It’s easy to let others do the hard work for you. It’s easy to spend more money than you need to and book a tour through a big box operator. You just hop on the bus and try your best not to fall asleep as it carts you around town! Easy! But… where the heck is the fun in that? And what happens when that’s not even an option, like when we tried to cross the border between Senegal and Mauritania? Well, sit back, relax, and let me tell you why you should always find a local guide instead of springing for an expensive tour.
Sometimes the best plan is not having one
Usually, before heading off on a trip, I plan the ever-lovin’ HECK out of it. But Senegal was different. We had absolutely no specific plans or timeframe for doing *anything* other than spending a few days in Dakar, heading up to Saint-Louis, then trying to get out into the middle of the Sahara Desert in Mauritania… somehow. Everything was very loose.
But it’s been my experience that the best way to see a new place isn’t to find a tour operator or jump on a bus and get ferried around to all the gussied-up tourist hot-spots designed to appeal to white folks’ delicate sensibilities. It’s to meet locals who can show you the real thing. The authentic. The gritty day to day of life in their town. Enter Mamadou.
Mamadou
Let me tell you about our friend from Senegal, Mamadou (last name unknown).
I found Mamadou on a site called Showaround.com. It’s a website that helps tourists find a local guide who’s willing to – wait for it – show them around. He had no reviews. He’d never done this before. But we got to talking (and I called on a bit of #TravelMojo) and told him we’d meet up in Dakar. I was expecting he’d show us around for a day and that’d be the end of it.
Narrator Voice: It wasn’t the end of it
Hah. Yeah. Not even close.
Not only did he end up being our personal tour guide and translator for the next week, but he even let us sleep in the apartment he’d been renting when our AirBnB fell through. On New Year’s Eve, he took us to his roof to watch fireworks with friends. Afterward, we paraded through the streets of Dakar til the wee hours of the morning.
The next day, Mamadou took us to the most famous sites in Dakar: the ornate mosque on the ocean, the beaches full of fishing boats, and The African Renaissance Statue. He took us to the street where he grew up and introduced us to his family. He took a boat with us to Goree Island, a pivotal site in the days of the slave trade. A few days later he joined us on our long journey to Saint-Louis, where he introduced us to his SECOND family and his second mother! Ugh. Jealous.
This guy showed us *EVERYTHING*. And to top it all off, for that entire week, between Dakar and Saint-Louis, we didn’t pay for a single meal. We sat on the floors of his and his families’ homes as his friends and mothers made the local dishes they’ve been preparing for generations. His generosity was unparalleled, and those experiences are gifts I’ll hold with me forever.
An Abrupt Ending
After Saint-Louis, he offered to take us to the border with Mauritania and help us cross. The last we saw of him, he was being dragged away from us by Mauritanian police who didn’t want him to be able to translate. They needed to rip us off properly. And to their credit, they succeeded. But I’ll always be grateful to the man who went so far out of his way to take care of us and give us the most authentic travel experience of our lives.
Before reaching the border, we happily gave him a wad of cash for his service. The money meant a hell of a lot more to him than it did to us. Let’s face it – he gave us thousands in value. It was more than a fair deal. When I’m in a developing country and I have the chance to put money in a local’s pocket, I take it. Haggling with folks over a dollar or fifty or a hundred that means nothing to you and everything to them is a travel pet peeve. Give ’em the damn money.
When you find a local guide, you’re getting an authentic experience. But more than that, you’re getting an opportunity to help people who are just trying to make a decent living. I can’t recommend it more highly.
Here’s to Mamadou. Thank you, brother.
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