Gorée Island Day Trip from Dakar: House Of Slaves
Senegal
Missed my earlier posts about Senegal? Click here to read more about my time there.
The main reason I’ve come to Senegal is to see Goree Island. After going to Cape Town in 2019 and learning so much more about slavery than I ever did in school or real life, I was driven to try and learn about what happened, how and why. I knew this was a port where slaves were shipped to the Americas, and I wanted to see it for myself.
Getting to Goree Island and exploring it are at once easy and difficult. First, as I mentioned in my last post, the museum isn’t open every day. Officially, it’s closed on Monday, and open Tuesday – Sunday from 10:30 – 6:30pm with a lunch break from 12 – 2:30pm, when it’s closed.
Before going to Senegal, I joined a couple of Facebook groups, one of them is called Senegal Travel Tips. There’s not a ton of activity, but it was useful for questions like how do I find a guide for Goree Island? (Note, I think the group does have a lot of tour guides as members, and if I learn anything about Senegal, they are excellent sales people!) I knew I didn’t want to pay for a day tour (those can cost hundreds of dollars and it’s just not necessary since you can take the boat from Plateau on your own), but hiring a local guide seems recommended both because you’re supporting the Economy, and because you’ll have a deeper experience by doing it.
Through the group, I meet Cherif. He’s responsive and seems reliable, so we hire him as our guide. We meet Cherif at the boat terminal. Pro tip: you must bring your passport to gain admittance to the docks. This works out great because there’s a long line for tickets. But, Cherif, as a tour guide, gets us tickets in less than five minutes, and we’re inside the terminal waiting for our boat! The first thing I notice is, this is the largest number of tourists I’ve seen in one place so far in Dakar. By that, I also mean, the largest number of white people all together in one place. It’s interesting to realize how aware I am of this because, up until now, Julie and I have been virtually the only white people in most places we’ve gone.
Cherif is very aware of what’s going on and helps us get onto the boarding line quick enough that we get great seats on the upper deck. It’s perfect because it’s a gorgeous, sunny day! (Actually, every day of our trip was sunny. There wasn’t even a drop of rain our entire trip.)
The ride over is calm and it’s beautiful to be outside as we go. Along the way, we pass a giant boat which, apparently, supplies power to Senegal. Researching a bit, I found this link, if you’re interested in that sort of thing! A woman with black thick-framed glasses chats up Julie and I and tells us we must visit her shop on the island. She tells us this at least three times.
About 30 minutes later, we arrive at Goree Island. There’s a, dare I say, beautiful inlet. We pull into the dock and disembark. The woman with the thick-framed glasses reminds us that we MUST stop by her booth as we get off the boat. As we walk into the town, we pass a donkey-drawn cart, and a dog that appears to be pals with the horse. Just hanging out. Julie and I are in need of sustenance so Cherif takes us to a small cafe outside the main tourist drag. Along the walk there, we spot many stray cats, to my delight. After breakfast, we walk around the immediate area and discover The Statue Of Liberation Of Slaves, which is quite poignant.
Dog and donkey hanging out
Cats admiring the view
“Please feed me your breakfast. I’m hungry.” I did.
Statue of Liberation Of Slaves
Cherif then walks us towards the center of town. This is where things get strange. We’re on an island renowned for shipping slaves to other parts of the world, many of whom died, and the streets are…beautiful. Colorful buildings, beautiful flowers. As it turns out, there’s a small population of people that now live on Goree Island full-time, and it’s apparently extremely safe. There are also hotels so you can stay on the island. Quite frankly, if I came back, I would be tempted do that. There’s a very special feeling here, bizarrely, of peace and beauty. I spend our trip emotionally conflicted between the paradox of beauty and happiness of people there today, with the horror of the history of this island.
There’s a stunning baobab tree in the center as well as some statues of Blaise Diagne, mayor of Dakar from 1925-1934. He was born on Goree Island and was the first person of West African descent to be elected to the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of Parliament in France) and the first to hold a position in the French government. (Wikipedia).
From here we head to the museum that’s the main reason most tourists come here. It closes at 2, so we have a short time to get inside before they close for lunch, which we manage to do.
Cherif walks us through the horribly small, stone, rooms and explains how children were separated from their parents, husbands separated from wives, chained to walls and many died from the horrible conditions. Slaves who misbehaved were put into a small solitary room. Too many people lived crowded into small spaces. Women were used for sex by traders and enslavers there, and if they declined, were often punished. If they accepted, and got pregnant, they were allowed to remain until they gave birth. He shows us how slaves would have been chained within the room if they had misbehaved.
In addition to poor living conditions, Cherif explains that there was no doctor. If a slave weighed less than 121 pounds, they were fattened with beans and kept in a small room. They either traveled to America or stayed on Goree as domestic servants. Senegal is close to the Americas so it’s a strategic location. I wondered how they captured the slaves, and Cherif said they got locals to grab slaves by promising guns and beer to the locals. So they were sometimes turned in by their own people. This feels even more tragic. Every month, 20 boats went out from Goree with 350 – 400 slaves. One out of every five would die along the way.
The Door Of No Return is harrowing, as you can imagine. It’s a door to the sea, the unknown, nothing. Knowing that the people who walked through it and onto a ship would never see their homes again, their families, and might not even live through the voyage, I can’t help but imagine their pain. The rest of the museum describes the route of the ships to the Americas, and describes the conditions and some of the politics. There are also photos of many world leaders who have come here, including US Presidents, and the Pope. If you go to Senegal, I feel you cannot skip coming here.
At least 20 people would have lived in this room.
Cherif demonstrates how people were chained to the columns
Outside the Door Of No Return
At the museum exit
After visiting the museum, we head outside and up a hill. Artisans are everywhere. The creativity here is amazing. Again, not necessarily anything I need to buy, but I really enjoy seeing the creativity.
Cherif brings us to a canon, which is no longer used, but used to shoot boats that didn’t pay a tax. As we wander, we see signs of people living there; laundry hung out to dry, satellite TV dishes, and kids playing. It seems so normal I can’t get my head around it. In the main part of the village there’s a Christian church, and even a doctor’s office. Again, colorful, normal life.
At the end of our exploration, we end up at the town center again, and the woman with thick-rimmed glasses from our morning boat spots us. She runs over and is very upset we haven’t visited her shop. Cherif helps us gracefully move on, and I tell her I will be by later. We take some photos by the dock, then Cherif leaves, while we decide to linger until the next boat, and grab a drink. I order the drink he recommended which is good for the stomach. It’s supposed to prevent an upset stomach. For me, it had the opposite effect, oops!
I take a few last photos and with little time to spare before our boat back to Dakar, I run to the woman’s shop with thick glasses. It turns out to be all souvenirs that look like they’re from China. I have no interest and buy nothing, which is very upsetting to her. Pro Tip: the crafts outside the main markets on Goree appear to be hand-made crafts. Inside the markets, you’ll find mostly trinkets and souvenirs you can find anywhere, and probably don’t want.
Julie and I line up for the boat. It’s a lot of pushing and people trying to get to the front, made worse by the fact that the boat is 30 minutes late. The floodgates open and we manage seats on top again.
Once back in Dakar we walk through Ouakam again where we find an excellent Japanese restaurant, Izakaya. I can’t find them apart from Google Maps, their address is villa 99, Mamelles in Dakar. Along the way there, I finally get a photo of one of theose barber shops! It’s been a fascinating day, and I’m so happy to have gotten to Goree Island.
The barber shop mid-street everywhere in Dakar
Find out in 2 minutes
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