November 4, 2024
City of Dakar, Senegal
We negotiated for guide and driver to take us a couple of sights in the city, after we returned from Goree Island on the 3pm ferry. We figured it was worth seeing more in one Day, then having to negotiate again the next day. The thing we most wanted to see was the controversial African Renaissance Monument (above photo Cindy Karen & I, with our Guide). This is the tallest monument in all of Africa!! It's huge, the photos don't do it justice. The statue is 171 feet tall, and it is 200 steps up to the base of the statue. The former President, Abdoulaye Wade launched the project with Senegal Architect, Pierre Goudiaby. The president owns 35% of the copyright (Controversy C#1). Meaning he collects 35% of the profits from the tourism revenues. There is an elevator inside the man's torso that runs up to an observation lookout in the man's head. Site preparation started in 2006 on top of a dormant volcano. It shows a family drawn up towards the sky, an Africa emerging from the bowels of the earth, leaving obscurantism to go toward the light. (C#2). It was completed in 2010 at a cost of $27 Million (C#3). The statue, built of pure copper, was built by a North Koreen company. (C#4). The statue was dedicated on April 4, 2010 the 50 year anniversary of Senegal's independence from France.
