We began the day with a long bus ride to the bird reserve, a World Heritage site. After several hours on the bus we were glad to take a couple of pirogues out along the waterway which hosts 360 species of migratory birds (along with warthogs, cattle, and crocodiles). After some concerns having to do with low tide (NOT our weight), we spent a leisurely couple of hours enjoying the beauty around us. We had several opportunities to feed some membes to the crocs, but we refrained. All in all, it was well worth the logistical problems to get to see something that most visitors to Senegal don't, because of the arcane travel involved.
Back in St. Louis, we hit the market associated with the jazz festiveal. It was a Pan-African market, so there were stalls with goods from several other west African countries. The sellers were much less aggressive than those in the Dakar market, but the places was still very crowded and full of goods. Some of us found the local artisanal market, where goods were locally produced. I saw one man working a silversmith's anvil, so I knew his stuff was authentic. This was also the first time we heard street musicans, but alas, they were catering to the tourist trade here for the jazz festival, as they sang, "Bienvenu a Senegal". It was fascinating that there were no melody intruments in a 6-piece group. Everyone was playing something percussive and homemade, and yet they made great music.
After a trip back to the hotel and some down time, we headed back into the city for dinner, which, because of the festival, turned into a bit of an ordeal. The minimum wait was an hour and a half, and some of us, even after waiting that long, found out the hard way that the restaurant was out of food, so there were only apps available for dinner. By the time we finished it was almost midnight, so we bused it back to the hotel in order to hit the road early the next day for Touba.
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