Special envoy to Ziguinchor
Dolphins frolic in the Casamance River, they make lovely leaps in front of the Kadiandoumagne Hotel, in Ziguinchor, near the Émile-Badiane bridge which the minicar crosses to the
“oh!”
"
passengers.
“They are enjoying the calm waters since the Dakar ferry no longer comes.
But it is an economic catastrophe for this entire region, isolated between
the Gambia
and
Guinea-Bissau
,”
laments Caroline Debonnaire, travel designer for Vision Ethique.
Until the last minute, she had hoped to have her travelers sleep on the boat which provides the maritime link between the capital of Senegal and the large city of Casamance, 270 km to the south.
But Aline
Sitoé Diatta,
named after the heroine who resisted French colonization, has been at a standstill since June 2.
Tourists photograph it when boarding the rowboats which daily connect Dakar to Gorée, just opposite, the museum island, an essential stopover on the slave route.
Its 1,500 inhabitants include guides who do not all have the aura of their griot ancestors, souvenir shop touts with star names, fishermen for the island's restaurants run by families who take care of the cats. , young girls in uniform from the Mariama-Ba national high school of excellence.
The ferry to Ziguinchor has been at the dock since the two-year prison sentence for “
corruption of youth
” of Ousmane Sonko, mayor of the city and opponent.
Read alsoIn Senegal, the fragile awakening of Casamance
“The state suspected that people were taking the boat to Casamance to cause unrest in Dakar. It is a political decision by
President Macky Sall
, who has resentment towards this region which rejected him,”
confided Abdou Sané, municipal councilor of the Casamance capital, to the correspondent of the newspaper
Le Monde
.
The presidential election scheduled for February 25 is causing the Senegalese to oscillate between optimism and resignation.
Because, since 2022, the Ziguinchor aerodrome no longer welcomes planes.
To explore the Casamance, we land at Cap Skirring, with a stopover in Dakar, except for Club Med customers, who have a direct flight from Paris.
Never mind !
The country of the Diolas has seen others… The rutted laterite road of “
"elephant basins" (bigger than potholes) contributes to the change of scenery.
In Kabiline, foreigners are received with the honors of a traditional and participatory festival which summons the spirits, the fetishes, the imagination.
Jérémie VAUDAUX
Termite saliva
“Kassumaye Casamance!” »
(“
hello Casamance!
").
The tourists are back.
Let the sociologist Christian Saglio, who worried about this in his reference work,
Senegal
, be reassured.
They are
“ethical travelers”.
They have changed a little since the epic days when this kind of journey attracted hippies, militant adventurers with fine speeches slung over their shoulders.
Newcomers are driven by a need for meaning, exacerbated since the pandemic.
They are travelers in an organized group who do not have the soul of an adventurer, but a heart of solidarity.
They want to cross landscapes that make you forget everything and meet the inhabitants, especially the villagers, because, as in France, they need rurality to reconnect.
They want to understand heritage
“beyond nature and culture
”,
to quote the anthropologist Philippe Descola.
And then participate in concrete projects that improve the lives of people, first of all.
Improved stoves amaze.
We had never seen this, even if we are told that it exists elsewhere.
The demonstration of the manufacture of the first models was made that Sunday in Kabiline in front of the villagers gathered, and like us, amazed.
In Kabiline, foreigners were received with the honors of a traditional and participatory festival which summons the spirits, the fetishes, the imagination
It's not a privilege (yet), but part of the program to see how this cooker is shaped from clay, cow dung and straw, all bound together by termite saliva, guaranteed to last ten years.
Its use makes it possible to reduce by half the combustion of wood, the overconsumption of which (lack of electricity) is at the origin of the tragic depletion of mangrove trees, which accentuates the salinization of rice fields.
The awareness of the travelers was made just before, in the mangrove, on a canoe which slipped, silently, between the tangled roots of the mangrove trees emerging from the bolongs (the salt water channels) and where small oysters cling that the we eat grilled.
On board, Alioune Badara Diedhiou, water and forest engineer from the AMD Mangrove association, explained the issues, on a passage as bare as a lake, but transplanted with young shoots.
In Kabiline, foreigners were received with the honors of a traditional and participatory festival which summons the spirits, the fetishes, the imagination.
Sacred wood
Then they left for another village, to spend the night in a community camp, with simple but certain comfort, which today's backpackers also do not shy away from.
“It's the nicest accommodation I've found since my three months crossing
Africa
on a motorbike and the best value for money.
Better than a hotel
,” confides Adrian, a young Madrilenian met in an impluvium hut in Séléki, in the kingdom of Bandial, on the Brin crossing trail.
Spanish nuns recommended the place to him.
This village is included in our itinerary, like the neighboring one of Enampore, where there is a sacred grove, or Senghalène, where Joseph, 82 years old, will teach us about the processing of cashew nuts.
In Senegal, “ethical” travel is on the rise, driven by well-known professionals in the sector, such as Terres d'aventure, Double Sens, recently acquired by FairMoove (which worries purists) and Vision Ethique, a pioneer.
Read alsoFrom Saint-Louis to Casamance, top 10 of the best hotels in Senegal
Sixteen years after its creation, the latter is relaunching in the form of a platform in the vein of Travel Friends and Adventurers.
“We want people to meet and for local guides to no longer be frustrated by their invisibility,”
says Caroline Debonnaire, its founder, who worked in the shadow of Evaneos, in Laos.
This pioneer, more gifted in human relations than in commercial relations, has established an exclusive partnership with Alexis Kahn, general director of Trans univers, which designs circuits for communities.
“
Works councils are the future of sustainable tourism,”
he reveals.
“The reality of this industry is a lot of marketing and little sales.
We must rely on the energy of small groups that form by recognizing each other around common values
,”
continues the entrepreneur, who embarked on the adventure with his own funds.
Séléki, a village of round huts with mud walls and thatched roofs.
Valérie SASPORTAS / LE FIGARO
Little Senegalese Florida
Séléki corresponds to our imagination: a village of round huts with mud walls and thatched roofs, with an empty patio in its center to collect light and rainwater.
It is good there in the heat of the day and in the cool of the evening.
It feels like Kirikou, Michel Ocelot's little character.
In this bush village bristling with palm trees, chickens are chased by roosters and sometimes escape through the roof, goats graze on the lush grass, white horned cows look at us indolently (at Cap Skirring, they are browned side on the beach), little black and pink pigs are busy.
And all these little people hurry slowly under a sky full of immense birds and other tiny ones, whose enchanting cries will tear the dawn apart.
French, Belgian, Spanish and German foreigners build land to live there and create, clandestinely, small hotels
Djibril Diatta, president of the board of directors of the village of Elinkine
Séléki is one of the 24 village camps still active out of the 55 that existed in the country fifty years ago.
In 1972 the very first was created, in Elinkine, 43 km west of Ziguinchor, under the leadership of Christian Saglio, then cultural advisor in Dakar.
A unique experience in the world of fair, integrated tourism.
“The goal was to stop the rural exodus. We used the benefits of this reception structure managed by the villagers to help them socially, culturally and medically. This is how Elinkine acquired a dispensary, a maternity ward and several classrooms,”
says Djibril Diatta, president of the board of directors of the village, now deserted, dilapidated, forgotten even by defenders of sustainable tourism who are rediscovering it, dazed.
“Kassumaye?”
» (“How are you?”), welcome you in the Diola language from the inhabitants of “little Senegalese Florida” Valérie SASPORTAS / LE FIGARO
“There is competition,”
he laments.
And a scourge that hurts the residents: French, Belgian, Spanish and German foreigners build land to live there and create, clandestinely, small hotels.
»
Constrained to a single rate by the federation that unites them, some camps also prefer to leave to join the hotel industry, such as No Stress, at Cap Skirring, which has one star which should be taken advantage of.
“
Kassumaye?”
» (“
How are you ?
), welcome you in the Diola language to the inhabitants of the “
little Senegalese Florida.
In the shade of the mango trees, cashew trees, frangipani trees, under the baobabs, cheese trees, these king trees of the forests, travelers receive the strength of the earth.
“
Kassumaye kep!”
" (" I'm doing well !").
Travelogue
Prepare your trip
With Vision Éthique, roaming for 10 days-9 nights from Dakar from March 14 to 22: 1,490 euros per person (excluding flights) based on a group of 3 to 14 participants.
The price includes accommodation in committed hotels and traditional, comfortable accommodation, full board and support from local expert Malick Thioub, founder of West Africa Tours.
On the program, in particular: art workshop on coconut fiber, visit to an eco-museum dedicated to Diola traditions and fetishes, discovery of two eco-responsible village projects that each traveler finances (25 euros donated).
visionethique.com.
Read
Senegal
, by Christian Saglio, 324 pages, €15 (Éditions Grandvaux).
Guide Tao Monde
, published by Viatao, a publishing house specializing in sustainable tourism, €25.
Take away
A first aid kit with antimalarials and any medication for digestive disorders.
Useful: tablets to disinfect water.
As well as eye drops, to clean the eyes.