We have made it back to the Atlantic Ocean. But more of that later.
We left the hunting lodge, where we spent the night, after a nice breakfast with bread, eggs, jam, cheese and a nice coffee. The temperature was already climbing again. 26°C at 08:00 am. It is gonna be a hot day!
The rooms there where good and comfortable. We had slept well although some lizards on the roof woke me up around 4 am. In the morning I had to discover that only one tap in my bathroom worked and I had to bucket shower again.

We made good progress as the roads are in good shape and traffic was light. We entered a village where a policeman blew his whistle and made gestures for us to stop. As soon as I lowered my window he immediately approached us and asked in an angry tone, if I knew what my fault was. Hmm, sorry don’t know, I answered politely. Your luggage is not properly stowed. The story we have heard a couple of times since leaving Abidjan. I was supposed to properly park the car and come with him. He announced that he would have to write me a ticket. So I paid my dues of 3,000cfa (~4.50€) without further discussion also to have a receipt for any other policemen who we might encounter down the road.

We noticed a subtle change in landscape as the savannah grass began to get shorter and browner. The first baobab trees appeared and fewer trees in general in the landscape. Many cows and a few sheep graze in the fields. Several of them were crossing the road, standing on the road or being ushered along the road to the next grazing grounds by young boys. It was hot! The temperature had climbed to 37°C!

We drove through the outskirts of Mbacke, buzzing with little donkey carts, taxis and lorries on the same main road delivering and picking up people and goods. Progress was slowing down tremendously. Once we had passed what looked like the city centre of Mbacke, we realised that the next city was seamlessly attached and was actually much bigger. That was Touba.

Slowly we made our way down the main street towards its city centre, a massive mosque with high minarets and many worshippers flocking for midday prayers. We turned left right in front and continued our way, this time out of the city. Slowly the pace got faster and the sand in the streets more and more. We had clearly arrived in the semi-savannah and the Sahara was not far anymore.

Just before St. Louis we turned left and followed the coastline through some wetlands to a small island you can reach by car that houses the famous Overlanders campsite Zebrabar. It is run by a Swiss couple since more than 25 years.
We registered and looked for a suitable site to setup our tents. We found one next to the other two campers. While setting up, a beautiful bird showed up on branch next to us and kept us company for a while. My roof top tent had drawn a little bit of moisture from the previous days of torrential downpours. With the little breeze here at the beach, it will surely quickly dry.

Our neighbour, a Frenchman, came to us to ask whether we might have a little spiral hose clamp to repair his onboard water system. A quick dive into my spare parts box and I found a suitable one. He was happy and we chatted a while. His sister has married in Conakry and he lives near Agadir in Morocco. He confirmed to us that West African number plates are not subject to the racketeering practices of the Senegalese custom officers. What a relief!

We watched the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean while I started writing these words.
Over a very delicious dinner with the Swiss owners and their daughter we exchanged lots of travel stories.
Today, we have travelled for 8 days, the half of our northbound journey and more than 3,000km that is also half of our estimated total travel distance. We are, therefore, right on target and within our schedule!
Tomorrow is a day of sightseeing, laundry, administration and chilling by the beach. Happy days!