Camping on Ile de Sangomar in the Sine Saloum Delta

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For the complete set of photographs and video, see BOT (Gallery 14).

Ile de Sangomar is a barrier island located in the Sine Saloum Delta National Park some four hours south of Dakar.  Access requires a hour-long pirogue ride from a little fishing village of Djifer.  The island is an oasis, quiet and isolated, with the sea on one side, and the protected waters of the delta on the other.  Having grown up in south Florida, the ecosystem was familiar, with an abundance of land crabs, and the beach strewn with mangrove seed pods, shells and flotsam.  

I joined two ISD families on this trip, the Rutherfords and the Kritzingers, each with two fun and spirited kids, who took the camping experience in stride.

We were accompanied by three young Senegalese guides, who managed the pirogue and handled our fishing excursions.  The fishing was good overall, with the group catching thioff (grouper), red snapper, catfish, and something called a lookdown, scientific name Selene volmer.

I said that the land crabs were in abundance. That's not exactly accurate.  Actually, were we able to peal the upper layer of sand from the island we'd discovered as many land crabs as stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. I believe that seen from space, the island can be observed to quiver with the land crabs scratching their carapaces.  It's creepy.  I don't recommend sleeping outside a tent, and even then expect to have a few dozen night visitors nipping at your tent fly drawn by the cookie crumbs.

I thought it would it would be fun to take my 6th graders camping on the island.  I could explain:  Look kids, there are lots of crabs here, and they're very annoying, so here's the plan. Dig a shallow trench around your sleeping bag, and sprinkle one or two full bags of potato chips into the trench, being careful to distribute the crumbs evenly, just to be sure the crabs don't sneak through!

I'm bad, I know.  But wouldn't you love a copy of the videotape?!