Thursday, April 24, 2008
Senegal
The Almadies Peninsula just outside Dakar is the most Western Point of Africa. I have seen three surf spots, all really good. The best is Ngor Rights. Ngor is an small Island, only about 500 meters off the coast. Its a right hander reef. Its been light on-shore, but still surfable. If it gets big, I reckon it would be very gnarly. Walking the coast of the Peninsula I was stunned by the pollution. Mostly plastics and I reckon mostly dumped over board passing ships. Not that there is much sign of pollution and litter conciousness by the locals. I always find it disconcerting, being in amazing places spolit, for me, by litter. My first reaction was that this is a poverty thing..people just don't care. Then I thought, its not that. The pollution in the developing world is domestic junk, clogging rivers and beaches. In the so called developed world, we do the same, but pollute on a larger, more `sophisticated scale.' We may keep our rivers, roads and beaches clean from litter, but we pump toxics into the sea, air and land mass- a lot more destructive, but better hidden. A bit like corruption. In the developing world it is in your face and ugly. In the so called developed world it is huge, toxic and destructive but better hidden.
The Almadies Peninsula just outside Dakar is the most Western Point of Africa. I have seen three surf spots, all really good. The best is Ngor Rights. Ngor is an small Island, only about 500 meters off the coast. Its a right hander reef. Its been light on-shore, but still surfable. If it gets big, I reckon it would be very gnarly. Walking the coast of the Peninsula I was stunned by the pollution. Mostly plastics and I reckon mostly dumped over board passing ships. Not that there is much sign of pollution and litter conciousness by the locals. I always find it disconcerting, being in amazing places spolit, for me, by litter. My first reaction was that this is a poverty thing..people just don't care. Then I thought, its not that. The pollution in the developing world is domestic junk, clogging rivers and beaches. In the so called developed world, we do the same, but pollute on a larger, more `sophisticated scale.' We may keep our rivers, roads and beaches clean from litter, but we pump toxics into the sea, air and land mass- a lot more destructive, but better hidden. A bit like corruption. In the developing world it is in your face and ugly. In the so called developed world it is huge, toxic and destructive but better hidden.
# posted by Ian Mackenzie @ 10:36 AM 
