No, it’s not the state of my foot post-half marathon- I wouldn’t show that to you. I’ve got something else in mind…
Yawn. They’re trying to save the turtles in Senegal. That’s what I learned last weekend when we visited a turtle rescue village. Yes turtle rescue. Sure sure, it’s a good cause- but honestly I’d normally put stopping at such a place on par with making a stop at South of the Border while traveling on Route 95. It’s just not scheduled for this lifetime.
Besides, I grew next to a frog pond- so I’ve already gotten more than my exposure to happy little turtles laying eggs in the sand. Snappers and baby turtle roadkill were standard fare by my house, so the prospect of watching these guys sit in the sun and ignore us seemed inferior to me sitting in the sun while in traffic and watching the Motorist Comedy that is Rufisque.
The traffic through the town of Rufisque may be Hell, but the silver lining is that you never know what you’ll sight while waiting for life to resume on a Sunday afternoon heading back into Dakar.
Look closer. That’s live cargo on top of this sept-place, and it goes “baaa”. Highly commonplace. Kind of like how we stow our cats when we go on family vacations.
Nice, but a little boring. I know this isn’t the Aqua Circus, but couldn’t the volunteers train these guys to be a little more entertaining? I do believe that I once saw a duck play a song on a child’s piano with its bill…and I think this place has some definite potential.
But don’t get me wrong- the turtle stop was nice, and not a waste of time. We walked around and nodded in a pseudo-interested manner as our volunteer guides showed us the requisite number of placid hard shells in their associated age and species-separated rest homes.
Nice, but a little boring. I know this isn’t the Aqua Circus, but couldn’t the volunteers train these guys to be a little more entertaining? I do believe that I once saw a duck play a song on a child’s piano with its bill…and I think this place has some definite potential.
You- you’re like a 100 year old turtle. What skills do you have? Clearly the babies and geriatrics don’t have much to offer in the way of entertaining the discriminating patron. Maybe I’m wrong about thinking that this place could be a bigger draw to the local population…
But just when I am about to write this place off as a complete meh, we visit the “teenager” grounds of the sanctuary. Apparently Spring Break in Senegal is in February- because what we saw and heard next was more gob-smacking than seeing any sheep on top of an old Mercedes wagon that held eight people as it raced down the highway….
Never in my life did I expect that my blog would include a photograph of turtle sex. But there you go. And yes, turtles grunt. Loud. You are welcome for this level of detail.
Alright then. If I have made you feel at all awkward because I intruded upon a private moment of reptilian love, then I will attempt to balance things out by ending with an unoffensive photo that I took at the end of the tour. I know I’m a horrible tourist, but I kinda actually liked this photo the best. I don’t know why.
Turtle Village. It’s not exactly the Red Light District in Amsterdam, but it ain’t always for the kiddies either. Come on down.