doing touristy stuff

 

A post in a Senegal facebook group asked if anyone wanted to join a small group of people who were planning a day out to Bandia Nature Reserve and Accrobaobab, as they had space in their vehicle.  Two touristy places (the nature reserve mostly filled with animals imported from South Africa), but I hadn't been to either and it seemed like a better use of my time than yet another day staring at my laptop screen.  Thankfully they turned out to be a nice group of people (from Senegal, the US and Cape Verde) and the social side went smoothly.

At the reserve we took a two-hour tour (that turned into closer to three hours as the guide had to wait for feeding time to find the white rhino), in the back of an open vehicle that allowed us all to get the photos we wanted - imported impala, nyala, eland, roan antelope, kudu, zebra, giraffe, ostrich and buffalo, alongside native creatures such as warthog, patas and vervet monkeys, crocodiles and of course birds.

There are no predators in the 3,500-hectare reserve (hyenas are kept separately in a fenced-in enclosure) and the animals allow the vehicles to get reasonably close.  It didn't feel particularly authentic - especially once we saw some stacks of food which had been delivered whilst we were in a different section of the park - but of course it is always nice to look at such animals and some pictures, such as this of the roan antelope, do at least look authentic!

After the tour, I quickly went round the reptile house (which included a beautiful green mamba and another snake whose name I missed that burrowed itself entirely under the sand), and we stopped for an early lunch overlooking a large watering hole, keeping a watching eye on the green vervet monkeys which loiter and run on to the tables to steal food when people look away.  I'm afraid I wasn't a very good vegetarian today as I couldn't resist the antelope burger.

After lunch we moved on to the nearby Accrobaobab - an 'adventure playground' amongst the baobab trees.  Not really my thing - zip-lining between baobab trees has never been on my bucket list - but some of the others were keen to have a go, and rather than just sit there waiting for them I decided I had to participate!  Not the seven-stage, $29, affair that they were signing up for, just the single $7.50 zip-line down a 315 metre descent from a platform 24 metres up in a baobab tree.

I signed the waiver form, ticking the box to confirm that I have Senegalese-compliant public liability insurance (cough, cough) and they put on my harness.  Apparently it all complies with European safety standards, but I notice that the form said we would have a compulsory trial run, and that never happened.  Rather we walked a little way through the forest and then were faced with a tall baobab tree with a very rickety-looking wood-and-rope ladder up to the platform.  The instructor duly clipped me onto the safety harness and I made my way (slowly!) up the ladder ... this was the view I then had back down to the ground:

The instructor followed, attached me to the zip-line, and told me to go.

What a moment!!  I knew I was properly attached, and the equipment all looked to be in great condition ... but to just step off the platform into the void like that??!  Every fibre of my body was telling me not to do it ... but of course I had to, and as soon as I did I started sliding down the line, feeling very safe and very glad I'd taken the plunge!  This is me at the end of the course, feeling rather pleased with myself!