$ 780, the price of a Moroccan bird of an ancient breed
Senegal: young amateurs flying their dreams behind the bathroom
Breeding pigeons in Europe is a hobby reserved for retirees.
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Breeding pigeons is a "way of life" for Omar Johnson.
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Omar Johnson, who heads the homing pigeon association in young Senegal, spent 420,000 CFA francs ($ 780) to buy a Moroccan pigeon of an ancient breed at an auction.
"Here's a super king," the 30-year-old proudly says, referring to the racing pigeon that was most expensively sold in Senegal.
And he hopes that the descendants of the "Super King" will all be heroes.
Johnson was raising local pigeons for entertainment purposes when he discovered "seven or eight years ago on the Internet" that there were species specially chosen to travel long distances.
In Europe, raising homing pigeons is a hobby limited to retirees, but it is booming in Senegal as a young generation is venturing into this field, hoping to compete with the best champions in Belgium and northern France.
Johnson is forced to crouch when entering the small pigeon he built on the roof of his building in the popular Medina neighborhood of Dakar.
And in this secluded location that smells like a foul, he catches one of the dozens of birds flying in all directions.
His passion for raising homing pigeons has grown, which has become a "lifestyle" for him, according to what the young science specialist says.
This hobby was born in Belgium and developed in the mining and industrial cities of northern France at the beginning of the 20th century.
The competitions are usually held in Senegal with distances ranging between 100 and 250 kilometers, which is much less than in the more famous European competitions, but the rules are the same and require the baths to be fired from the same location in order to return as soon as possible.
perseverance
France has about 10,000 homing pigeon keepers, 50% of them in the northern part of the country, but their number is declining by about 2% per year.
In Belgium, they were 250,000 educators after the Second World War, only 20 thousand of them remain today, and the majority of them are elderly.
The situation in the field of small-scale homing pigeon breeding has changed after the joining of wealthy Chinese collectors who see this hobby as a symbol of prestige.
The more artisanal farms and the higher the prices.
On November 15, a pigeon from a Belgian farm was sold at a record price of 1.6 million euros to a buyer from China during an online auction.
Senegal is still far from these record levels, as the country in West Africa has only 350 amateurs.
Baths sell starting at 10,000 CFA francs (about $ 20), and the competition prizes are no more than a few hundred dollars.
But you must persevere and practice, says Mostafa Guyoui.
Every day, this 40-year-old merchant feeds his pigeons, takes care of them before releasing them for a workout at 7 am.
He is trying to mix foreign and domestic strains, in the hope of obtaining pigeons capable of crossing long distances and tolerating the Senegalese heat.
Diallo dreams of a big farm
A few weeks ago, dozens of homing pigeon fanciers gathered for a pre-test for official competitions.
Mamadou Diallo was walking nervously on the roof of his house before a dove appeared before his eyes.
He tried to get the bird home with a bottle containing pills and a whistle.
He precisely recorded his arrival time so that the jury could compare with the results of other participants.
This 33-year-old mechanic reveals that he dreams of a "big farm to practice this hobby" which he hopes to pass on to his children.
This rising generation in Senegal is shaping the future of this field, although it is often limited in financial resources, says federation president Omar Johnson.
“Young people are being encouraged to enter this field in Europe,” he says.
As for here, they are rushing to it on their own accord.
The hobby was born in Belgium and developed in the mining and industrial cities of northern France at the beginning of the 20th century.
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