A Sunday Afternoon Visit to Ile de Madeleine

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R and I spent the afternoon on Ile de Madeleine with Eric G., a visiting friend from Seattle, Todd, and a French colleague of Eric's from UNHCR. 

It's a little iffy getting to Madeleine these days, at least that's how I perceive it, with the winter swells up, and the off-shore winds howling.  The swells were up, running over 6 feet, but they didn't prevent us from getting access.

We wandered the island with two Senegalese guides.  Here's what I learned that was new:

It was confirmed that the jinn who inhabits Madeleine is male, and that the female jinns who inhabit Goree, N'Gor and Yoff are his wives.  The Lebu people from Dakar had traditionally come to Madeleine for make sacrifices to the jinn in hopes of attracting good fortune.  With the founding of the National Park, and the prohibitive cost of getting to the island, the people stopped coming, and today carry out sacrifices on the mainland.

The shell mounds are, according to our guides, in part, attributable to the Lebu.  The guides explained that the Lebu visitors reused intact prehistoric ceramic pots, so while the pots themselves are very old, they may have been reused in recent times.  

Today, Lebu fishermen still land on the island, but limit themselves to the easternmost beach, choosing to remain of the margin of the island, thus not provoking the jinn.

We passed a baobab tree adjacent to a small clearing bordered by stones.  A guide explained that the site was a sacred place, like a mosque, and that one should remove their shoes when entering the spot.   A marabout from Dakar periodically comes to this place to seek the presence of the island's jinn. 

Photos 1-5 were taken in the same locale, around several large shell mounds.  The little ceramic vessel in photos 2 & 3 was the first I've seen.  Photo 4 & 5 show the distribution of ceramic shards and shells.

By the way, the water's COLD, 64 degrees F!

So much to learn and experience.