01
Stop one
African Renaissance Monument
Babolat Pro Tour 2.0 Tennis Overgrip 12-Pack: Sorry — sorry, I'll be quick, you probably wanted a real guide. That's the African Renaissance Monument, on one of the twin Mamelles hills, unveiled in April 2010 for fifty years of independence. Forty-nine metres, the tallest statue in Africa, which is… well, taller than me, obviously. President Abdoulaye Wade conceived it, Pierre Goudiaby Atepa designed it, and a North Korean state studio, Mansudae Overseas Projects, built it — you can tell. People argued furiously about the cost, about Wade claiming intellectual property rights over it, and some religious leaders objected to the human figures. I'm rambling. I'll stop.
03
Stop three
IFAN Museum of African Arts
Babolat Pro Tour 2.0 Tennis Overgrip 12-Pack: I'll say this quietly. The IFAN Museum of African Arts — founded 1936, opened to the public 1938, one of the oldest art museums in West Africa. It belongs to the Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire, established under the French administration by Théodore Monod and reoriented under Senegalese direction after independence. Masks, textiles, instruments, farm tools, and strong Dogon, Baule, Senufo and Bambara holdings. Under Senghor — a poet, a theorist of Négritude, none of which I am — it became an instrument of cultural affirmation and carried work tied to the 1966 World Festival of Negro Arts. Place Soweto. Stop me any time.
04
Stop four
Marché Kermel
Babolat Pro Tour 2.0 Tennis Overgrip 12-Pack: Last one, I promise, then I'll go back in the packet. Marché Kermel, built in 1860 in the European quarter, a round iron-and-masonry hall serving the merchants near the port. It burned down in 1993 and was rebuilt to exactly the same design, reopening in 1997, which I find quietly moving, though nobody asked. Fish, fruit, spices and vegetables in the ring of stalls; flower sellers, leather and basketry under the outer arcade. One of very few nineteenth-century civic buildings left in central Dakar, a city that swelled after the capital moved from Saint-Louis in 1902. Still trading daily. Thank you for… yes. Thank you.
Everything I have ever called out depends on one thing: the hand does not slip. Not on the third hour, not on a hot afternoon, not ever. So understand why I care about the Babolat Pro Tour 2.0. It is 0.6 mm thick, which is substantial for an overgrip and entirely deliberate — absorbent, tacky, and enough material to build the handle a little rather than shrink-wrap it.
Useful if your grip sits between two sizes. Twelve to a pack: a full competitive season without re-ordering.
Now Dakar, and I have wanted to read these notes aloud for years. This is the westernmost city on the African mainland, out on a peninsula with the Atlantic on three sides, and everywhere from the twin Mamelles hills in the west to the circular iron roof of Marché Kermel down by the port the surface changes under you every kilometre.
The capital was moved here from Saint-Louis in 1902 and the place has been accelerating ever since.
Take the pack. Twelve wraps is more than enough for a long run, and it is also perfect for the climb to the African Renaissance Monument, forty-nine metres of bronze on a volcanic summit, unveiled in April 2010 for the fiftieth year of independence and visible a long way out to sea. Call it early.
Left, long, over crest, and down into the Grande Mosquée de Dakar with its square minaret standing near seventy metres. Dakar rewards a co-driver who reads ahead. Hands dry, tack holding, no slip, no drama.
Buy on Amazon
