This is a “now” page a la Derek Sivers. It serves to share what I am up to right now. For more about me, see the about page.
Last updated on November 10th 2025
Where to begin? We are back in Senegal and we have signed a lease on what will hopefully be Sleeping Camel v 3.0. This concludes a 2 year search that was becoming progressively more discouraging. We looked at who knows how many 3 bedroom houses with a tiny instagrammable pool that were not at all what we wanted and in another realm when it came to budget. I have probably inadvertently memorized the floor plan of these cookie cutter houses at this point.
But yes, we finally found a place. It has 6 bedrooms and resembles an old schoolhouse. There is a massive garden/yard and that in itself was enough of a selling point. HOW we found it is a worthwhile story and one that I will share on the blog once we make it through this initial slog of getting it operational.
Our Scoot West Africa season has also just begun, with trips to Cape Verde and Mauritania. I will be leading my first trip of the season on November 16th, a weeklong ride down to Guinea-Bissau and back.
Lots more to share, but too much to do offline at the moment. See you in a few weeks inshallah!
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This page is not supposed to have a history of previous updates but I am keeping the original entry here until I find a place to stash the bird report from Djoudj.
February 20th, 2025
I just got back from Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary up near the Mauritanian border. I was able to kill two snakes with one stone, managing to do some research for the Bradt Guide to Senegal, which I am updating, while undertaking an ambitious family holiday. Djoudj was of course the star of the show, but I also really enjoyed Saint-Louis.
In my hopes and dreams post for 2025, I talked about sending 100 postcards this year and seeing 36 new bird species. Well. I’ve sent 61 postcards so far, and in Djoudj, we saw over 60 species of birds, including multiple lifers for me (first sightings of a species): squacco heron, african spoonbill, knob billed duck, african stonechat, black shouldered/winged kite, marsh harrier, yellow wagtail, gargany, african pygmy goose, african sacred ibis, pied avocet. I’m nearly half-way to my goal after a single two-day visit to Djoudj.
Have you ever seen a squacco heron?
Look at him!!!
In a few days I will be heading out on a two week trip with Scoot West Africa clients to carnival in Guinea-Bissau. More to come!