This week Nick has given me free reign to discuss our Thanksgiving trip we took last week with several embassy friends to Pointe Serene, Senegal. I was so kind that I even let him tag along with us.

A couple of months ago, the Community Liaison Office (CLO) at the embassy sent out a feeler for interested parties in taking trip a down to Senegal, and staying at the Riu Baobab Resort at Pointe Serene. Pristine beaches and a brand new all-inclusive resort??? I think we replied to the email within 2 whole minutes affirming our interest in going.

One of the appeals of this trip was that it would be a road trip through Southern Mauritania into the heart of Senegal, affording us a chance to see a part of both countries we might never see by air. Plus, an African road trip just sounds like one of those cool once in a lifetime experiences, so why wouldn’t we?

We began our 350 mile journey early in the morning, and caravanned with several other Embassy families. While 350 miles might be a 4-5 hour road trip in the United States on our solid Interstate system, in West Africa that translates closer to a 10 hour journey. And what a journey it was, here are some road trip photos of what you can see while cruising through Southern Mauritania.

Driving through Southern Mauritania to the border with Senegal was honestly the faster portion of the trip. It was also my favorite part. Southern Mauritania is just beautiful marshlands that quickly makes you forget that a couple of hours north is a sea of dunes. It was easily one of the most beautiful places I have been to, and seeing some Warthogs and Flamingos in the area added to the magic.

From there we hit the border which on the Mauritania side was a long and bumpy dirt road to get to a small checkpoint that took roughly an hour to go through. From there you get into Senegal, and have to go through their entry process, which was another 30 minutes. By the time we got through it all, we found ourselves in St. Louis, Senegal, which is the old colonial capital of French West Africa. We took a very nice lunch break at a beautiful resort called Rancho de Bango (probably the best meal of the trip), and then hit the road for our resort South of Dakar.

Driving through Senegal was really interesting and beautiful in it’s own right. Once you cross that border, immediately the geography changes to images most people have of Africa. A stunning savannah. Demographically, things change drastically too. While Mauritania is much more aligned with Arab/North Africa in it’s population makeup and culture, hitting Senegal you see a predominately Sub Saharan African population.

Once at the resort we quickly found our bearings and Nick found his favorite swim up bar. Opened just this year, the Riu Baobab was a welcome vacation from the last few months of living in Mauritania. The food was quite good with tons of fresh fruit offered everywhere. It was also all-inclusive, so there wasn’t much thought that went into planning meals. It was definitely a turn your brain off type of vacation (just what the Medical Provider ordered). My eldest daughter (and Nick) loved all the pools and waterslides, and our baby E had a blast on the beach, which was quite lovely with warm water. At night we also got to see a lot of crabs come off the shore to eat all the ubiquitous butterflies from around the resort, which was a unique thing I had never seen. Overall it was a perfect time to unwind.

If there were any negatives about the resort, one is that all 4 restaurants were buffet, which after being in Mauritania with our limited food choices, wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but al a carte dining would have been nice. The pools were also on the cold side in terms of water temperature, which limited their use for a lot of guests. The resort itself was also pretty sterile and you would have had no clue you were in Africa if you were to have been kidnapped and dropped off there. The clientele was almost exclusively Northern European, with English being spoken heavily around the resort. If you were looking to get a real Senegalese experience and practice your French, this isn’t the place to do it.

Overall it was a lovely family vacation with a lot of our Embassy friends, and we had a great time. Road tripping through West Africa was also pretty surreal, a great life experience that likely never would have happened had we not embarked on this journey together. Would (and likely will) do it again.

Thanks again for reading! –Angeli