Game run and boat ride

Up at 5:30, breakfast at 6, in the open bed truck for a game run at 6:30. Lots of birds, few animals. Then a 2 hour boat ride on the Gambia River. Next a picnic. This is our audience, green monkeys.
Back in the truck for a 2 hour ride to our bus where we drove for another couple of hours. Our reward? A swimming pool.

Waiting for dinner

Overlooking the Gambia river. Temperature 100 degrees.

Set for dinner

Unfortunately, dinner is nightly at 8. I have adapted well.

Warthog suite

In Wassadou, we stayed in the Warthog suite. It was very hot, at least 100 degrees. No ac.

Ceiling in mosque

Worshipers entering mosque

Dome and minarets

More minarets

Touba door

Touba minaret

Touba worshiper

Touba Mosque

We had a long hard drive from the coast to Wassadou in eastern Senegal on the Mali border.
Part way, we stopped at Touba to see the largest mosque in black Africa.

Boat ride in Djoudj Bird Sanctuary

We saw Gambia Goose, Black Crowned Crane, Glossy Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbill, Black Crowned Crake, Knob-billed Duck, Pied Avocet.
Jackal, Warthogs, Red Monkeys, Crocodile and Monitor Lizard.
But who's counting?

St. Louis

St. Louis, located on the coast to the north of Senegal, was the capital of French West Africa. The colony included what is now Senegal, Mali, Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso. Antoine de St. Exupery flew mail here. Our hotel features relics from the French air mail service. This is a view from our balcony.

Fresh fish

These folks are sorting through the fish rejected as too small in a boatload of fish just brought to port St. Louis.

Baobab tree

This one is 1500 years old. One ethnic group buried its dead in baobab trees. Baobab is also a food source.

Nomad family

On the move.

On the road

We left Dakar and traveled north through the desert towards St. Louis. After a couple of hours, we stopped at a pretty hotel and switched to a 4wheel drive open bed truck (24 seater) where
We dune buggied out to a small village.
Back to the hotel, where we had a lovely lunch. Then several more hours on the bus until a short ride on a smaller truck to our camp sight.

Village laundry

Village chieftain

And girl.

Outside view

Of la douche.

Our desert tent

Our en suite toilet

Dakar coastline

Mosque of Divinity, Dakar

Fishing boats

Bougainvillea

The President Elect

Door of No Return

After Roots was shown on tv in the 70s,many black Americans came to Goree Island because it was said to be the departure place of slaves sent to the Americas. This doorway was said to be the last place in Africa for the slaves.

The doorway was located in this slave house.

Arriving Goree Island

Goree Island

Is located Twenty minutes off Dakar by ferry.

Monument de la Renaissance Africaine

This sculpture symbolizes the country's dissatisfaction with its retiring president. It was built with money that could have been used for infrastructure and designed by a South Korean, rather than a Senegalese.
Today on our town tour we saw many soldiers. They were worried that there would be violence. But the winner prevailed 70/30 and the former president conceded. A peaceful passing of power.

Our guide

Is stuck in Mali, where there was a coup.

Sent from my iPhone

Arrived Dakar

Wifi in the hotel. The opposition candidate for president won by a significant margin. The hotel guy was very happy.

Sent from my iPhone

Hoosier food

On our last day in Lisbon we decided to take Rebecca's suggestion and we ate at a restaurant called "Real Indiana". Corn dogs. Actually it was an Indian restaurant, one of the best we've eaten at.

Manueline cloister screen

At the Royal Cloister in Batalha,
The crosses are the symbol of both the King of Portugal and the Order of Christ, the order of knights whose wealth was used by Prince Henry the Navigator to pay for the voyages of exploration.

St. Anthony, patron saint of Portugal

Posada

The Diana Temple with a Cathedral tower and our posada.

Evora

A roman temple in the walled city of Evora, a small town south of Lisboa. We are staying at a posada at the edge of the temple. The posada is in a former Monestery. We are staying in cell no. 105. Not a lot of meditation there tonight.

View from the top

Looking down from one of the palaces to a Moorish castle below.

Summer palaces

Sintra is where the Portuguese Royals had their summer palaces. It is on a mountain with views to the sea. Lots of beautifully landscaped gardens.

Sintra

Well we made it to Sintra. We decided to go to the railway station and see if we could get a train. Probably because Sintra is a big tourist destination, a train left about 15 minutes after we got to the station.
Getting back was a bit more dicey. We ended up on a train going to a different station. But a taxi took care of the problem.

The big news

A national strike tomorrow. Puts a wrench in our works . We were planning to take a train tomorrow. And we waited too long to book a tour- all sold out.

Sent from my iPhone

The cloister

Vasgo da Gama's tomb

Jeronimos Monestery

In celebration of Vasgo da Gama's successful return from discovering a sea route to India, Manuel built the Jeronimos Monestery, where da Gama is buried.

Torre de Belem

To Belem (after Bethlehem )today. The tower (shown) is where the Tejo River enters the Atlantic. It was the last thing sailors saw as they left Lisbon and the first thing they saw when they returned.
It was built by Manuel I in the Manueline style.

Royal Cloisters

Batalha.

John I

And his English queen Philippa, parents of Henry the Navigator, entombed at Batalha.

Tomb

Of Prince Henry the Navigator, Batalha.