Me and Senegalese taxi drivers, even without cars a really original public transportation

In my independent touring in Africa, I have had to deal with original public transportation. I have vividly in my mind the moment of leaving Saint Luis in the rain. Yes, because even in Africa it sometimes rains. I was lucky to get out of my bnb before the road became a quagmire. In fact, none of the 3 more than decent accommodations I had stayed in and paid almost as much as in Europe were on paved roads, despite the fact that they were all in central areas.

I am clueless in the art of bargaining, exactly the opposite of my father who would also bargain for the newspaper at the newsstand instead. Before I left, I was confident that I would at least partially compensate for this shortcoming of mine, with an app that is widely used in Senegal, and would at least allow me to get an idea of the price.

In Saint Luis I was supposed to get to the bus station, the app had told me there were no drivers available. I was sure I would find some anyway without any problems; there is never a shortage of taxi drivers in Senegal. I reached the nearby main street of the city and after a few seconds the first one stopped. The app had quoted me as spending 6,000 francs, and the guy driving a beat-up Peugeot shot me an absurd amount, 35,000. After a week in Senegal, with some experience, I got away with 10 thousand francs.

The invented taxi driver, Totò and Peppino

The classic question you are asked is whether you are your first time in the country and how long you have been in the country. It’s to see how much they can screw you over. And at first you get ripped off, at least a little bit, almost by force. After a few days, you get to question whether you look like a fool. Even if you’ve traveled halfway around the world and done well in a thousand situations. But they try, and evidently they do because sometimes it works.

It worked great with me as soon as I arrived. I recount it in detail here. I often think of Totò, a famous Italian comedian who, in a movie, sold the Trevi fountain to tourists. Not so long ago, even in Italy there were those who woke up in the morning with the idea of looking for a tourist to sucker.

Unlike the people who say how nice they are in that country, I believe that inevitably, in all the poorer countries, there are many people who, in order to make a living, try to squeeze money out of us Westerners who are nothing more than wallets with legs for them. To some extent this happens in the West as well. Although now technology scams that take advantage of widespread functional illiteracy are in vogue. As soon as I got back from Senegal I had to send a complaint with a threat to go to a lawyer, because those who were my gas suppliers had charged me a made-up bill, just like the made-up taxi driver, yeah.

Getting around Africa independently, so cabs, minibuses and 7-seater

Before I left, I had read about these fantastic 7 places, where crammed in, I was going to risk being in the middle of two goats for seat neighbors. I thought they would be the epitome of original public transportation. None of that, although it is true that comfort is not the greatest asset, I basically thought worse.

If the route is popular enough, you don’t have to wait that long. More than anything you have to be prepared for chaos, lots of people yelling and moving around, and especially at first it is not easy to understand the situation. Arriving in Thies it took me a while to find someone who understood that I was looking for a bathroom (not everyone speaks French), and to do so I had to mimic the act of peeing. About what the bathroom was like, I say nothing. So no goats on board, but many, many dead animals on the road, I guess run over. And to think that the route between Dakar and St. Luis would have its why, both for the landscape with the occasional baobab and for the crossing of poor but lively villages.

As also with minibuses, these vehicles leave when they are full and therefore do not have a defined schedule, but that is not necessarily bad, especially in a country where times are very relative. The day I took a 7-seater to go to Saly from Thies (pronounced cess, and this to an Italian makes one laugh!), I woke up and had breakfast in my own time, and took the cab, then a minibus, without having to worry about the clock.

Little things that make public transport original by going around Africa independently

I decided to make a list, I think it renders more. These are snippets, observations and glimpses about the original public transportation that I came across in Senegal.

• Dashboard and steering wheel cover made of fur that looks like fake bear; it made me sweat just looking at it, who knows in the summertime
• Rusty and holey bodies of cars from the 1970s, but also some brand new and excellently kept
• Everyone washes the car often, much more than I do, and even those who have vintage
• Windshield wiper won’t use, even in drizzling rain; maybe it won’t go? (happened in two different cabs, both times I got rain)
• Car with all dashboard lights on
• Car so old that it doesn’t even have warning lights, other than just fourth gear
• In opening a door, perhaps because crammed in I had my knees in my throat, I was left holding the handle
• With the minibus, we stop because the driver has to get three watermelons from a stall on the street
• Before leaving with the 7-seater, they make me leave and re-enter 10 times: filling the vehicle and the arrangement are complicated
• While refueling, cars stay on

Next stop Can you see animals in Senegal? Yes but not the lions

Latest article in the Senegal video series (with links to others): Here’s what it means to visit Africa, Senegal

Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent

Countries visited in my travel stories

Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives