Ile de Madeleine

There are three main islands off the coast of Dakar: 1) Ngor - a beach/resorty island, 2) Goree - the historical island with museums about the slave trade and history, and is filled with vendors, 3) Madeleine - a huge rock jetting out of the ocean that is a National Park. On Saturday, I went to Isle de Madeleine with a group of friends. It was the last of the islands that I had not been to. The National Park Office is on a dirty beach a little bit outside of downtown and consists of a building with tents beside it where I think the workers sleep, and a sign that reminds you to take care of wildlife. We had to pay 5,000cfa ($10) each for the boat ride to the island. But once we got there, there were only the people from our boat the entire day… so about 12 people total. It was wonderful! The ocean around the island is such a beautiful turquoise. The rock formations are absolutely incredible! There's a lagoon in the middle of the island to swim at and a very small beach. We made ourselves comfortable on a rock slab that jetted into the lagoon. We all went swimming and wandering around the island. I made it along one side, but was unable to go hike to the top and see all the baobab trees because my back was hurting a lot (I know I sound like an old woman, but I was in an unbelievable amount of pain after a while). So I relaxed and watched the ocean and the waves. There was a lot of wildlife on the island as well, birds, crabs, fish, and such. When swimming in the lagoon, beautifully colored fish came up and swam around me. So very cool. I repeatedly tried to catch one of them, but it was on to me and always was just a little too fast. Shade is very limited on the island, unless you hide in the shadow of some of the rocks… which is doable. But I'm definitely darker than I was when I arrived there Saturday morning. Later that night I was hanging out with some friends who told me that if I go back to the island a few more times I'll be Senegalese, because I will be so dark. I think it's more likely that if I spend much time on the island I will turn into a tomato. Not many Senegalese go to the island due to the high price of the boat ticket when there's nothing on the island. Many Senegalese can justify the 5,000cfa it costs to get to Ile de Goree, because there is so much on the island… but the appeal of nature and the national park on Ile de Madeleine simply doesn't cut it for them. But it's quite beautiful.