One thing that I love about traveling is feeling disoriented and removed from my comfort zone. - Sarah Glidden

28 January 2020, Diourbel to Thiѐs, 84km
Complexe Le Tapis Verte 15,000XOF (R366)

It was a long ride to Senegal’s third-largest city, 72km east of Dakar, but the terrain was easy, the road in good nick, although a little narrow for the fast-moving traffic, the wind manageable. Often vehicles waited politely behind us until it was safe to overtake.
It is very dry out there, the flat plain brittle with mustard-coloured grasses, and dotted with trees widely-spaced but abundant. On occasion we were treated to large numbers of baobabs.
Really nothing else of note, except a section of road along which pots were being displayed. When I asked permission to take a photograph, a vendor asked for money. We don’t pay for photos, so I smilingly put my camera away, causing her to laugh and change her mind. We also saw a lovely roadside nursery, bright with bougainvillea and other flowering plants. We have now and then seen nurseries in the big cities of Africa, strange places in a way, being spread sometimes for a km or more along city sidewalks with seemingly no-one tending them. But when we stopped to photograph this particular nursery, someone immediately came out to see if we were shoppers. At the nursery was a poster of two Muslim men, one in white with fabric across his mouth, and one in black. We have seen this image many times in Senegal and have now identified the gent in white as “Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke, Senegal's most famous Sufi” and the gent in black as “Sheikh Ibrahima Fall … a disciple [who] instituted the culture of work among Mourides with his concept of Dieuf Dieul “you reap what you sow”.*
Thiѐs is apparently famous for its tapestries…
*”Touba is the holy city of Mouridism. Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke, Senegal's most famous Sufi, was more than a spiritual master; he had a social mission as well, that of rescuing society from colonial alienation and returning it to the "Straight Path" of Islam. The city of Touba [the second biggest in Senegal] played a major role in both these endeavors. Life in Touba is dominated by Muslim practice and Islamic scholarship. A major annual pilgrimage, called the Grand Magal, attracts between one and two million people from all over Senegal and beyond… Touba is a sacred place. Forbidden in the holy city are all illicit and frivolous pursuits, such as the consumption of alcohol and tobacco, the playing of games, music and dancing. The Mouride order maintains absolute control over its "capital" to the exclusion of usual state-run civil and administrative services. The city constitutes an administratively autonomous zone with special legal status within Senegal. Every aspect of its city’s life and growth is managed by the order independently of the state, including education, health, supply of drinking water, public works, administration of markets, land tenure, and real estate development.” (Wikipedia)

For today's route see below photos
For overview route, click on ROUTE tab above…