The Darog Journal - Compute Through

Senegal’s Lac Rose (meaning Pink Lake) is an incredible sight. It lies north of the Cap Vert peninsula of Senegal, 36 kms from north-east of the capital, Dakar in West Africa (an hour drive).  The lake is nestled between pearly white sand dunes and the Atlantic ocean. The lake was then the finishing point of the Dakar Rally before the rally moved to South America in 2009.  The Dunaliella salina bacteria gives the lake its distinct color and is known for high salt content. The bacteria produce a red pigment to absorb sunlight and voila, that's how you get a pink lake. Locals work on extracting salt from the lake. I was informed that an estimated 1,000 people work around this lake -- 600 men and 400 women collecting 24,000 tons of salt each year. Over 70% is exported around West Africa and to Europe. People working here as harvesters are Malians, some are Guineans, few Ivorians, Burkinabe and even some from Guinea-Bissau. It is safe to dive-in and swim (

The Goree Island (meaning good harbor in French) is 3.5 kms off the coast of Dakar, Senegal (measuring 27 hectares or 900 meters by 300 meters). The island has 1,800 inhabitants (1,000 Christians and 800 Moslims). This island has no car or no crime.   Between 15 th  to 19 th  century, it was the largest slave trading center on the Africa coast. It is estimated that 2 Million Africans were shipped or passed through the island to work in the plantations in Europe and the Americas. Ruled earlier by Portugese, Dutch, English and French, it continues to remind us of human exploitation (slave trading). As I understand, 1.2 to 2.0 Million Africans died during the transport.  The small fort called slave house was built in 1776. This house of slave ( Maison des Esclaves)  on Goree Island and the story is that millions of African slaves passed through the house's “Door of No Return”, facing the west across the Atlantic ocean. The slave houses had 150 to 200 slaves - men, wom