So far so close
Over the water on the Senegal River
Audio 48:30
The banks of the Senegal River around Bakel.
© Yves Barou/Djibril Sy
By: Céline Develay Mazurelle Follow
1 min
From Guinea and Fouta Djalon where it has its source, the Senegal River unrolls its long ribbon of water over nearly 1,800 km, to cross Mali, water Mauritania and Senegal where it acts as much as a border hyphen, until it flows into the Atlantic Ocean at Saint-Louis, a historic city of fresh and salt water.
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Photographers and authors Yves Barou and Djibril Sy descended this river from its source to Saint-Louis, casting their inspired and curious gaze "daande maayo", meaning along the water in Poular.
Crossing thundering falls, populated banks, dams, colonial vestiges, villages and fishing canoes.
Once a great waterway for trade, the Senegal River has had to deal with drought, salinization, the exploitation of its resources and the degradation of its environment.
Above all, it has shaped the imaginations as well as the realities of those who live on its two shores.
With the Senegalese Djibril Sy and the French Yves Barou, follow us listening to the voice of a great river.
A program originally broadcast on January 24, 2021.
Learn more:
- “
Daande Mayo, going down the Senegal River
”, by Djibril Sy and Yves Barou.
Editions Tohu Bobu.
2020. A beautiful photo book embellished in particular with texts by the Senegalese geographer and climatologist Alioune Kane
- The website of the Saint-Louis association
La Liane
, for the benefit of which all the profits of the book are donated
-
On the issue of making the Senegal River navigable
, around the OMVS project or "Organism for the development of the Senegal River" bringing together Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea.
An informative document from the IFGR or “Initiatives on the Future of Great Rivers”.
Cover of the book "Daande Maayo".
© Yves Barou/Djibril Sy
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