Dakar pictures






SAINT LOUIS is Senegal´s second largest and oldest city. It was founded in 1659 by the French. The old quarters are full of beautifully restored old colonial buildings (the Senegalese state and a lot of city partnerships with cities in France exist which put a lot of money to restore the old quarters) It is a magnet for tourists and many Europeans who made it their second home. Twice a year there is a huge international jazz festival.













































this is the "pont Faidherbe" in Saint Louis. It was constructed by Gustave Eiffel, the one hat built the Eiffel tower in Paris



















Senegal is the place of art, design and fashion. There are numerous designers in Senegal

[Matthias Offodile]

Nature photos:

this is "lac rose": its water is pink-coloured





dune riding







FAMOUS GRAND MOSQUE OF TOUBA



THIS IS "CASAMANCE" WHICH IS IN THE SOUTH OF THE COUNTRY













senegal is a tourist place. Almost a million tourist visited Senegal last year (only topped by Kenya and South Africa)

as there are TONS of hotels. MANY others are mushrooming along Petite côte and Dakar and its environs as in Saint Louis.... I will just present a fraction of them to you....and I will stick to the smaller ones which are more personal than the Club Meds, Meridien or Sofitels (all of which do exist in senegal, too)

























































































welll..and as said you also got big ones like the Meridiens





TO BE CONTINUED.......

I DO HOPE THAT YOU HAVE ENJOYED VISITING MY SENEGAL THREAD SO FAR

[mohamed2]

more pictures of dakar pls.......

[Matthias Offodile]

As Dakar is undegoing a construction boom presently, it is impossible to find pics which are very recent. So I will just post "older" ones. (starting from 2000)















backside of an old colonial building, beautifully restored

















small public garden















a wonderful mosque









This is a very recent photo i have found









new shopping malls:





...some funny adds which I just felt like posting









...the latter it is still under construction





photos which have been posted earlies but should also be here as it is more compact



that is the 40+ tower that are to be built by a Dubai company

[Matthias Offodile]

...well and Africa´s tallest tower of which the foundation has ben laid lately is not to be found on the internet. no design absolutely nothing! I would love to see the structure

all I can hope for is that senegal finds oil as there is some exploration going on there presently and if Mauritania has oil why not Senegal!? Senegal would leapfrog if it had Nigeria´s oil and gas reserves...Damn!!

[Matthias Offodile]

"Dakar Future" new business project

[sonofaque86]

thanks!

[mohamed2]

dakar looks clean compared to nigerian cities . what abt that gadaffi tower ????????

[Matthias Offodile]

mohammed, this is a problem with the Gadaffi Tower. They started building it but I cannot find any pictures nor renders.

Finding renders or photos for projects outside of South Africa is very hard work. There is very little promotion...but I will keep up the work.

Have you been to Nigeria? I lived in Nigeria and Côte d´ivoire. I only know Dakar from two visits and I liked the city although it was much less sophisticated than Abidjan at that time. But things are imroving and Abidjan ´s downfall tuns out to be Dakar´s luck!

As far as cleanliness of Lagos is concerned: Dakar has just two million people as compared to Lagos which has 16+ million inhabitants. (just consider the magnitude.... because Senegal´s entire population is just 10.5 million!!!)

[ChrisZwolle]

Are there any skyscrapers or Motorways in the Dakar area? are there pics of the trans sahara freeway, which, according to my map, is leading into senegal? (or was it Mauretania?)

[mukkingfutzz......]

Senegal's Population is 12 Million

Here's another pic of Dakar

[Matthias Offodile]

More Dakar pics







Dakar´s wonderful hand-made baskets


























inside a Dakar building



Ile de la Gorée off Dakar coast

[Matthias Offodile]

street scenes and cityscape photos: Really great picture gallery! I cannot post them directly so you have to click on the given three links directly in order to see them.

http://flickr.com/photos/dumell/sets/1401839/

http://flickr.com/photos/dumell/sets/1401839/?page=3

http://flickr.com/photos/dumell/sets/1401839/

[Matthias Offodile]

small privately run hotel









outside city centre of Dakar

[Very Controversial]

Senegal has some nice beaches.

[mike2005]

Senegal is a lovely place. By far the nicest country outside of southern africa in terms of liveability. I have only been a couple of times but like Botswana and Namibia living there would be a pleasure.

[Matthias Offodile]

More Dakar pics...

[Tbite]

Dakar Pictures 2006 Set

[Tbite]

Dakar Pics

Dakar Apartment Block


Matadi Bridge, Port of Dakar


Skyline


Railway yard, Dakar Railway Station


Dakar Hôtel de Ville


Hotel Independance, Place de l'Independence, Dakar






Ministries building, Ave Léopold Senghor, Dakar


Dakar Cathedral (What a beautiful Cathedral)






Roundabout near the cathedral


Boulevard de la Republique


Roundabout at Boulevad de la République and Ave Jean XXIII


National Assembly of Senegal, Place de Soweto, Dakar


Dakar skyline