Sahara
Day 36: Dakar to Bamako
Pensive moment in the buffet car of the Dakar-Bamako express, when the shirt was still clean and and the delay only three hours. It grew to eight.

Not surprisingly, the station from which we are due to leave at ten o'clock this morning is a confident example of the colonial style. It consists of three arched bays, framed by red and brown brickwork, with wrought-iron canopies, pilasters supporting decorated tile friezes, separate entrances marked 'Départ' and 'Arrivée', and a big working clock in the central tower. On either side of the central façade are louvered galleries, which look to be occupied. Laundry lines swing in the breeze and I think I can see sheep up there.
We've been warned that Dakar is the pickpocket capital of the world, and exploratory arms have already stretched through the minibus windows. An opportunist salesman tries to interest us in a range of 'Titanic' sports bags, which, as the volume of our luggage is already proving a problem for the porters, is an act of mindless optimism.
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PALIN'S GUIDES
- Series: Sahara
- Day: 36
- Country/sea: Senegal
- Place: Dakar
- Book page no: 115
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