Day 9.5 Signing off from Africa

Finding the Sénégalese parliament, or National Assembly, was an easy affair. I simply walked down the street in front of the hotel for about 2 kilometres. The first part of the walk is chaotic though. The street is full of activity with taxis, trucks, carts, people, goats and products on display crowding the street. It is a real obstacle course trying to get through, with some really tight squeezes. Then the buildings get nicer, the taxis, trucks and animals thin out and you start to realize that you are in a much nicer neighbourhood. Soon you start to see embassies. The Cameroonian embassy complex is quite nice but the Spanish embassy is a very small nondescript building.

Somewhere in that journey you turn the corner onto Rue de Nelson Mandela and start to see the National Assembly building in Soweto Circle. The building looks like a nicely kept up, modern structure with nice gardens, but a close look also shows a little wear and tear. I asked the guard in front if they had tours and he said no. It doesn't look like they have the type of security set-up for civilians to come and go anyway. So I snapped a couple pictures from across the circle. Next door is the National IFAN-University of Dakar Museum. It was open but hardly anyone was there. I went up to the front paid 2 000 francs (US$4) and started walking around.

As you can see from the photos it is dedicated to west African culture and art. But strangely very little of it actually comes from Sénégal. About 1/2 of the art on display was Malian and the rest came from other nearby francophone countries. There are many examples of beautiful masks, pottery and tapestries and some exhibits of African tribal dances - initiation and harvest rites.

On the second floor were many statues of women who were breastfeeding babies which were used in animist religions as objects of veneration and worship. I got the impression that women were held in high regard in several of these cultures and were probably the big losers when these people were converted to Islam or Christianity.

This will probably be my last post from Africa. I am going to take one more walk, then see if I can get a nap in. I need to eat. I need to reorganize my pack and I need to pay my bill. So I will "see" you guys from the other side.

À bientôt!