Parc National du Delta du Saloum Travel Guide

 grets Says:  The finished product - mussels cleaned, boiled and ready to eat, are now dried on mats on the ground before being sold in the local markets. It is a very labour intensive process for very little return, but at least it provides an income for the villagers. 

 grets Says:  The next step in the process is to boil the mussels to get the shells to open up. In the background you can see the huge mountain of mussel shells which is left over after the edible part has been extracted. 

 grets Says:  The inhabitants of this village make their living by collecting mussels from the surrounding mangroves. The mussels have to be manually cleaned as a first step in the process. 

 grets Says:  We also visited a very different village on one of the many islands, where we were free to walk amongst the huts and the women working. This village had a very different and much friendlier feel to it than the fishing village. The people were very welcoming and charming,... 

 grets Says:  This being a river delta, fish is plentiful here and most of the population make a living from fishing. We visited a small fishing village on ther banks of the river, to see how they catch, dry and prepare the fish. 

 grets Says:  Most of the fish which is caught around these waters are air dried on large tables along the coast, before being sold in the local markets. 

 grets Says:  Known as the 'upside down' tree because its bare branches look like roots jetting out into the sky, the baobab tree dominates the landscape in this reagion. A local tale tells that devil himself uprooted the tree and placed it upside down. The baobab is also believed to have... 

 grets Says:  Even though 90% of the population of Senegal proclaim to be Muslim, animistic beliefs are still very common in rural villages. An animist believes that all earthly objects pocess a soul or spirit. Altars such as this one are found in many villages, with various sacred... 

 grets Says:  The mini bus we were driving from the Gambia across into Senegal, was not air conditioned, so the only way to keep cool was to have all the windows open. The roads are just dry, sandy tracks, which means that all the dust is blown into your vehicle.By the time we reached the... 

 grets Says:  It had been a long and hot day in a tatty old bus with no air conditioning. With the windows open on the dry tracks across the coutryside, the bus became full of dust. We were covered from head to toe in a layer of ed sand (see photo under Warnings and Dangers). Coming to... 

 grets Says:  Although we did find many of the local people hostile and aggressive, the people we visited on the island village were most charming. The women who were cleaning mussels were cheerful, happy, friendly and beautiful! It was a true delight to wander around the island.