Dakar: Open Skies Museum of Frosted Sheet Metal

Oh, Dakar!

West African light city, Atlantic pearl, capital of Teranga... and incidentally larger open-air car cemetery of the continent. You thought you'd visit Gorée, the African Renaissance Monument, Corniche? The real tourist attraction of the Senegalese capital is its wreckage. Yes, these works of art in rusted sheet metal, parked with a sense of decor worthy of the greatest directors... or just abandoned like an old pair of shoes.

We find them everywhere: at the corner of the streets, in the open fields, in front of the houses, behind the markets, sometimes even laid in the middle of a road as if they wanted to start a philosophical dialogue with traffic. Some have been there for so long that the children of the neighborhood have learned to walk, talk and go to school by seeing them every day. They are almost part of the heritage.

The Dakar Fashion Car Show: Range Rover leading the gondola

The undisputed star of this mechanical theater? Range Rover, of course. Ultimate symbol of « urban predator » Dakarois who respects himself. In the fasty years, every good fan was hunting for the pretty Dakarese on board his rutillating 4×4, tinted windows, glacial climax and sono pushed to a volume capable of covering the engine noise... Already tired. Today, these same machines, ex icons of success, sleep in the sun, high doors, flat tires, sometimes decorated with improvised graffiti.

Because you see, Range Rover is like some friendships: brilliant at first, but as soon as it costs too much to maintain, we abandon it. And when the repair bill exceeds half the price of an apartment, well... Put the jewel on the sidewalk. Dakar, the world's capital of abandonment recycling.

Cars from Europe: the Senegalese reincarnation

The tragic fate of most of these cars begins very far from here. One morning, in a Parisian suburb, a ten-year-old SUV wakes up with a ban on movement, because it is classified as Criterion Air 5. Too old, too polluting, too barked. The European owner sells it at broken prices, often to an exporter with reasons... purely philanthropic, of course.

Direction the port, container, boat, and a few weeks later, the mechanical ancestor landed in Dakar, welcomed as a hero returning from exile. We give him a shot of paint, we loosely straighten the bumper, we paint the rust in shiny black, and hop! He's back on duty as if nothing was happening. But be careful: this lift is mostly cosmetic. The engine remains as tired as a football player after extensions, and a serious breakdown is enough for history to end... On a sidewalk.

Stolen gems: adventures and tragic ends

Next to these cars « legally » There is also the great chill : luxury cars stolen in Europe. These often had an intense life before they arrived. After being pampered in a garage in Monaco or Geneva, they find themselves, by a stroke of fate (and of pliers-monseigneur), sent to Africa. In Dakar, they drive for a while, attract eyes, then undergo the unchanging law of mechanics: if we do not change oil, even a German engine ends up dying. And here, when the play comes from Stuttgart or Detroit, we'd rather give up.

Subtle art to abandon its 4×4

In Dakar, there are several techniques to get rid of his mechanical ex-glory:

• Street mechanic : the place where cars come for « a small repair » And never leave.
• On the sidewalk : street-art version. Bonus if it's in front of an administration.
• In a vague terrain : more discreet, but no less illegal.
• In the middle of the carriageway : for the boldest. Hopefully, she becomes an improvised roundabout.

Each of these methods has its followers and variants, but the result is always the same: another wreck in the decor.

Europe gets rid of, Africa gets back

It must be said that the future does not look bright. Europe, in an unprecedented ecological momentum, decides to gradually ban thermal cars. Result? Millions of petrol and diesel vehicles will become « Unusable » on the spot. But unusable in Europe doesn't mean unusable in Africa, does it? This is what we call the selective geography of pollution.

Clearly, air must remain pure in Paris or Berlin, but Dakar can breathe nitrogen oxide and fine particles. After all, it's exotic.

The rush hours: this perfume... Toxic

At peak times in Dakar, we do not breathe air: we chew smoke. A subtle mixture of badly burned diesel, worn tires and dust. It is a unique urban fragrance, both free and imposed. And since traffic jams are the norm, we take full advantage of this forced aromatherapy.

The most ironic? The state, supposed to handle the problem, seems to have taken a subscription « Premium absenteeism ». We don't legislate, we don't sanction, and above all, we don't touch the big cylinders of elites.

The elites: Olympic champions of the sport

For let us speak of these leaders and notables. These champions of representation, still in huge vehicles, sometimes even in 8×8 — New fashion inspired by American presidential processions. These travelling monsters, imported at astronomical prices, travel to a country where average income does not even allow to pay the insurance of a Clio.

What about the most beautiful? Customs duties, however supposed to be exorbitant, seem to evaporate mysteriously for these luxury imports. Administrative magic or diplomatic talent? We'll let you guess.

Drier bank accounts

Of course, driving roughly 4×4 requires a fuel budget worthy of a small ministry. But the ambitious and arrogant Senegalese does not stop at these details. So much so that, in the middle of the month, the car stays in the garage for lack of fuel. We've had a couple of weeks, and that's no price.

The problem is that when the beast breaks down and the coin has to travel from the United States or Germany, the painful tax turns it into a tip. As a result, the machine is left in the mechanic of the neighborhood... Forever.

Conclusion: a masterpiece of collective inaction

So here we are with an explosive cocktail:

• A state that shines by its absence,
• elites obsessed with the fry,
• Municipalities indifferent to the environment,
• A massive importation of end-of-life vehicles,

...and a city that is more and more like an open-air wreck museum. Dakar is a capital, certainly, but also a huge car wreck where rust is queen, where tar serves as an eternal parking lot, and where the air we breathe is a toxic mixture... and free.

So yes, Dakar is beautiful. But to really appreciate it, it is necessary to love rusty metal sculptures, the raw design of cabossed doors, and this small exhaust perfume that floats at sunset.

After all, every city has its own style. The Dakar one? Post-apocalyptic chic.