Monday with the animals

Joanne arrived at 6:30 this morning from Chicago via Washington DC.  She appears to have the same need for sleep that we had yesterday.  8)

The first day of the week was reserved for some sightseeing as we recover from jet lag.  So, we spent 1.5 hours driving south to the Bandia nature preserve.  In two hours there, we drove around in an open safari car and saw rhinos, giraffe, antelope, a python, and other attractions.  After lunch, we headed back to Dakar by way of the "pink lake" (Lac Rose).  The pink lake is a natural salt lake about one kilometer in diameter.  A man rows a boat onto the lake, gets out into the 1.5 meter deep saline and digs crystaline salt off of the bottom of the lake into the boat.  The boat will hold a TON on salt - so it is a long process.  Then he brings the boat back to shore, a woman empties it onto the beach and the salt dries for eventual bagging and shipment.  The woman get's 1/6 of the boat load as payment - and gets to sell her portion first.  The man also slathers his body with protective oils to counter the harsh conditions.  The lake is pink during daylight hours (and normal weather conditions) because microscopic plant life lives in the saline and turns pink during photosynthesis (instead of green).

After these adventures, we spent another hour on the road back into Dakar.  After dinner, Carol and others had a meeting with the UMW (United Methodist Women) chapter of the church here to talk about their plans and needs.  They are running the guest house that we are staying in and have done a nice job of sprucing it up - even hot running water!  They are looking to open another guest house in Mbour where more tourism is present and could use the accommodations.

-- Tom