A Sunday Afternoon Visit to Ile de Madeleine

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Photo 1:  cove at Ile de Madeleine, low tide;  photo 2:  sacred baobab;  photo 3:  shipwrecked boat, Mamelles in the background;  photo 4:  bored basalt stone discovered today;  photo 5 & 6: Selma S. and Damir P. climbing in baobab;  photo 7:  Kemper S. on boat returning to Dakar;  photo 8:  Damir and his pop, Colin, Selma and Kemper's mum and pop, Jodi and Scott.

Randi and I joined two ISD families on an excursion to Ile de Madeleine yesterday.  Selma's grandpop, Steve, an archaeology buff with expertise in Mayan hieroglyphics, was visiting from the States, and the trip was a nice opportunity to explore the prehistory of Senegal.

Our English-speaking guide, Ibrahima, was exceptional.  He majored in environmental science, has been recently studying business management, and volunteers for the national park on the side.   Ibrahima is Lebu, from Dakar, another remarkable bit of serendipity, for his knowledge of the sacrifices associated with Ile de Madeleine and the local jinns.  It is Ibrahima's opinion that an increasing number of young people are loosing contact with traditional values, an idea I'd been wondering about.  He offered to help with contacts in the Lebu community familiar with the history of the Lebu, and the location of sacred places.

On our walkabout, I discovered the basalt stone shown in photo 4, which had a hole bored on one side, certainly an artifact, but for what purpose and how old?  I shared the image with Mr. Camara, manager of the UCAD Archaeology Lab, who showed me another object in the collection of a similar shape, thought to have been used for grinding grain, of Neolithic age.

The baobab tree, shown in photo 2, is considered sacred.  A guide on a previous trip explained that a marabout from Dakar periodically comes to the island to conduct ceremonies next to this tree.  He described the place as a mosque, sacred, where one should remove one's shoes out of respect for the jinn.  Ibrahima confirmed the accuracy of this.

I'm inclined to obtain permission to spend the night on the island, just to sleep in that spot, and invite the jinn to visit.  Want to come?