Le Wilis

We left Dakar about 2hrs late.

The reason we were fully booked became apparent after we'd all boarded the boat. Suddenly several army trucks turned up and unloaded 250 Senegalese military. The boat was very full and noisy, we spent most of the evening in the bar with the French lady and another French guy who'd thoughtfully bought a lot of beer as the prices on board were astronomical. However the staff were none too thrilled that these 'toubabs' were drinking in their bar having bought the drink elsewhere!

The couchettes were comfortable, as I'd booked with Gianni I was in the mens dorm but managed to persuade someone to change their couchette with me so that I could be between the wall and Gianni. The crew were extremely friendly, to the point that Gianni told one of them that we were married; unbeknown to me. I mistakenly managed to unfortunately dispell that rumour within minutes, as I didn't realise he'd said it!!! We got away from them all and went up on deck to attack the bottle of Fanta mixed with some of the gin whilst deliberating whether we had time & money to get as far as Liberia; somewhere I'd love to see and Gianni needed an English speaker to go there ... we were keen but it never came off!

We got up at dawn to see the sun rising over the fleuve we had just entered that would lead us down river to Ziguinchor, a gorgeous sight made even better when dolphins started swimming alongside the boat!
Passing lots of small fishing villages, we finally got to Ziguichnor on time at 11am, finally I felt that we'd made progress, Gianni pointed out that we weren't doing the 'Tour of Africa' ... I was just thrilled to be away from Dakar!
Our arrival into Zig, with endless soldiers wanting to pose for the camera once they realised it was digitial and they could see the results!!!