Mundus maris

First impressions upon arrival in Dakar

In the following, a few first spontaneous impressions, collected during the travel and the rich human encounters, are presented on these pages describing the preparatory phase of the project. These will be documented and elaborated in greater detail after the trip.

Upon arrival in Dakar, Carla ZICKFELD and Stefan KARKOW were offered a warm welcome by Aliou SALL. Dalal AK Diam.

They were impressed by the very special atmosphere of Dakar in Senegal and the warmth of the reception. The first photos are coming through.

They stopped at a group of griots from Guinea who were chanting and making music for their fellow guestworkers from this neighbouring country of Senegal.

See the action here live (click here for a short video).

On the way to Aliou's home, they naturally passed some of the typical scenes of colourful busses, ensuring a good deal of the public transport (see above), street peddlers and shoppers.

At lunch time, Aliou's family extended a warm welcome to Carla and Stefan.

Together they enjoyed a richly flavoured traditional meal uniting everybody around a huge plate, Trébou Dieune.

The dish consists of rice and fish. After this, Aliou prepared the dessert - cutting the coconut with the machete. Hands are still on and the coco and mangoes were as delicious as the main dish.

After this first encounter with people and food, the visit of the Biennale of Dakar was on the programme, before its successful conclusion on 7 June 2010.

Turn the page to get some impressions.