“Like most African countries, Senegal is very diverse. The dominant tribe are the Wolof – and Wolof is the national language. You’ve actually got a mix between Christian and Muslim, to the north you’ve got the Wolof mixing with the Moors from Mauritania, and also a group called the Tukolor, who are a branch of Fulani people. They are a group that lives amongst other groups; they are originally nomadic cattle herders. The north has a more Saharan culture because the Senegal River acts as the border between the Sahara and West Africa. In the south you’ve got the Casamance region which is much more typically West African. It’s very different.”

“Senegal is a very good for first timers in Africa, especially the cruise, because there’s not that much travelling involved in terms of road travelling – most African countries are huge. There’s a four-hour drive from Dakar to Saint Louis, and then you spend a week on the river. You stop off every day at historic sites or to spend time in villages and you get a fantastic guide on the boat who takes you through the history of the region, the history of Senegal, the history of colonialism and how the cultures relate to each other. In a week’s holiday you’re doing a journey but you’re in good, old-style, colonial luxury. The Senegal River is the border between two countries, and you stop off on the Mauritanian side and the Senegalese side. It was the route into West Africa. When the French took West Africa in colonial times, the only thing they built was a railway that linked the Senegal River and the Niger River that runs through Mali into Niger. And so they would go from Saint Louis, along the river, onto the train, link up with the Niger River, and that was their route into the interior. The Senegal River is a very important river historically.”