Intended Travel to The Gambia
Good day. October 22nd. Today we were intending to get to The Gambia, but that didn’t quite happen as planned. In the morning, a French family was ready to go and had a driver organized. I asked where the driver was taking them, and it turned out to be the Bandia Reserve, about 20–25 kilometers from where we were.
Deciding to Visit Bandia Reserve
The Bandia Reserve is where most of the animals are in Senegal, and you can actually view them. So, I decided to join the family, even though it was in the opposite direction of our planned route to The Gambia. On the way, we had to go through most of Mbour, including the area policed by the Salih Police Department.
Police Stop and Tinted Window Ticket
Sure enough, we got stopped again. This officer decided that having tinted windows was against the law, even though our tinting is only on the back windows. He wrote a ticket, and even after I showed him that we already had four tickets (at 3,000 CFA each), he insisted those were only valid for 24 hours, which had expired. At least we now knew where the police station was.
Resolving the Ticket
With a better route this time, I wasn’t inclined to pay for something that didn’t make sense. Using my half-French, I eventually reached the person responsible for the decision. After some discussion, the question of where the car was registered came up. Since it wasn’t registered in Senegal, the officer decided it wasn’t valid to issue the ticket for tinted windows, which I couldn’t easily change anyway. He canceled the ticket. I then went back to the officer who issued it to retrieve my driver’s license. He wasn’t happy about the cancellation and warned that if he saw it again, he would issue another ticket—but it didn’t matter. We got our license back and decided to avoid that location in the future.
Wildlife Tour at Bandia Reserve
We headed to the Bandia Reserve and waited a bit before getting a vehicle for a guided tour. The tour was fantastic. We mostly saw giraffes, but also zebras, rhinos, crocodiles, and more. It was about an hour and a half of watching wildlife, and the reserve had good facilities. While probably not cheap, it was worthwhile, as we wouldn’t have seen any of these animals in Senegal otherwise.
Journey to Kaolack
After the reserve, we continued toward Kaolack, the next step on our way to The Gambia. We arrived around 6 p.m., which wasn’t enough time to reach The Gambia, so we canceled that leg. At first, we couldn’t find hotels using our usual channels. The most desirable option was fully booked, so we stayed at the Paris Hotel. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked. Staying in hotels is still preferred over camping for now, though that might change later.
Dinner and Reflections
We found a place in town to have dinner, and it was a good meal. Tomorrow promises a border crossing and a longer drive to finally reach The Gambia. Thanks for coming along on today’s adventures!
