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My arrival in Senegal is dated 01-01-2026. I knew I would find Dakar chaotic dusty and my throat immediately irritated by smog, but the anecdote I will rechristen the made-up taxi driver was unimaginable.
This is the first article in the live series from Senegal. I will witness my adventure by making short videos and reporting updates. I am traveling solo and totally autonomously, and will travel by public transportation.
Arrival in Senegal
I arrived in Dakar via Madrid, leaving from Bologna. The first lesson is to never trust taxi drivers, especially if they are not and do not even have cars.
The arrival in Senegal was immediately difficult. The border formalities were absurdly slow—which was to be expected. Glad that I already had the SIM card I’d brought from home and a driver sent by the hotel, I thought I just needed to get some money. I jump on the ATMs because there is a line at the only exchange counter, but none of the machines dispense. I go back to the exchange counter where there is only one girl. She counts one by one twice, all the bills she receives and gives out.
The line becomes very long because a guy changes several bundles of Euros, not sure if he had robbed a bank or wanted to change his entire salary for the last year. Three families of Spaniards, who, despite the slowness, don’t think to make a single change and then make do with each other: each change for himself. This pisses off even the Senegalese in line, who will usually be profligate, but they can’t take it anymore either. After they even get passed by a gentleman in a wheelchair, I finally, after 45 minutes, get my Senegalese francs.
All excited, however, I find that there is no sign of my driver. I get the number, call him, no answer, neither he nor the hotel people. But I kind of expected it, and anyway I have a trick up my sleeve, the app downloaded from home for Dakar cabs. I make the request and as I’m trying to figure out how it works, with the message in my phone telling me the cab is on its way, I see someone pointing at me, waving his phone at me.
The invented taxi driver
I ask him if he is the one from the application, he tells me yes, that is him. He asks me the name of the hotel and calls them, to get the address explained. He says he put his car just outside the airport parking lot, so he wouldn’t have to pay for parking. He starts talking to a motorist on the road, this one pulls over and we get in on the fly. He explains why his car is nearby. I think he asked for a ride, but after a short while when we are now far from the airport, I nudge him.
He explains that his car has a problem and he is going to take this guy to the hotel. For a few seconds I imagined ending up robbed in a ditch. But then he starts propositioning me for the next day, even asking if I want a Senegalese wife. I realize he is a scoundrel, but not violent, and the driver doesn’t know him either. I decide I’d better play dumb, I humor him, because I’m in the middle of nowhere, it’s past midnight, and I have to get to the hotel. A little later the hotel driver writes me. From the airport to Dakar is almost an hour’s drive.
Started the suburbs, we get out on the fly and the car leaves. He explains that the other one is also having car trouble, so we have to look for a cab. We are at a busy, partially paved traffic circle among street vendors and donkey-drawn carts. He haggles with a couple of guys, always reassuring me, until we get in with one, a real taxi driver, albeit a squatter. There would be laughter or tears. He asks me for more money.
We arrive, not without difficulty, at the hotel. Telling me that he will take me to eat fish the next day, he asks for more money because he has to go back to the airport and has no car. I tell him that he has screwed me over enough (15 euros in the end), and I shit him to myself, he even makes a disappointed face.
Goree Island
I could already tell about other mishaps, but that is the story with real taxi drivers, I will write tomorrow. On my first day in Dakar, I went to the nearby island of Goree. It was once a slave marshalling point.
Featured in the photo are the fishermen’s boats, and also a baby bathing. Below is the first video from my you tube channel, with a little corner of colorful peace. Just another world compared to Dakar.
First unexpected problem resolved—I hope—before arriving in Senegal
I had already written in the introductory article that I realized I could not take mosquito repellent and sunscreen with me because they were in containers too large for carry-on luggage. For the sunscreen patience, I will go to the beach covered and with a hat eventually, staying sheltered like the Chinese.
That of mosquitoes, but also insects in general, could also be a serious problem, despite the fact that this is not the wet season. Since the very expensive product purchased, should be valid for 2 weeks, I sprayed plenty of it on clothes and backpacks. I put 100 ml of it in what used to be a bottle of hand sanitizer, and hope well.
Links
Here is the introduction of the Senegal trip: Follow me live from Senegal January 26
Next stop Live from Dakar, capital of Senegal.
Senegal’s other videos
- Journey to northern Senegal
- Still live from Senegal
- Videos of pelicans – hundreds
- Traveling in Africa, the different realities
- On the beaches of Senegal, some videos
- Video from one of the world’s most beautiful cemeteries
- This is what it means to visit Africa, Senegal
Senegal trip home page, with articles written from home: Getting around Africa independently: original public transport
If you like my videos, here is the home page with all the ones published so far from the world: Live on travel! short videos, while on the road
In conclusion the main pages of the blog with articles divided by destinations and types
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Countries visited in my travel stories
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
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