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The Ile Gorée festival.

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Tuesday, November 15 2005

1 year, 3 months, 24 days

Ile Gorée, Dakar, Senegal

About Travel Photography,
Colors of the World.

Manfred is creator of ThisFabTrek.com, travel photography, a travel blog and a photography blog (a journey from 2004 to 2013). 'I set out to see the colors of the world, always I try to capture the colors'.

Seeing, is understanding, so I report and photograph, but formost enjoy and live those different conceptions of life (all that TV [and the web] cannot give). I reject jealousy, animosity, bigotry. Be free!

Manfred in the desert of the Western Sahara

The mind, when pondering at night and always asked those questions. What am I doing in corporate wonderland of bank, university, office or church? Who is the other animal asleep deep inside, the thinker, punk, creative, or Indian, vagabond and healer, maybe artist, writer, photographer, traveler, globetrotter? Oh God, dare you to think. When I saw the lies, gambles and manipulations I follow the old dream and set out for the journey of life lived, the journey to see the colors of the world.

During years on the road I have taken the turns as they came along, and realized one thing: Only such a small part of the planet can be explored and such a vast land and sea mass will always remain unknown, to me; many swamps, jungles, deserts and oceans will never be traveled. But then I am father of twin boys, Daniel and David, my most important, and I show them some of the wonders and colors out there.

ThisFabTrek, Photography and Journey, the Stories from the Road and Life around the World, stopped in August 2013 after more than 9 years, Love and Peace.

Last vehicle.

G20, Chevy Gladiator.

Chevrolet Gladiator G20, The boys in Cordillera Blanca, Peru.
The boys and Chevy van, Peru.

The G20, the vehicle that came to me for the Americas adventures.

6 wheeled Land Rover.

Land Rover Defender 6x6
Link to Foley

The vehicle of the Africa adventures, a Foley 6-Wheeled Land Rover Defender.

Before, the MB307.

Manfred and MB307
Journey, Middle East.

The vehicle of the Middle-East and North-Cape Journeys. See all vehicles.

Daniel and David with nanny Aisha, the best we ever had, black African Woman carrying white twin babies, in Bamako, Mali.

Land Rover 39,897km

Trekking 305km

Ferry 694km

Train 150km

Other cars 5,336km

Travel Blog

contains Festival/Fiesta/Art photography.

"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come." - Victor Hugo.

"What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it, to tell the tale." Living to Tell the Tale - Gabriel García Márquez.

"They never taught wandering in any school I attended. ... they never taught the art of writing a book, either. It's all so mysterious."
"Wandering is an art in itself. Wandering and writing don't mix"
"Writing demands commitment and if one thing your wanderer is allergic to is that very quality of commitment, for once one is committed he runs that very risk of failure ..." Wanderer - Sterling Hayden.

"Photography enables you to grasp a place first time round. ... Photography is a means of exploration, it's a vital part of travel, almost as essential as a car or a plane. " - Wim Wenders.

"The worst prejudice we acquire during our youth is the idea that life is serious. Children have the right instincts: they know that life is not serious, and treat it as a game..." , Egon Friedell.

"How far you gonna go. Before you lose your way back home" - Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Achtung Baby, U2.

"If you want to be a hero well just follow me." - Working Class Hero, John Lennon.

"When I think of all the things I have done, I know that it's only just begun." - I love you, Lou Reed.

"One does not escape the Sahara - the Sahara let's you go or not" - Touareg.

"Planet earth is blue and there`s nothing I can do" - This is Ground Control to Major Tom, David Bowie.

"Glory for the crazy people/in this stupid world" - Ahmed Fouad Negm.

www.thisfabtrek.com > journey > africa > senegal-gambia > 20051115-ile-goree

Stuck in a place/Early morning/I like these pics.

Hasna inside the Land Rover
Baby.
When, in'shalah, will we leave this place?

Map: Journey Saint Louis, Dakar.

Download GPS (KML) track/waypoints.

14/Nov/05. The Landy would not move these days (as there is no U-joints for the prop-shafts). But it is still our home. We like our home. Especially with its mosquito net.

We hitch a ride to Dakar with Cristian, the good Swiss who has already helped us so much. And we are happy to be back in Dakar/happy to have escaped Zebrabar for a few days, where I tried hard for some 3 weeks to become a semi-professional mechanic.

And we are happy to be back for - Charwarmas at Alibaba's!

3 times a day.

- more then once.

Fast Food the way it should taste.

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Dakar/Ile Gorée - the jewel.

They call it the jewel/Don't go there. My - odd - view of things.

So Î don't expect much/did not even want to go there/some one made the experience I try to avoid/But eventually am bullied by Cristian and Hasna and Ruth to join the trip to Gorée.

The Gorée Diaspora Festival starts on Tuesday the 15th. We find out, "there is some carnival tonight" while on the ferry from Dakar to the Island of Gorée.

Well advertised the"carnival" is. And good it is that way (less tourists).

The weather is not too great. But clearly something is being cooked up here. And actually the Island has its charm, its colonial houses, its ...

its museum. Gorée in the 18th century was an important slave shipping port in West Africa. And interesting its history is.

Nearby ...

Young dancer who we would later see at the performance
Girls are ...
Young dancer who we would later see at the performance
... getting ready ...
Woman who we would later see at the performance
... to perform.

Eventually the thing gets going. And in good tradition speeches are being held/one by one the important people say their all so important things. Most talk rubbish of course/of course some not.

We turn away from the speeches, I sit down in a little cafe, the beer tastes good, a girl is trying to sell me necklaces. She has tried already earlier this afternoon. Still I am not expecting anything. But then - right next to where I have settled - via the small beach -

- the "Colours" and "Costumes" and "Dancers" are moving in, one group after the other.

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Colours

Colours moving in from the beach
Colours, moving in via the beach.
Colours moving in from the beach
Colours.

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Costumes.

Traditionally costrumed dancers
Costumes
Traditionally costrumed dancers
waiting
Traditionally costrumed dancers
to dance.

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Dancers.

Traditionally costrumed dancers
Dancers, the one to the right is a bit serious. watch film.
Traditionally costrumed dancers
The same group, passing me by.
Traditionally costrumed dancers
passing by...

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Band.

Drummers
Band of 6 drummers
Drummers
Front man of sorts.
Drummer
Front man.
Drummer getting excited
Band leader.

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Singer

Later, mingling in with the crowd I find the singer and his fellows. The one song they sing over and over, it is still on my mind now as I write this. But I never manage to find his name out.

Singer and his friends
The man has voice and his co-singers chant the refrain.
Singer and his friends
Animating, Exhilarating, Exciting, Amazing.
Dancers and Costumes, dancing
A big party.
Dancers and Costumes, dancing
does not
Dancers and Costumes, dancing
die down easily.

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Jazz

Late after dinner the Jazz act is on. Two bands make for a good program. My head feels a bit heavy from the rosé and red we have had. A groovy mood is about to take hold of me.

While I get my ears tuned for a long night of some great Jazz, Cristian reminds me that the last ferry is at 11. No one has told the ferry company to change their time tables for the time of the festival.

Man with hat and trumped
Man with hat and trumpet.
Man with hat and trumped
Man with hat and trumpet.
Singer and saxophone
Singer with saxophone.
Man with hat and trumped
Man with hat and trumpet.
Audience
Jazz audience is sparse. No one told the ferry company.

Ile Goree festival.

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Dakar/St.Louis

The festival in Gorée, we never managed to go back to the island and the act there.

I spend my time working on the page. .

The charwarmas (20 times a day/too often) begin to take their toll/make me sick.

Friday comes and we pick up the spares for the Land Rover from DHL and pay lots of money to customs. The DHL bill I have not seen yet. ("Angst")

Saturday we take the road/the beach via Lac Rose and Kayes to M'boro.

Boys and their horses on the beach
Boys and their horses.
ms, Hasna, and Cristian, and Cristian's Mitsubishi
The 3 and Cristian's Mitsubishi, the Atlantic ocean.
ms and van, on beach, sunset in glasses
ms, sunset in my eyes.
Rudi on his land in M'boro
Rudi: This is my land.

The photographer in the making
Photographer?
Hasna
Hasna Zebrabar.
Birds and tray
Birds Zebrabar.

birds in Zebrabar.

In M'boro we are happy to meet Rudi again. A filmmaker, video/sound technician, a musician who made it in the 1970s from East Germany to the West. Rudi shows us round the land that he has bought.

"These are my palm trees, these are my baobabs". A little dream, put into reality. Rudi wants to find time for his head and follow up on the many ideas he has had for years.

Sunday we are back in Zebrabar/St.Louis.

We prepare/repair the Land Rover and hit the road on 24th of November, north, Cristian with us.

I think that I cannot stay in one place for too long a time without seriously feeling uneasy/unhappy/like in prison.

But Al-Hamdoulilah we are back on the road/beach for the Mauritania adventure. Stay tuned.

www.thisfabtrek.com > journey > africa > senegal-gambia > 20051115-ile-goree

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