The rain stopped at around four this morning, and the city's been steaming ever since. I woke up to the sound of my new sabar drum falling over in the corner of my apartment, and I took it as a sign. Today was the day I was going to finally do something about it.
I grabbed a quick coffee at my place, just instant stuff, and stood by the window for a while. The street below in Grand Yoff is a different world when it's quiet. A man was sweeping water away from his doorway with a worn-out broom. A woman balanced a massive basin of bread on her head, moving with the kind of grace that makes you understand why they call it the rhythm of life. It's humid, the air is thick enough to chew, but there's a softness to it now that the worst of the Magal travel is done.
Remember, Dakar was practically a ghost town over the weekend. I'm told that during the Grand Magal in Touba, the city empties out in a way that's hard to imagine unless you see it. Buses are scarce, shutters are down. But now, in its wake, there's this gentle reawakening. It felt like the whole peninsula was taking a deep, collective breath before the next wave of noise.
My mission today was simple: to learn how to actually play the drum I lugged back from the Médina, and to do it the right way, at the Maison de la Culture Douta Seck. I had been before, just to watch, but this was different. This was me walking in with my own instrument, trying to find my place in the circle. It's a bit intimidating, honestly.
I left the apartment and decided to take the Dakar Dem Dikk bus, not a taxi. I'm determined to get the hang of it. The buses are changing so fast, it's hard to keep up. I'm told they've just opened a new control centre, and the conductors are being replaced by these little orange ticket machines, route by route. It's a small thing, but it feels like a big shift in how the city moves.
The bus stop was busier than I expected. A few other people, mostly women returning from the market with bags of vegetables. We waited in the shade, trying to avoid the sun that was already feeling fierce. A car rapide rattled by, all painted with religious slogans and colourful patterns, completely packed, and I couldn't help but smile, knowing my bus was probably a five or six minute wait.
When my bus finally pulled up, I was ready. The bus interior is surprisingly tidy, and the air conditioning was a shock of relief from the street heat. The fare is still about 200 to 500 francs, pennies, but I have a monthly pass now, which is roughly 15,000 francs, so I just tapped my card on the new reader by the door. It beeped, a sharp, satisfying sound that made me feel a little bit like a local.
The ride itself was an education. We crawled along the streets, a symphony of car horns and the low, steady hum of the engine. We passed by the Iba Mar Diop stadium, which is all wrapped up in scaffolding and netting for the Youth Olympic Games at the end of October. The whole city is getting a facelift for that, it seems. It's strange to see these huge construction projects that are for the whole world, happening behind fences on streets where people are just living their ordinary lives.
We got closer to the Plateau and the traffic thickened. We sat for a while, the engine idling, and I watched a man selling sunglasses tap on the window with his tray full of wares. He wasn't pushy, just persistent. Everyone's trying to make a living, and there's a give-and-take to the rhythm, a kind of hustle that is as much a part of the soundtrack as the horns and the heat.
I got off the bus near the Université Cheikh Anta Diop, the campus gates a little quiet for the summer. There was talk on the bus about the border story in the south, the new agreement with Banjul, but it was all in rapid-fire Wolof that I could only catch half of. I'm picking up the greetings, the 'Nanga def', the polite responses, but the full flow of conversation is still a wall I'm chipping away at, word by word.
From there, it's a short walk to the Maison de la Culture. I could hear the drums before I even turned the corner, not a performance, but a conversation. A dozen or so people, mostly men, were in a loose circle in the courtyard, some on djembes, a couple on sabar, the long, slender talking drums. The air was thick with dust and the smell of dry wood, and the sound felt so physical, reverberating in my chest.
This is the heart of it, you know. Teranga. The cultural house is open to anyone, to practice, to learn, to listen. As I walked in, an older man on a sabar locked eyes with me and just smiled, gesturing to the empty spot beside him with a nod. He didn't say a word. He just kept playing, and I just sat down, put my drum between my knees, and clumsily began to try and follow the rhythms, trying to find the conversation.
It was hard. My hands are soft, and the drum skin is taut. I fumbled, I missed beats, I felt my face flush with frustration. But no one laughed. The man beside me, whose name I later learned was Ousmane, would slow down, tap the rhythm on his own leg, and nod at me to try again. It wasn't about getting it right, I realised. It was about listening, adjusting, and being present in the moment.
After about an hour, my hands were already starting to blister. I was slick with sweat, the humidity doing me no favours, and I was completely lost in the music. Then, Ousmane leaned over and, over the drums, explained in simple French that playing the sabar isn't about force; it's about talking. The drum has a voice, he said. It can call out, it can respond, it can tell a story, if you're patient enough to listen to what your hands want to say.
I understood then, in a way I hadn't before, why the drum is so central to everything here. It's the heartbeat of the community, the pulse of the conversation. That simple idea, that a percussive pattern can be a form of dialogue, is such a beautiful, simple truth. It's a conversation I want to learn to have, and it made me forget the blisters and the heat and just listen.
Finally, I had to peel myself away. The sound, the feeling—it is addictive. My hands were red and throbbing, singing with every heartbeat. I thanked Ousmane, and he just nodded, saying I could come back any day. The sessions are free, part of the culture. It's the kind of welcome you can't buy, worth more than a thousand nights in a fancy hotel.
Feeling more grounded, I walked out of the Maison de la Culture and decided to treat myself. A short taxi ride away is one of my new favourite places, the KOTAO Coffee in the Plateau. I had been there the other day, but today it felt different. It's a quiet, minimalist space, a world away from the dust and noise of the market, and the air smells like roasted beans instead of exhaust fumes.
I ordered a cappuccino, which cost me about 2,500 francs, maybe fifteen dollars. It's expensive for here, but it's my one little luxury. I sat by the window and watched the world go by. People in business suits walking alongside women in brilliant bazin, the afternoon sun making the colours glow. There's an energy here, a forward motion, balanced by an easy-going pace that is really starting to make sense to me.
As I sipped my coffee, I thought about my apartment, about this little life I'm building. The landlord, Mr. Ndiaye, had been right. The flat in Grand Yoff, at 250,000 francs a month, nearly four hundred dollars, is too much for the space, but it's a foothold. It's a place where I can set my drum down, where I can pile up my CIE paperwork and not have to move it.
The CIE card is still a paperwork ghost, out there somewhere in the system. I got my récépissé, my temporary paper, and the whole process is a lesson in patience. It's a waiting game, and in the meantime, the drum and the Wolof greetings and the bus routes are becoming my daily anchors. They are the real markers that I'm not just passing through anymore.
Later, I headed back out towards the coast for a quiet dinner. The sun was beginning its slow descent, turning the sky shades of orange and pink. I found a spot at a small place near the water, a little less fancy than the big names, but the food was good. I treated myself to a plate of thieboudienne, the real deal. The one from the upscale spot on the Plateau runs you about 10,000 to 15,000 francs, but this local canteen version, rich with fish and vegetables, cost me about 2,000.
I sat there, eating with my hands like they do, the rice and fish perfectly spiced, and I felt a deep sense of calm. Not just from the sun or the food, but from a feeling of belonging, however tentative. I watched the fishing boats bob in the harbour, their lights starting to flicker, and I thought about the conversation I had with my hands, and the conversation I'm slowly learning to have with this city.
Back at the apartment, I didn't turn on the TV. I didn't even look at my phone. I just sat on the floor, my sabar drum between my knees, the blisters a welcome pain, and I practiced the basic beats Ousmane showed me. Thump, thump, tap. Pause. Thump, tap, tap. It was clumsy, but it was mine.
This is the rhythm, I think: not the drums, not the traffic, not the rain, but the passing of time as you let a place in. The post-Magal calm has settled into a routine. Soon, I will leave this city, but I know now I will be leaving with a piece of its heart, a rhythm of my own.
Tonight, the rain is starting again, a soft patter against the window. It's a good sound. It's the sound of hivernage, of new beginnings. And for now, that's more than enough.
This is Fatou, from my little apartment in Grand Yoff. Goodnight.