Saly, Senegal

A lot of people had recommended I see Saly while I was in Senegal. The beaches in Saly were immaculate, as you can see in the pictures. They are tended to daily by the hotel staffs that work the beach and also heavily patrolled in a way the Gambian beaches are not. There is an upside and and downside to this, as I will go into...




I remember the last day I tried to go to the beach in Gambia. It was unusually cloudy that day, but it was my last available day for going to the beach there so I was determined to make the most of it. When I arrived the beaches were FLOODED with people. You could hardly walk. Basically what I found out was that there was one day a week when Gambian locals were free to spend their day at the beach, and the rest of the week the beaches were primarily for tourists and Gambians who worked along there. However throughout the week you will still find locals who don't have liscence to be there. Some are treated harshly, for example I've heard when the soldiers decide to they will take in some of the Rasta's hanging along the beach and chop off their dreadlocks leaving them bald. But the good news is many pass freely. I say good news because they really add to the culture and atmosphere along the beach. It would be lonely with just tourists.





A lot of times in Africa they have laws just the same as we have in America, the difference is a lack of resources and organization to enforce those laws at times.

Anyway, in Saly, Senegal the beach is beautiful, yet lonely. it is perserved mostly for tourists. They don't take kindly to locals hanging around. There was a time in gambia and senegal, just 10 short years ago when tourists rarely came and couldn't even walk the beach freely without being harassed and hustled every step of the way.

I visited some of the local shops in Saly. I stopped at an internet café to check my flight schedule, but it was no luck on those french keyboards were kind of frustrating.

I arrived at the beach and took some pics and video's, swam in the ocean to cool off at sunset, stopped at a restaurant just offshore over the ocean.

































The hotel I stayed at in Saly for a night was easily the most comparable to what you find in an American hotel, as far as air conditioning, cleanliness, toilet, shower, even television. The top was made of straw so they all looked like about 20 individual cottage huts surrounding the lobby and swimming pool.




The only thing that it was lacking by American standards was a cash register, I remember I had to look around for a clerk, and nobody really seemed interested in taking my money. I told one of the staff I'd just leave the money on a table there in the lobby and he just kind of shook his head that that was okay and wandered off in another direction.









Anyway, I was grateful for the hotel because it allowed me to get cleaned up well and sufficient sleep, because I had a long trip ahead of me back to America.