Mansions and private mansions to visit Senegal

This colonial house, remarkably well restored, where the hostel of Tekrour is located, also houses a small exhibition on the history of Podor: its golden age, its decline and the history of the families of traders who made it fortune through the gum arabian. You will also find a nice tribute to Oumar Ly, who died in 2016, with his black and white photos dating back to the 1960 s, for sale. Tours in the city, hiking from Podor and a tour of the island of Morphil are also offered.

What a majestic ochre earthen house on the main square of Mlomp, it is one of the most beautiful in the village! You will notice its pretty porch with earthen columns, nicely decorated with murals. One of the deans of the village, Séraphine Diedhiou, who died today, said that it already existed in 1962. You will meet Yannick, the curator, who will show you the interior, always very fresh, of the house, made with local materials: rônier, palm tree, earth... An ingenious system well adapted to the climate.

You'll be amazed by the stature and nobility of this building, now decrepit but reminiscent of the splendor of a fallen empire. Baron Jacques-François Roger, first civil governor of Senegal (1822-1827), is said to have built this château for the beautiful eyes of a beautiful Senegalese woman, Yacine Yérim Diaw, whom he later married. The Baron would spend weekends with his wife in this residence reminiscent of the "folies", small ^18th-century châteaux. You can imagine his weekends in this residence, lost in the greenery, built on an island in La Taouey. Baron Roger is associated with the colony's agricultural development policy and its gardener, Richard, who gave his name to the town (Richard Toll means "Richard's fields"). The idea at the time was to compensate for the difficulties caused by the abolition of slavery with pickaxes. Governor Schmalz had launched the movement, negotiating agrarian concessions with the brack (king) of Walo in 1819. Feeling unsupported, the baron returned to France for a time. On his return to Senegal in 1822, he took up the post of governor. The king asked him for help, as the local population feared raids by Mauritanians intent on capturing Senegalese and selling them as slaves. The St. Louisans, who had made their living from hunting and fishing, became farmers, and the technicians who had come for the occasion, all concentrated first on growing potatoes, vines and olives, then, after a dismal failure, on cotton, silkworms and cochineal. In 1824, the Société agricole du Walo was born, acquiring new land and bringing the total to nearly 1,200 ha. Ill, at the end of 1826, the Baron left the colony with a sense of duty accomplished. Richard-Toll was established as the center of the agrarian effort. His successors, Gerbidon, Jebelin and then Brou, reduced production figures and liquidated Baron Roger's enterprise. Faidherbe decided to cede the building to the nuns, who turned it into a church. In 1960, the "folie" became a school, then offices. Today, the old colonial building, listed as a National Historic Monument, seems to long for visitors. Almost nothing of the splendor of the past can be seen, the castle being reduced to its own pale yellow walls. Rehabilitation projects have long been mooted, but in the meantime, the decrepit edifice...