"The Escape from Dakar!" Top 5 Page for this destination Ile de Goree by africateach

This was the house of the slaves with the "Door of NO Return." The slaves were taken down the hallway in the picture and that was the door they called it. They would be lead out to the ships and carted off to other destinations to be sold. This "house" is actually very small and they had to put about 50 slaves in a room of about 3ft by 5ft. That was only if you were 60kilos! If not, you were beaten and fed flour and wheat to fatten you up when they came to weigh you!

The house now is a historical site. It is open to tourists for 500CFA (about 1 dollar US) and (if you speak french) can be very informative! The archetecture in the front is like the shape of a horseshoe where slaves would be carted into small rooms and beaten.

Very emotional site. Not just because of the slavery and atrocities that happend here, but you look around at all the tourists and they are just snapping away with their camera, like they are capturing a part of history and now understand. Hey... I did the same, but as an educator, I feel that I really took that experience with me and shared with my students.

Big Guns Boys

This was the island that the slaves were brought to from the main land. It has been turned into a tourist haven that has numerous artists and trinkits that you can buy.

For a minimum price, you should hire a guide. You can usually find them in the port before you get on the boat. They really are good to have because you can go to some of the places that you might not be able to go alone! Our guide allowed us to climb up through one of the old gun tourits that they have closed down. These guns used to be able to shoot about 30km out onto the ocean! While climbing through this, it was cramped, dusty and rusty. Visions of disease and illness with one scratch of the metal went through my head, but escaped unscathed!!! It was actually pretty cool, you know, the fear made it more memorable!

Freedom!!!

Chains of Bondage have been broken!

This statue located next to the old slave house is their landmark to commemerate the freeing of the slaves!

• Pros:Great getaway from the city and very interesting
• Cons:You get hassled to buy everything!
• In a nutshell:I loved this Island, but would not want to go through Dakar to get there again!