Senegal a land of culture where nature rules

« Teranga » means « Welcome, » and it is the word that best describes the people of Senegal who are incomparably smiling and hospitable.

Senegal is sort of the California of Africa, a generous and secretive land that beyond the rigors of the Sahara offers unsuspected riches. Among these are 600 kilometers of fine sandy beaches, often brilliant white, sometimes pink, along with small ports nestled around creeks where the fishing is miraculous. Also to be found here are long heavily ladened canoes overflowing with fish and lobsters, as well as natural parks where you can come in contact with antelope, elephants, buffaloes, and rhinoceros, where rivers, fast and slow, flow past places whose banks are filled with mystery, where ancient and solitary trees stand sentinel while their enormous roots suggest time passed.
Immaculate lakes are ringed by small villages of artfully crafted palm-thatched huts with lively markets, and where the setting sun is a triumph of nature. These ingredients along with other surprises make up the main menu of this delectable nation. All this can be found in Senegal, but that isn’t all, because culture and nature meet here.

A few hours from Morocco, beyond the sands, Senegal opens the door on the other Africa, the one where nature can still offer itself the luxury of rebellion, where time has excavated indelible trenches in the history of mankind. Senegal is the republic that chose for its first president one of the world’s greatest contemporary poets, Leopold Sedar Senghor, an eminent member of the French Academy, but above I all a man of simple wisdom and vast culture.

About this cultural primacy there are abundant witnesses throughout the country. The tourist who comes here to hunt, to wander about or simply to get tan, all will be inevitably challenged. On the memorable Isle of Goree, they erected very beautiful memorial not that long ago dedicated to the Italian architect ottavio Di Blasi. Also very recently, on the same island, they renovated a number of buildings dating from the 11th century including the Governor’s Palace. This whole setting welcomes many hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. It is said that the monuments cry or that the old stones whisper among themselves; this much we know: they are the sighs of history. These sites, however, although emotionally charged, cannot stop being simply beautiful. Here, feelings blend together. Thoughts take root. Art, present everywhere in this country, helps to go beyond simple ideas. In the drawers and the display cases of the museums, the people of Senegal tell us about their past. There are three important museums, the museum of the sea, on the same Isle of Goree, the history museum, and best of all, the great museum of African art. Together they house close to 13,000 pieces from everywhere in sub-Saharan Africa. These three museums, that should not be missed, belong to the L’IFAN (the Fundamental Institute of Black Africa of Cheik Anta Diop). L’IFAN also houses the Departments of Anthropology, Sociology, Linguistics, the study of Islam, etc.

This attachment to culture was not born yesterday. Remember the first festival of African art that was all the buzz in 1966 took place in Dakar, and that was one of the most important moments in the cultural life of not only Senegal but of all of Africa. This attachment has also been given a voice in a very important theatrical production. The world famous « Des Griots » company introduced a new form of theatrical art that combines story telling with historical narration and word plays. Dance is everywhere in all the regions, among all ethnicities. It is not just simple body movements, but one that participates in the expression of thought, a choreography that also speaks of men, of women and their battles.

If the cultural landscape seems to impose itself everywhere, it is because it takes root in a fertile nature that gives it its vigor. Senegal is a multiple land. Contrasts stand out clearly here. From the ocean to Mali, from Mauritania to Guinea, the country goes from dry to humid, from tropical forest to savannah, from brutal desert zones to mild maritime regions. Here, the slender pines give way to hundred year old baobabs, majestic, patriarchal, venerated and feared because of the spirits that live in these trees.