Five days ago I left the tranquillity of Abene, a beach and tropical paradise village in Senegal’s southwest coast in the Casamance region and headed to Ziguinchor, the capital of that region. After a night there in hot dry weather, I began the long journey by sept-place (seven seat) taxi to Tambacounda, in Senegal’s eastern region and near the border with north-west Mali. It was a long journey. I went to the sept-place garage around 6 am and waited an hour for the car to fill up.
