At The Crossroads Of Peoples Tours

At the crossroads of peoples

In most of our excursions, we often pass near sites that testify to the presence of much earlier civilizations.

This itinerary could be personalized in several days, from the western coastal regions of Senegal, crossing the interior of the country, to finish in the south in Djolas or Bassaries country.

Animism was the first religion in Africa

The establishment of Islam dates back to the conquest of the Almoravids from the 9th century which, established in the Maghreb and Andalusia, undertook the Islamization of the region of Senegal from the North.

Christianity found its means of access to Senegal through the southern coastal regions, with the arrival of evangelical missions in the mid-15th century.

From ancient Egypt, the cradle of civilizations, to the ancient empires in Black Africa, peoples have moved in search of better living conditions, while others by refusing to submit to new religions have gone into exile, in order to preserve their ancestral beliefs

The largest animist circles are said to be in Dakar, such as the archipelago of the islands of the Madeleine, which is the stronghold of the protective genius of Dakar

This site is maintained by the guardians of the mystical Lébou tradition.

The Lébous form an ethnic group is very well known in the resolution of mystical problems in patients by the use of Ndeup (similar to voodoo) in chants and incantations.

Other circles are found in certain villages inland, especially among the Serreres who form the largest animist population in Senegal, (Called the guardians of the Pangols), in Casamance in the south in the sacred wood and also in eastern Senegal, in the confines of Fouta Djalon.

Animism attributes a soul to every object, plant, living being.

This is how four fundamental elements make up nature: water, earth, air, and fire, all under the control of a supreme being, with however intermediate gods with specific functions and associated with one of these four elements.

The realm of the sacred is not accessible to ordinary people and intermediaries are therefore necessary. The ancestors of the village, the fetish marabouts, and the wizarding griots can communicate with the invisible world. Here each event is preceded by a ritual of offerings and libations.

During our outings, we will discover this world of mysteries around ponds, at the feet of large baobabs, or near giant termite mounds.