Maa Ngi Fi - I am here
A recap of spending five weeks in the capital of Senegal.
Towards the End of 2022
We barely had parties in my last shared flat (which I was grateful for). Once, though, we had one, and our flat was filled with people I didn’t know. After trying to maintain awkward small talk and fighting the urge to go to bed, I remembered that I was, in fact, in my own home and could just return to my room. So I did, and I opened Netflix.
For some reason, the documentary “Beyond: An African Surf Documentary” stood out to me. Never having surfed in my life nor having any connections to the continent, but always feeling a pull towards the ocean and surf culture, this seemed like a neat choice, and it turned out to completely change the course of my life, or at least the following years.
The documentary began its journey in Morocco, and so did mine, but that’s for another time. Long story short, I decided to book a flight to Morocco and came back completely mind-blown after experiencing a foreign culture for the first time in my life. I decided to keep it going.
I remember sitting on a staircase overlooking all of Tamraght, watching the sun set over the Atlantic. I recorded a voice memo for my friend, telling her that going to Senegal seemed like the next step I wanted to take. Just as I finished that sentence, a lady came up to me and gifted me a donut. Needless to say, that was a “donut of confirmation” for me.
April 2023
When I arrived back home, I went on a quest and looked up surf camps in Senegal. Soon, I found what I was looking for. After taking a leap of faith by going to Morocco by myself and learning how to stand up on a surfboard, it was time for another one. Writing an email stating my urge to learn to surf better and spend time abroad, I hit send, not expecting much.
But Pierre-Louis, the owner of the NGor Island Surf Camp, seemed to like my enthusiastic email and told me that he would be happy to support me practicing my surf photography skills. Barely being able to surf green waves, but focusing my studies on photography and having some experience in skate and event photography, taking pictures at just the right moment was already my thing. So you can imagine my eagerness going through the roof.
Hourtin-Plage, France
I told him that I had never taken serious surf photos in my life, but that I was keen to start. So we agreed that I would send him my portfolio in five months.
In those five months, I invested in a mirrorless Canon R10, a Tamron 18-400mm lens, one week in Hourtin-Plage, and another two weeks in Tamraght. Suddenly, I had a filled portfolio and the realization that shooting surf was the coolest thing I could imagine for my future.
A couple more trips to Morocco and a few phone calls later, I booked my flight to Dakar.
It is absolutely crazy to me, sitting here at my desk, writing this in retrospect. It feels positive but also disappointing that I had to cut my stay short because of personal issues. But some things you cannot plan, and sometimes making choices that benefit you in the long run feel weird or wrong at first. All you can do is wait for life to unfold and make sense of the things that seem to fly around for no reason.
Now I have talked about the beginning and the end and somehow not about the actual time I spent in Dakar. What a shame! Let us sit back and reminisce.
NGor Island
The surf camp is located on NGor Island, which is a two-minute boat ride away from Ngor. After two days, you know a couple of people, and the island feels like you have always been there. The island feels both big and small, depending on the day. I met Mamadou, a local artist, who had his shop located where I would pass by around five times a day. Our greetings consisted of me shouting “Mamadou” and him replying “photograph.” If we were feeling bold, a “Yasaaai” followed our acknowledgment of each other.
I soon befriended the dog that lived in the staff house, who was supposedly a dangerous dog. But both Yoz and I lacked friends and love, so I guess we became rather dependent on each other. I started to visit him every day and took him for walks, where he would always turn around when the path split to see where we would go, sticking close to me. Each time I visited him, he became more comfortable and let his guard down, his head heavy in my hands or on my shoulder after I figured out he loved to be hugged. Once, I dropped by the house to see him before getting on the boat, and he came running after me, waiting for me to board the boat and then proceeding to walk home again. I did not think it was possible to feel so much love for a dog.
I learned that Senegal was famous for its wrestling, and I did not want to disregard the chance to watch, try to understand, and of course, most importantly, photograph this amazing sport.
The island provides three surf spots: Philippes, NGor Right, and NGor Left. NGor Right is surfable basically every day. NGor Left is less common, but we got lucky on a couple of days. As soon as it is exposed to wind, the break does not work anymore, so the conditions have to be perfect to score.
And on weekends the island turns into the fashion week.
YOFF
I have only been to Yoff twice during my stay. Both times felt as if I had landed in a parallel universe. All the surf spots we regularly visited, such as Secret, Virage, and Ouakam, are just small land strips. Yoff, on the other hand, is a long beach break where you cannot see the end and the horizon vanishes in the mist. The colors feel as if you perceive everything through a filter. We also visited the beach before noon, so there were barely any people, creating a drastic contrast compared to the full streets of Dakar we had just passed minutes before. It is a special place, and it was the first time I finally took portraits again.
When I first arrived in Dakar a couple of guests, who also brought their camera, warned me about taking pictures in the street. Since everything around me was so new I felt repelled in trying to find out whether that applied to me too. I heard stories of a local throwing a steak after a guy with a camera. But my usual experience of bringing my gear when I travel is the complete opposite. People are usually curious about the camera and it happens ever so often that I get asked to take their picture and not the other way around. In Yoff it FINALLY it happened again. People kept on coming towards me or passing by asking me to take their picture.
In my last week, I took my camera with me on walks and shot street. I still had the stories in the back of my head and paid extra attention. And yes sometimes I did not feel comfortable getting my camera out, so I simply did not. But at the end of the day I wish I had listened confidently to my intuition and had used my camera more to connect with strangers.
OUAKAM
Everybody you’ll meet who has been to Ouakam will tell you how much of a special place it is, and it is true. You have the gigantic mosque, not one but two pelicans, plenty of fishermen, and the most beautifully painted wooden boats.
In Ouakam, I was not alone. Children started to come up to me and wanted their pictures taken. My poor French skills somehow took me a long way, and I managed to explain my camera to them, and they did an amazing job at taking pictures of each other.
I still remember my first time looking through a 400mm lens by a friend of mine, and I was so happy to now provide this experience to them.
