Day 4: The Sacred Baobab

Day 4 (October 23, 2023)

Today it's time to sleep in. After breakfast we chill out by the pool and play a fun game called “toss the bag” at the activity pool 🤣🤪

We saw this in advance in the “event calendar” in the RIU app and were already wondering what that could be!? So today before lunch we'll just walk by the pool and see what this strange game of "throwing the bag" can be. We've already imagined the funniest scenarios and are almost disappointed by what they actually involve: sinking small bags (i.e. "pockets") into a hole on a wooden board. I win twice! Yay! 🤣

After lunch we chill by the pool. It is hot! Very hot! Without the wind it would be almost unbearable. At the pool, the employees are constantly busy gluing the small pool mosaic stones back onto the pool loungers. A small group of children have great fun scraping the mosaic tiles from the loungers and then playing with them. Almost all loungers have “mosaic holes”. Very unsightly and of course also uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the kids' parents seem to be left unaffected - no one intervenes.

Mosaic – why do people still do something like that today!? Actually it's no longer up to date and it's really shocking how broken and dirty the stones and joints are after just over a year. This doesn't seem to bother most vacationers. I try to ignore it. In any case, I won't set foot in the pool with the swim-up bar anymore. Even today, the “drinking group” has been in the pool with beer and cocktails since 10 a.m. and doesn't seem to be moving anywhere else until sunset. Well, to each their own. Tour groups also cavort around in the main pool with cocktails in hand. Really a no-go for me. The children imitate it and not all of them manage to safely bring their “Cola/Fanta etc” back to the edge of the pool while playing/splashing around.

Disgusting….not a 5***** standard. I'm just not a package vacationer. Getting soaked by or in the pool all day is just not for me...

Regardless, in the afternoon, when the heat subsides, husband and daughter want to look around outside the hotel. The “largest” baobab is said to be somewhere here, which is also the “holy” baobab. It's too hot for my son and I, so we wait in the hotel and chill on the beach.

As soon as they set foot outside the hotel door, husband and son are overwhelmed by taxi requests. Hardly anyone can understand why tourists want to set off here on foot.

After a few meters they come across cows, stray dogs and a herd of zebu. A small group of local boys curiously ask where they are going and offer to show them the way to sacred baobab. It goes cross-country through the field, past the herd of zebu (the boys explain that you should avoid the herd because the bulls are protecting the young animals), to the giant baobab. There he is, the holy baobab!

Even at sunset! A dream!

Although the boys don't want anything for the "tour", their husband and daughter thank them with a €5 note - unfortunately they don't have any sweets, food, water or anything else with them. The husband explains to the eldest boy how much €5 is in CFA francs, the Senegalese currency, and looks into the children's eyes beaming with joy. The boys are totally happy, thank you several times and wave goodbye. Welcome to Senegal 🤩

Tonight the dessert buffet is strikingly “colorful”. Real eye-catcher!

However, we stick with the tried and tested chocolate fountain with fruit and some small chocolate cakes. You can't go wrong with ice cream either 🤪

The evening show is really good today! We see the acrobatics show "Les Warriors form Guinéa". Applause guaranteed!