[afrigeek] Fwd: Dakar arrival notes...

[Geert Jan de Groot]

Hi folks,


typing this from my hotel room in Dakar, I thought it would be good to
share some details on how my arrival went.

Before I start, please note that workshop hotel and dorms will be
different places this year - separated by what is today a 7-minute taxi
ride. It's a bit like what we had in Lusaka, in Mozambique, and other
places. Also note that due to capacity multiple dorm hotels are used.
Again, not a problem - but be aware that a walk-up to your room is
actually a ride, plan accordingly.

Temperature in Dakar is currently 23-ish degrees. Forecasts vary a bit.

Arrival - I arrived on Air France and there were a lot of people
arriving. Be prepared to wait a bit. The officer only asked me where I'd
stay, took picture and fingerprints and stamped my passport.

Baggage belt took a while, too. There is a forex office in the baggage
area, if you want to change cash you can do it there while waiting for
baggage (I got EUR 1 == CFA 656 there).

Surprise - the baggage carts require a 1-Euro coin to unlock. Didn't
know this, didn't expect, didn't carry a 1-Euro coin  and getting change
was not simple - you may want to stick a 1-Euro coin with you.

Customs was painless - baggage got X-rayed but no questions asked (not
even about the stroopwafels ;-) and I was out quick.

I was met by Mohamed _after_ customs, he had a sign. I don't know if the
LOC makes other arrangements later but this is what I got and it was
quite OK.

Getting SIMs - Senegal, like many countries, has SIM card registration.
There was a huge queue at Orange that moved very, very slowly. There was
no queue at the other operators and after advice about coverage I got
TIGO instead and it has worked for me. The instructor wiki has / will
have details. It's 3 SIMs per passport max.
While I wanted to have a number as soon as possible and wasn't sure
about shops closed on sunday, today I found that the workshop hotel
(Radisson) has a mall next door which has Orange (upstrairs) and TIGO
(downstairs) offices that were open even today. If the queue at the
airport is long, you may want to do your SIMs there.
FWIW, I'm staying at Good Rade and the wifi is quite OK too.

The new Dakar airport is at quite a distance from Dakar. Mohamed drove
for quite a bit, passed several toll roads, it was all routine to him
and it was smooth.

So, all in all a smooth ride - hope to see many of you in the days to come!


GJ