Wandering around Downtown Dakar on a sleepy Sunday

Last weekend I took a day to go explore some of the main sights Dakar has to offer. It was also my first time going to downtown Dakar, the southern tip known as the Plateau that is the city’s center of gravity. As it turns out, it was also the first such trip for my visiting companion, Fatou, the 11-year-old granddaughter of my host family’s patriarch.

I expect this will be one of a very small number of photos
of Dakar with so little traffic and no pedestrians

As I’ve since discovered, walking around the Plateau on a Sunday is a different experience from any other day of the week. In Senegal, Sunday is the day of rest, which surprised me since Senegal is 95% Muslim, and the streets of Dakar are empty, in sharp contrast with the bustling traffic I’d encounter later that week in the same areas.

There are two roads to get from Mermoz where I live to Downtown Dakar: along the coast and empty beaches, or past a dizzying array of street markets.

Do NOT attempt to take photos of the presidential
palace outside of the main entrance

The main entrance, where photos are permitted, but
lingering or taking too many photos is not advisable.
If you want to take a few extra minutes, I recommend
frequently emitting admiring sounds and phrases in French to
your companion, including about how important the guards are

The presidential palace, which takes up several city blocks, is a small city, with multiple buildings and inner streets behind the walled off premises. Except for the main entrance, photos are not allowed, and even in front of the main entrance you cannot stop for long. When I hailed a taxi in the roundabout opposite it, several armed guards immediately and clearly gestured for us to get into the cab a block away. The colorful uniform of the Presidential Guard who stands outside the front gate seems directly descended from colonial uniforms. 

The main entrance to the presidential palace. Behind the guard, two Senegalese lions protect the entrance to the building

The area around the presidential palace is at once pristine and austere. It lacks human warmth, opting for a form of plastic perfection instead.  Opposite the main entrance is a beautiful park, that is especially well-maintained by local standards, whose immaculate state further reinforces the sense of separation from everyday Dakar.

Behind the presidential palace, a long road winds along the coast, offering views of the sea that suggest the vista the president enjoys.

Walking back to the Place de l’Indépendence, Dakar’s central square, after the carefully isolated perfection of the presidential palace, I was struck by the juxtaposition of carefully painted colonial-style government buildings and dusty 1960s-1970s style building. It creates a jarring effect of being somehow caught in the past, as if nothing had changed since the early years of independence. It’s a hard feeling to describe. Behind the main square, and indeed on many of the streets connecting important government buildings, you plunge back into the lively, human Dakar. Having been back since, I know now that this is in part a Sunday-specific experience -- during the week, the bustling traffic and busy street life help attenuate the sense of being caught in the past instilled by the architecture.

A block away from the place de l'Independence, less than 10
minutes from the palace, I'm back in human-scale Dakar with
its rich odors, small architectural jewels, and lack of planning

The imposing Central Bank of West African States,
with a 1970s tower and a more modern glass annex

Walking around the imposing buildings of the Senegalese government, one doesn’t get a sense of imposing power, but rather a tired, sleepy, authority. In Dakar, large centers of power require large buildings, whether it’s the governmental centers of power, or the financial might of banks. Banks stand out in particular not only due to their size, but because of their height: while most government buildings in Dakar spread out more than they rise, banks provide a towering contrast. Moreover, some banks feature glass facades that stand out by their modernity, compared to the colonial architecture of many governmental buildings and 1970s colors of some of Dakar’s main hotels.

Moreover, I've come to learn that when helping a taxi establish a general sense of your destination (more on that tomorrow), banks are among the most useful landmarks you can find -- far more so than government buildings, including ministry headquarters.

The Monument de la Renaissance
Africaine, a modest undertaking

Youth of Africa
and of the Diaspora,
If one day your feet bring you
to the foot of this Monument,
Think of those who sacrificed their
life or their freedom,
For the Rebirth of Africa

Leaving the Plateau, I got in a cab to go north. beyond Mermoz, to the Monument of African Renaissance. When I arrive at "the Monument" as inhabitants call it, a massive project undertaken by former President Wade and inaugurated in 2011, I’m struck by the size and lack of refinement of the enormous figures. They’re meant to project power and vigor, not elegance, and radiate brute strength with little grace. Located in an isolated area, north of the Plateau, the statues sit atop a hill, surrounded by nothingness, and seem eerily disconnected from reality – the urban reality of Dakar, and the social reality of the Senegalese people. We walk up the steps just as the staff is returning from lunch break, and I witness the guard go inside to fetch what appears to be the main tool of non-military security guards in Dakar, a plastic chair on which to sit.

The sweeping view of the city from the top of the Monument contrasts with the emptiness of its surroundings.

Colorful art adorns the walls, which is the only thing in the
Monument that seems to fit in with the rest of Dakar

Inside the Monument, in addition to an elevator that takes you to the top for a view of Dakar, there are art exhibits meant to illustrate and glorify the contributions of the African peoples. The exhibits change on a regular basis, and include gifts from artists as well as nations. 

A guide walks you through each room, helpfully providing information about the provenance of each work of art, but little else. 

Fatou poses in front of a pair of royal thrones, which inspired her:
she asked me to call her Queen Fatou the entire way home.