[afrigeek] Fwd: Dakar arrival notes...

[Badru Ntege]

Thanks GJ

See you on Thursday.  Let us know if there any last minute items we should pack. 

Regards 

Sent from my iPhone

> On 22 Apr 2018, at 23:26, Geert Jan de Groot <geertj at nsrc.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
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