Painting Description

Air needed to be let from the tires of the Mercedes trucks to travel safely over the sands near the Pink Lake of Retba. The slackened tires had a lesser tendency to dig into the white sand. We certainly did not want to get stuck out here in the middle of nowhere. This lake, which has a pinkish tint in bright sunlight, is the host to the salt industry in Senegal, just eighty miles from the capital Dakar. Working in 33° Celsius temperatures, men hauled 100 pound bags of salt from the evaporating waters for two cents a sack. Women moved along the shore, some like this young lady, appeared to be tending the gaunt dun coloured cows that grazed in a scattered herd around the dunes. We were aware of the brightly coloured and actively patterned clothes that the people wore, but sadly these fabrics were not offered by the vendors on the docks. On offer were imports from China and India that certainly were lively, but lacked the animation of those true African designs. The whole scene made real the photos that I had seen as a child that returned missionaries showed of their foreign fields. See also: Image #2620 Laundresses, Senegal and Image #2621 Market Vendors, Senegal.

This image is available for Licensing. Contact Cynthia [email protected] for inquiries.