The stage today started as the last one finished, bumpy and dirty tracks connecting small villages. In every village we are stopped by hordes of children asking for cadeau. In rare cases there is a bon jour before, but cadeau is the main topic. The word merci I only heard once today.
Nevertheless the people in Senegal are very friendly. Yesterday we wanted to ask a woman for directions but were not able express our question in a way she could understand. It was very hot, finally she guessed that we might be thirsty and brought us some water to drink. It was a beautiful gesture!

After the bumpy dirt track we entered the tarmac road along the Niokolo Koba national park, which I know from 2011 already. Obviously it was too hot for the animals (40°C and above), we only saw some monkeys.

Tomorrow will be the last real African stage, 350km on more or less existing dirt roads in Bassari land in the south of Senegal. We are a bit scared because the roadbook says the stage cannot be done with 2WD cars, which, translated into normal language means it will be very tough even with the best 4-wheel drives. But the only alternative is going back 300 kms on tarmac, hence we will do our best to finish it as planned.