The Nguéniène weekly market

What you'll experience

In Senegal, the louma is the weekly market. Once a week, an entire village turns into a great trading square. In Nguéniène, inland between Mbour and Joal, it happens on Wednesdays. From early morning, carts, vans and people on foot arrive from all the surrounding villages: Fula herders, Serer market gardeners, Wolof and Bambara traders, craftspeople. People come to buy and to sell, but also to meet up and share the news.

With Demba, you weave your way between the stalls. Here, mountains of peanuts, deep red dried bissap, chillies, onions and vegetables from the gardens. Further on, bright wax fabrics, stacked calabashes, ropes, sandals, dried fish and all the utensils of daily life. And then there is the livestock corner: sheep, goats and other animals, surrounded by herders bargaining at length.

Nothing here is staged for tourists. This is Senegal as it lives, noisy, colourful and warm. Demba explains what is on sale, what the products you don't recognise are used for, how bargaining works, and helps you exchange a few words with the traders.

To finish, you can taste a local dish or a glass of tea, or continue to nearby Joal-Fadiouth, the island of shells.

In pictures