Hangin' With the Pelicans in Ngor

(Photos, top to bottom:  fisher-pelican and goats;  US flag in alley;  looking across from Ngor village to Ngor Island)

Randi and I joined the Behar family on a walk through Ngor village yesterday afternoon.  NGor is situated just north of the Almadies, toward the north end of the Cap-Vert Peninsula.  The island of Ngor is just across a protected bay, popular with swimmers, snorkelers, and surfers, with a point break on both ends of the island.  

This fishing community is Lebu, as is much of the peninsula.  They maintain a unique relationship with pelicans, a kind of you-scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours.  The local pelicans, while unrestrained, hang out like pets.  They accompany the fishermen out on the water, and help locate fish, for which they are fed.  Thus the relationship.  A few select Lebu communicate with the pelicans, through pelicanese (my term).  Sure enough, there they were, hanging out on the beach, with the goats, and the traditional Senegalese pirogues (boats), not shy at all about our presence.