Contents
1- Prices of the journey
Ask for a quotation request
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2- Logistics
2.1 Supervision
You will be supervised by a professional guide of ECOTOUR who assures the link in the discovery, the observations and the understanding of the various circles and cultures met. It is the guarantee of a successful immersion but also a good progress of the journey. As a supplement to his competence, the guide will be attended on the Islands of the Madeleine by 2 eco-guards and an agent of the park. These last ones are volunteers aware of the preservation of the countryside. They arise from the peripheral environment. They will take charge of the logistics such as the deployment of the material, the installations and reinstallations, etc.
2.2 Transport
To join the Islands of Madeleine, we will a rented steering motorized by 25 horses of the grouping of the volunteers for the conservation of the park. This steering can hold 12 places.
To join the Island of Teunguène aboard a dugout, we will call for the services of the fishermen of the village.
During approximately 40 minutes, we will climb The Mamelles.
All other travelling and transfers inside Dakar will be made aboard a mini car.
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3. Hosting
We will spend the first night at the house of the Association of the Friends of the Nature. It is a support of the sweet tourism, so joining the tradition of the European houses of the friends of the Nature. On the other hand it leads activities answering specific needs of the country within the framework of the protection and some conservation of the nature. It will be for you the opportunity to visit at the same time this house and to discover the various activities which are developed there.
In the Islands of Madeleine, we will camp one night. We will sleep in bivouacs at the level of the creek Hubert, under the palm tree date palm. It will be provided us with by the tents of a two-seater which will be rented to us by the eco-guard. These tents will be equipped with flat mattresses, with sheets and with coverage.
At Yoff, the management of the accommodation at the inhabitant is entrusted to the program ECOYOFF / CRESP.
CRESP Senegal (Centre of Resources for the Participative Social Emergence) is the NGO affiliated to the American NGO CENTER FOR RELIGION, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP), Ithaca, New York. It heads the Eco-community Program of Yoff (Ecoyoff) the mission of which is to achieve the statement of the 3rd International Conference of Eco-cities and Eco-villages: "to incorporate the wisdom of the African villages into a world program of ecological reconstruction". For that purpose, a laboratory of durable development was created and the program is in charge of leading an eco-community before the year 2020.
Ecoyoff which receives many international trainees within the framework of its Center Vivre et Apprendre Ecoyoff has a experienced big in the field of the management of the accommodation at the inhabitant. This center is one of three centers in developing countries; two other centers are in Sri Lanka and in Brazil.
At Yoff you will be hosted in families of the village. This will allow you to become soaked with their lifestyle and to participate in their daily activities. The direct contact favors the exchanges and the discussions between the cultures.
The key of a good experience in a house of reception is not to be afraid of asking questions. Make sure to ask these questions to the person whom it is necessary. Usually this last one is the head of the family or may be a young person of the family who speaks about your language and will serve as interpreter for some people who speak it less good.
*Hygiene
The families of reception are expected to respect the following recommendations:
- scan regularly rooms and house so as to make them welcoming
- throw to the dustbin all the already used cans and any scrap susceptible to serve as environment or as refuge in mosquitoes
– close and empty regularly dustbins
- watch that there are no stagnant waters in the concessions and in the neighborhood
– watch the neatness of kitchens
- watch the neatness of toilet
-avoid making a lot of noise when the tourists will want to have a rest.
*The linen
Here all the clothes are washed by hand. For many Europeans and North Americans, it will be a new experience. If you are little used to this technique and want to learn take a bank in the daytime of the washing powder. Some participants (especially woman) washed their own linen, usually next to the women in their family of reception when they make it. Others let to somebody of the family make it for them. As a general rule, people wash their own underclothes. It is necessary to ask for what you need when you have of the linen to be washed. It is possible to leave your dirty linen near basins or to leave it some days before to somebody of private individual.
* Useful council : wash your underclothes at the end of your shower.
*The bath
In many houses here, there is no bath for the shower. We have a bath by using a seal of water and a jar to splash the body. Believe we you will become used! It is necessary to ask where you can find the seal for the bath and which water to use. Be careful! Here the water does not pour in the faucet 24h / 24h. You often obtain your water for the washing from a sort of reservoir. Know that the water is for everybody in the house, and of this fact paid attention not to contaminate it.
Example: put not the lid on the ground nor plunge the dirty jars into the water or dip hands into the water.
*Proprieties
The first rule of the proprieties which will become very fast a custom (or should be it) concerns the greetings. The handshakes by entering a house and even by walking in the street are a part of the daily life. Even when people are in full work or in the middle of a discussion, they always have time there to greet a passer-by. If you forget this frequent rite we will annoy you at first, but so inadvertently to persist you in forgetting it, it will be interpreted as sign of lack of respect for the other one.
Here are some useful expressions Wolof used in the greetings:
Q: Nan ngua def? (How are you?)
R: Man ngui fi rekk. (I am well - literally = I am here only)
These expressions are probably of the most important to know and you will use them a lot of time a day! They are used for the greetings with somebody.
When you enter a house where there are a lot of people or when you pass next to a group of persons in the street, the following sentence is the most appropriate:
Q:As salam aleykoum
R: Aleykoum salaam (that the peace belongs with you and to you too)
The knowledge of these two manners to exchange will bring you already rather far. Other common expressions are:
Q: Ana wa keur ga? (How goes the family?)
R: Nyùnga fa. - it is well)
Q: Nanga tuud da? (What is your name?)
R: Mangi tuud da - (- my name is)
Q: Foyee deukk? (Where do you live?
R: Mangi deukk - (- I live)
The women (and the men) have to bear in mind that, in certain faiths, men and women do not shake hands. So if you hold out the hand to somebody and what this last one refuses it to you, be not offended. This person or somebody else will explain you the reasons of its refusal. However it is better to hold out a hand which will be refused rather than not to agree to shake it.
The other rules of the proprieties concern the use of the left hand. It will be certainly difficult for those or the one who are left-handed the left hand in this society is used only for the "dirty" tasks and is not used to touch people or the food.
During the hours of prayers (5 times a day), pay attention not to walk past just anybody who prays. It is sometimes difficult to avoid, but try to pass as fast as possible if you have no choice.
*Security
It is the subject which can be never taken without thinking. Your visit here will be very probably free from problems, but it is important naturally to be watchful. The first thing which we should remember ourselves it is to lock always all the valuables (money and plane tickets in particular). In a society where the community space and the property are common cases, it can seem strange to see that everything locks, but you will see that everybody makes it.
They are big families and there are many comings and goings in rooms. We can ask you or take you all which is within reach seen; that is why it is administered in time; what explains the lack of things such as candles, white paper, pens, matches, loose change, etc. That is why we buy some butter in detail rather than the tablet, the sugar by fragments and the soap of linen is sold in detail for a single use.
In Senegal people are generally very nice to the foreigners. It is normal to discuss with people in the street, in the track or at friends. This is a good way of learning the culture and the daily life from here. However do not invite foreigners to you if you are only and do not feel you obliged to fix a date to meet this person a next time.
Even if the majority of people whom you meet are honest, pleasant, interesting, there will be someone who will want to know where what lives "the tubab: a white people" and what there is in the room. You will have frequent cases of persons which will ask you help for a visa in the USA or somewhere else to travel. If you are not capable of helping in these situations, explain briefly why (you are student, that your work is not well paid and that the journey in Senegal costs a lot of money). It is so much better if you can help a friend so that he can visit you at your home, but you are not obliged to write an invitation for every person who asks you it!
While Yoff is full of nice people and while almost all those whom you greet are without problem, to go to Dakar is another history. We tell many histories about pickpockets, about aggressors, swindlers. As in whatever big city, pay attention around you. You will probably have no problem if you visited the city with somebody of the country. Nevertheless if you are only, pay full attention. If you do not feel the ease in a situation, take away!
It is compulsory to photocopy your passport, the page with the photo and the page showing the stamp of the date of your entrance. Move with the copy, but without passport.
*Phone
Many houses have no phone and those which have it, still have no phones from which it can be called. It is within the competence of the custom. However phone boxes (private phone boxes) are numerous. So when we want to appeal, we do not need to go far. The prices in these phone boxes are not the same. Of this fact inquire, please, about the unit price before calling (it is generally around 75fcfa (0.114 euro) the unity).
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4. Catering
Dishes will be prepared for base of local products. The meals on base of protected or rare animal or plant product are to be excluded. During our stage "National park of the Islands of Madeleine", the dishes will be prepared for us by the eco-guard. At the post of command, we will have lunch as some rice in the fish. The dinner will be some burned out fish, and will be taken with some bread. The next day, the breakfast will be some coffee with milk and some bread spread in the cheese or in the butter. The lunch will be some sauce of burned out fishes and some white rice.
As regards the stay to Yoff, we will be invited by the families of reception to eat in their company.
The hours of meal and the food are probably one of the biggest cultural differences. It can be one of the most pleasant aspects of your visit, if you like the fish in particular. Can be a description of three main meals can illustrate the differences which you go to meet and what it is necessary to expect.
* Breakfast
This meal will always consist of bread and a warm drink. Every house will be a little bit different about the hour, but usually it is early before 9 am in the morning. Besides the bread you will probably have to choose between the butter, the chocolate-brown or same of the tuna spied on, spread with fresh mayonnaise. The drink will be or some instant coffee or the kinkiliba (herb tea prepared from local leaves). Drinks will be prepared in a sweet way and often with some powdered milk. Contrary to the countries where we vary the breakfast, here it is almost always the same. Then explain, please, to your family what you would want in the breakfast, because it is what you will have throughout your stay! Indeed on if you want to change make know it to somebody of the family.
*Lunch
It is the main day meal with the main rules to be learnt. This meal is often thiebou diene"which the national dish. It is prepared with the cooked rice in a vegetable broth and the oil to make gild the fish. Both forms of this dish are "thiebou xong" (red) and "thiebou wok" (white). The difference is that the red rice is prepared with the concentrated tomato and not the white rice. The white rice is often served with a green puree made by leaves of bissap (sorrel). The vegetables which usually accompany this dish are: carrot, cabbage, aubergine, the manioc, pumpkin and turnip, as well as other ingredients as yeet (the flesh of the conch of the shell), the smoked fish or dried and the tamarind.
The second type of dish, called "nyari cin" (two pots) are also known as some rice and some sauce. It is some cooked white rice in the vapor served with the sauce. This sauce can be a variety of mafé, a delicious sauce prepared with some butter of peanut and tomatoes and some meat; yassa, a sauce in onions mixed with a little mustard and vinegar; thiou: a sauce in the tomato and in anointed prepared often with some oil of red palm and the balls of fish; the favourite dish of several persons: soup kandia, a rich sauce prepared from the oil of red palm, and thegombo (althought it is not the favorite dish, but try to eat it. The taste will please you gradually). Usually these dishes are prepared with some fish or with some meat (sheep or beef) or chicken.
We eat usually between 1 pm and 2 pm. The dish is served in a big common bowl where everybody eats with the hand (always washed before) or with a spoon. The women and the children often eat with the hand and the men with spoons but it varies from a house to another one. Usually, the person who prepared the meal or the present head of the family gives the signal to begin to eat.
Take time to observe when we begin to eat. Although it is a single bowl or a big circular dish, every person has a specific place to eat directly. Imagine yourselves that this bowl or this dish represents one pizza. Your portion is the triangle in front of you. You can also understand this space as a hole with the big extremity in front of you. We find vegetables and fish ("the good things") in the center of the bowl and they are intended for everybody. Sometimes, when there is a guest we serve him/her half of the fish. It is something which will still vary according to houses. It is always necessary to begin with a handle or a spoonful of rice before eating the best things and observing if you will be served during the meal (if you chat a lot, you will miss the major part of the available food)
It is also considered as impolite to look at the other persons when they eat. It is necessary to concentrate on what is in front of one. However, be aware of the mentality in your family because the differences between the traditional families and the more modern families are going to play a role here.
Another thing to be considered is that in most of the houses, men and women eat separately and the children will have their own bowl. Being a foreigner, you are free to eat where you want (example: a woman can eat with the men if she is invited and vice versa). Then eat there where you feel the most comfortable. Sometimes fruits are served (mangoes, for example) after the meal. A short time later, somebody begins to prepare the tea.
Usually, we rest after the lunch. During the warm season, it is certainly a good idea to make it so much; slow down the working rhythm for one or two hours, or more if the time allows it, otherwise you risk being exhausted! The heat is constant and so much you will feel you ill-at-ease so much you will sleep more and will physically be tired with a low energy.
*The dinner
The supper is always served at some point after the sunset usually between 8 pm and 10 pm in most of the houses. Here you will find a variety of meal according to families. The traditional dinner consists of cuckoos in the fine grain prepared for base of millet (ceré), served with a tomato sauce and as some fish there. The fish fried with the salad is famous as well as the (stuffed), a dish prepared from the chopped and spied on fish, been of use with a sauce to the onion. Families eat from time to time some porridge such as the sombi (rice pudding) or the lawful (prepared from millet) for the dinner. There are the other dishes of soft prepared rice -mbakhal, dakhine, ngourbane. You fast go to include the differences between them.
The dinner is not usually a substantial meal. It is a good idea because the lunch of noon is so substantial.
Relax and appreciate the "téranga" term indicating the Senegalese hospitality. We expect that the hosts eat a lot. Learn fast the expression "soor na" (I have the full stomach) and the compliments are always appreciated "agne bi nek na" (the meal is delicious) but should be said slowly to the cooker almost at the end the meal.
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5. Season and climate
Senegal benefits in general from a warm and dry climate but without excess. Trade winds provoke a reduction in the temperatures during several months. There are two seasons: a season dries spreading out from November till June and a rainy season (wintering) lasting from July till October.
In Dakar, the months January to March record average temperatures of 24°C. They are 24 to 27°C in April-May. From June till October, they can reach 30°C.
In dry season, the sky is clear. There is no rain and we have a good visibility. The vegetation becomes more and more dry at about July.
In wintering, the sky is mostly covered, but rains last generally only some hours and often fall at night. The landscape is green and the colors are magnificent. The luxuriant vegetation abounds in birds and in flowers.
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6. Security
It do not exist particular difficulties in the route. It will be enough to like a little the walking and to wear caps or hats to protect you from the sun.
The security will be assured in sea during the crossings for the visit of islands. It will be given to each a life jacket and steering will be carried out by professionals. The supervision members for the crossings received training in swimming, in driving, in steering and in first aid. For more caution, the steering will be supposed to be the night in the island with us for the stage PNIM. Torches will be provided us with for the lighting.
During the tuuru, you will get dressed in the same way as the officiating priests, that is to say traditionally, to have no difficulties following all the holding of the tuuru.
For the proper functioning of the route and for your security, we will ask you to respect constantly the orders of guides.
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7. Health
7.1 Inoculation
We will inform you beforehand because the rule in inoculation often changes. However it will be necessary to inoculate you against:
- The yellow fever (compulsory)
- Be up to date common inoculations: poliomyelitis, Typhoid, viral Hepatitis A
7.2 Malaria
It is indispensable to make you prescribe by your doctor an anti-malarial processing.
The malaria is a disease transmitted by the female of the mosquito anopheles. It falls only at night and we advise you to arm yourselves with clothes which can cover at most the body if you have to stay outside late at night.
7.3 Sanitary precautions
Some precautions are necessary to achieve your stay:
-be healthy at the time of your departure;
- think of taking your medicines and authorize if you are subjected to a regular processing;
- as a safety precaution, we will not be far from the centers of evacuation for the possible urgencies of health;
- as a safety precaution, we will not be far from the centers of evacuation for the possible urgencies of health;
- drink some water in bottle which ECOTOUR will put at your disposal;
- wash regularly hands and feet especially after every exit;
- have glasses of sun, cap, scarf or hat to protect you from the sun.
7.4 Medical case
We will provide you with a medical case to face certain illness and small accidents. It will be for example about anti-malaria medicines, about antibiotics with wide specter (for the flu, the infections of any types), of bandages, small pairs of scissors and tweezers, of intestinal disinfectants, digestive pastilles, medicines for the travel sickness if necessary, etc.
However, the doctor of ECOTOUR watches your health.
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8. Formalities
8.1 Passport, visa
A passport in the course of validity, valid six months after your entry to Senegal, is compulsory. The nationals of the European Union participating in package tours are exempted from the entrance visa in Senegal. Only the national ID card is required to them. On the other hand, any other re-releasing has to contact the closest diplomatic representation of Senegal. The passport control and the visas are organized not so as to spend time there too much. It is advised to photocopy your documents and to keep originals separately as a safety precaution against the thefts or the losses.
8.2 Customs
Senegal has adhered to the agreement of New York related to the customs opportunities in favor of the tourism. The tolerances a person are the following ones: 2 cameras, a dozen dandruff, a camera, a dozen films, one (01) pair of twins, a radio set or walkman, your personal jewels (no more of 200g of gold), 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars or 250 g of tobacco, one (01) portable personal computer containing particulars, child's carriage (baby carriage), one (01) tempts and\or the other equipments of camping, foods in proportions corresponding to the personal needs of the traveler.
8.3 Insurance
We advise you to sign an insurance disease-repatriation. However verify before signing a specific insurance for your journey that it does not already represent among guarantees offered by the insurance contracts which you possess.
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9. Language
French is the official language in Senegal. Almost everybody understands it. National languages are numerous. It exist there approximately 50 among which the Joola, the Mandingue, thePulaar, the Sérère, the Soninké, the Wolof. This last one is the most spoken language and the best included by almost all the Senegalese.
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10. Currency
The CFA franc is the currency used in Senegal as in all other countries of the zone franc belonging in western Africa. The used coins are 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200, 250 and CFA F 500 and the notes of 1000, 2000, 5000 and CFA F 10000.
The import of local currency is unlimited. On the other hand its export is limited to CFA F 20.000 VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE (CFA FRANC), the superior sums must be declared. The import of foreign currencies is unlimited, but must be declared. Its export is limited to 50.000 F VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE (CFA FRANC); the superior sums are to be indicated.
It is possible to you to come in Senegal with all the currencies which you will want: sorts, traveler's checks, etc. On the other hand, what is not possible, it is to leave Senegal with more money that you had no it in your arrival.
It's better to come with the Euro currency because it is easily exchangeable. 1 Euro amounts to CFA F 655,957. The exchange rate is fixed (that is 0,15 Euro for 100 FCFA) with regard to the Swiss franc and to the Canadian dollar which are variable.
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11. Credit card
The American Express MasterCard, Dinners Club and Visa is the most accepted. Verify with the company of your credit card, to obtain precision concerning its acceptability with the storekeepers and the services which can be proposed to you.
The banks that you can find in Senegal are: BHS, the BICIS, the Senegalese Tunisian bank, the CBAO, the CITIBANK, Crédit Lyonnais Senegal, the Credit Agricole Senegal, the ECOBANK Senegal, and the S.G.B.S. Roume.
It is advised to you to have traveler's checks in francs to avoid supplementary expenses of exchange.
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12. Jet lag and air access
Senegal is situated between 12°30 and 16°30 of the latitude the North and 11°30 and 17 ° 30 of the longitude the West. It is at the time of the meridian of Greenwich. In winter, the jet lag with France is of one hour that is when it is 12 am in Paris; it is 11 am in Dakar. This gap is on the other hand of two hours in summer that is when it is 12 am in Paris; it is 10 am in Dakar.
At five o'clock of flight of Europe, Senegal is an international air and maritime crossroads situated on the most western part of the African continent in the South of Sahara. Arriving to Dakar by air, you can admire the headway of the peninsula of Cape Verde offering itself in the ocean.
From your arrival to Senegal, "As Salamou aleykoum" meaning "peace be with you" which is a polite sentence will welcome you. You will have to answer simply by saying "Wa alleykoum salam salam" "And you with the peace".
