St Louis
15 november 2022
Travelling to Senegal via Diama route: with Baza transport (located at Cinema Cardo, Nouakchott)
I was dropped off here at 18:00 and told the shared car (Toyoto estate car) would go at 20:00. We eventually left at 21:00. I was accompanied by a young couple, their new born baby, a young girl and another guy. The driver asked me to sit in the front seat with the girl. The others were in the back.
We set off along the main road out of Nouakchott in the dark and ended up on the dirt track just after the junction with the route to Rosso. The driver navigated the lumps and bumps of this route with ease - often the windscreen steamed up on the inside and got covered with sand on the outside. We stopped on route for a break and prayer time.
The best part was the drive through the mangrove swamps - you could see some of this from the window of the car. Obviously it would have been more interesting to see in the light, but there was something quite magical about doing this trip at night, smelling the salt from the swamps through the window and seeing the occasional heron swooping off into the distance. The driver had to open and close the barriers to the National Park as the guards were either asleep or in their homes. The driver also pulled over at the hotel in the NP to ask if I wanted to stay there. I gestured to let me know I would travel onwards.
We all ended up walking the last stretch to the village of Diama where we all slept together in a huge tent in the centre of the village from our arrival at about 1:30 to 7:30. I wish I'd brought something warm to wear as we slept African style on the floor with only a pillow, under a huge mosquito net.
In the morning, the village came alive and we were ushered quickly to a pickup which took us to the border - our luggage was there, safely delivered by our driver. At the border, my passport was stamped and I walked the short distance to the Senegal border. My passport was stamped with an entry stamp for Senegal and that was it. No money exchanged, no long waits and all very friendly and easy.
I took a taxi from the Senegal border into St Louis for 2000CFA which took me directly to the hotel Ndar Ndar, a beautiful stylish hotel in the centre of the colonial part of the city.
I had a quick walk around this section of St Louis, an old colonial crumbling network of criss-crossing streets. Immediately, you sense the calm, relaxed and laidback vibe - it reminded me of the Caribbean.
