As bright as butterflies in their billowing boubous, long iridescent pink, blue, and lime green gowns of satin and lace, a clutch of women sat gossiping on the sands of Kayar, Senegal's chief fishing port. The men struggled to haul their boats ashore out of the crashing waves while children darted about.
I soon became the focus of the women's attention: 'Where is your husband? How many wives has he?' asked one of them in a mix of Wolof, her own language, and fractured French. 'How many children have you? I have nine, you take one of mine,' pretending to hand over the pretty little girl she was holding. 'Are you French? English? Where is that?'
As I said my au revoirs, they all began to shake with mirth and my guide explained apologetically: 'They are laughing at your clothes. However poor they are they would never be seen outside their homes in anything but their finery. It's a status thing.' So much for my trendy cut-offs and new linen shirt.
The ladies of Kayar clearly had as little knowledge of the UK as most Brits have of Senegal. Hopefully, this might soon change; tour operator The Senegal Experience, whose parent company successfully launched holidays to The Gambia more than 20 years ago, has put its neighbour on the British holiday map this winter with a schedule of flights to Dakar via Brussels and hotels based around the beach resort of Saly and in the Sine Saloum Delta.
Bordered by Mauritania, Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau and encircling The Gambia, the former French colony gained independence in 1960. It is among the poorest countries in the world, though one of the most stable, democratic and tolerant in West Africa. It also helps in the tourism stakes that there is no jetlag from the UK as it is on GMT and it is among the cheaper winter sun destinations. Most deals include excellent full- or half-board accommodation.
Our pioneering group of holidaymakers were on only the second departure from the UK and none of us had any idea what to expect. Within 30 minutes of leaving the airport to travel to our various hotels through the outskirts of steamy Dakar, we were treated to an instant kaleidoscope of life in West Africa, the roadsides one long continuous market heaped with oranges, melons, clothing, hubcaps, bicycle sprockets, some even offering dental services. Among the dust and rubble, exquisitely dressed women, the married ladies in headscarves and single ones often wearing wigs of straight black hair (there were far fewer veils than in London), picked an elegant path, while young men strutted their stuff in hip T-shirts and jeans.
Our minibus threaded its way through wandering vendors, huge potholes and 'bush taxis', a euphemism for the cheerfully decorated rickety vehicles, their interiors packed with villagers returning home, roofs piled with everything from live sheep to three-piece suites. At one stage the driver of the taxi in front of us stopped suddenly and leaped out to separate two lads scrapping at the side of the road; his passengers cheered him on.
'Welcome to Senegal,' said our guide as he filled us in on his country's customs and culture en route. He also pointed out a 'voodoo village' or ndeup, where patients with psychiatric problems go to be healed, partly by music, and sacred baobab trees where storytellers have traditionally been buried.
Ninety per cent of the population practises a unique version of Islam in which Muslim marabouts (leaders) and brotherhoods carry much of the political and economic clout - but under the skin you feel that the heartbeat of an ancient Africa is never far away.
Most of the beach hotels are on the gentle Petite Côte around the cosmopolitan resort of Saly, a long-established favourite for Belgian and French sunseekers and packed with international restaurants, galleries, nightclubs and supermarkets - I even spotted a Rolls-Royce Club.
Silvery Atlantic ripples lap its pale golden sands which are patrolled by security guards to curb the enthusiasm of the vendors, and the resort has an array of watersports ranging from windsurfing to deep sea fishing.
My hotel, the Lamantin Beach, offered five-star comforts with superb seafood buffets, home-made breads and gargantuan breakfasts. Its young staff are friendly and eager to practise their English for the arrival of British newcomers. 'Perhaps I can have a little conversation with you later?' said my waitress Aimee in quaint textbook English. Her French was fluent.
In the mid-19th-century carve-up of Africa, France helped herself to Senegal while the British settled for the lilliputian Gambia, which somewhat ludicrously slices Senegal into two. Both colonial powers profited from the slave trade and, after that was abolished, from the export of peanuts. But despite echoes of the French occupation - in the language, cuisine and sense of fashion - the French influence is waning as Senegal looks more towards China and South America. No coincidence then that I had shared the flight from Brussels with more than 100 Chinese labourers, all issued with identical kit bags and sleeping mats on arrival - to work on the roads or the rice fields.
While most resort hotels are thoroughly westernised, few of the excursions can be described as picture-book tourist fodder - though for me that made them no less interesting.
One of the 'must sees' of the Ile de Gorée just outside Dakar is the Maison des Esclaves, where slaves awaiting deportation were kept in dungeons under warehouses surrounded by the mansions of the French merchants.
On the Grande Côte I visited Lac Rose, Senegal's Dead Sea, its pink hue the result of a high concentration of minerals; local men stand for hours in the saline water collecting salt which the women then bag - at €1 per 25kg sack. It was the only place where I was besieged by souvenir sellers - and considering the bleakness of their surroundings and employment prospects, you can hardly blame them.
The lake is also the finishing line for the Paris-Dakar motor rally; you can stage your own rollercoaster rally by 4x4 on monster sand dunes nearby and then drive along the firm breezy sands of the Atlantic coast, utterly desolate apart from wheeling cormorants, terns and sea eagles. No developer will ever be able to build hotels on these glorious beaches - the waves are far too dangerous.
On another excursion my guide Yamar, who speaks fluent English, French and several tribal tongues, drove me deep into the bush, the relentlessly flat savannah punctuated only by flat-topped acacias and thousand-year-old baobab trees. In the fields women harvested peanuts by beating them with sticks.
When we reached the tiny farming community of Gnignig, I was introduced to the headman who invited me to visit the compound he shares with 17 relatives; it's a collection of thatched huts (his own has a corrugated iron roof) with a communal bucket shower and a wooden shrine to his ancestors. There is no electricity, no running water.
For a few moments the women and children sitting in the shade of a tree and I gazed at each other silently, separated by an abyss of communication and culture. Then, in a flash of inspiration, thanks to my football-mad sons, I scored. 'Diouf,' I dredged up the name from memories of conversations about the Senegalese soccer stars who play in our Premiership. The floodgates opened: 'Beckham, Lampard, Michael Owen,' they shouted back at me.
I used the same ploy when I met the pupils of the primary school, L'Ecole Mbafaya Sandock, a breezeblock construction for six- to 14-year-olds, where there can be up to 80 in a class. The top class, however, were quietly studying the complexities of volume and density in French. The only classroom aids were a blackboard and chalk - and the latter was in short supply.
'My girls are good keen students,' said their teacher Karamba Bayo, 'but not all the boys,' he looked sternly at two reprobates sitting in the front of the class. They grinned at me, unabashed and curious - I was the first Brit they'd ever met. Humbled, I handed over pencils, rubbers and pens I'd brought from the UK and wished I'd added exercise books, crayons and chalk. Schooling is free but parents must pay for all extras.
The star attraction in Senegal is the Sine Saloum Delta, 180,000 hectares of labyrinthine watery wilderness made up of limpid lagoons, shimmering salt plains, sandy spits, tangled mangroves and bolongs, hidden creeks and estuaries which are home to a rich collection of wildlife from pelicans and flamingos (there are 600 bird species in the country) to manatees and the occasional dolphin. Haunting and mysterious, it seemed a privilege to intrude on this world.
I explored its magic in a pirogue with wildlife expert Bashir who identified pied kingfishers for me, herons hiding in the mangroves and tiny oysters and mussels clinging to the mangrove roots. For three months each year local women move into the little shell mounds in the delta to smoke and dry the oysters, leaving their shells to form new islets: recent research has shown that their ancestors have probably been doing the same for thousands of years.
Boatman Babou had his own priorities. At every stop, rather than let me wade ashore, he lifted me out as if I were as light as a feather (I'm not). It turned out he was in training for the local wrestling contest; wrestling is one of the most popular sports in Senegal.
You can visit the delta from the five-star Royal Lodge, set on a peerless beach nearby and oozing luxury. You can also stay in a couple of tiny and highly imaginative eco-lodges, simple but stylish, with all the necessary mod cons plus pools and views to die for. The Lodge des Collines, on a shell mound in a grove of palm and tamarind trees, is the brainchild of French woman Sylvie Gaborit, with accommodation consisting of a pair of tree houses which wrap themselves around the branches of huge baobabs, three water bungalows on stilts and adobe cottages, all furnished in local style.
I was lucky enough to spend a night at Souimanga Lodge (souimanga means sunbird) where French owner Denis Mencière lives out his dream. Here at dawn I was woken by an orchestra of terns and pelicans, herons, avocets, cormorants and egrets. I spent a lazy day watching hornbills feeding their young, gaudy finches and weavers dipping in the pool, and tiny bee-eaters quivering among dusky pink hibiscus blossoms. Towards sunset I sipped a hibiscus juice and sat spellbound as egrets returned in their hundreds to roost, wishing I could have holed up there for the winter.
The 60-second guide to Senegal
Location
Senegal is on the west coast of Africa, with Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. The Gambia is surrounded almost entirely by Senegal, stretching 300km inland from its western coastline.
Government
There are an incredible 80 political parties, and Senegal has one of the most successful democratic cultures in Africa. It is a republic, with presidential elections every five years. However, religous leaders also exercise strong political influence.
Language
Many languages are spoken due to the different ethnic groups which make up the population of 11 million. Around 43 per cent of people speak Wolof and in many areas, particularly the capital, Dakar, this is the main language. However, there are colonial links to France and a sizeable expatriate population. The official language is French.
Climate
Senegal has well-defined seasons, with most of the rainfall occurring between June and October, when temperatures are at their hottest. Temperatures are at their coolest (a minimum of around 63F) between December and February, but they differ widely between the coast and inland.
Religion
Islam is by far the biggest religion; approximately 95 per cent of the population are practising Muslims. Many children are educated in formal Koranic schools (a daara), where much time is spent memorising as much of the Koran as possible.
Food
There is a strong French influence in Senegalese food; rich chicken and fish casseroles, served with piles of couscous and rice. Roasted peanuts - one of the country's biggest crops - are everywhere.
Health
Yellow-fever innoculations and malaria tablets are both necessary for travel in Senegal.
Is it safe?
The Foreign Office classes Senegal as 'generally calm and stable', although it advises against road travel in the Casamance region south of the Gambia due to landmines and some fighting with rebels.
Essentials
Jill Crawshaw travelled with The Senegal Experience (0845 338 8706; senegal.co.uk). Seven-night holidays start at £799. A week at the five-star Lamantin Beach Hotel starts at £919. A seven-night stay combining the Royal Lodge and a tree house at the Lodge des Collines starts at £1,154. Trips combining four nights at Souimanga Lodge and four at the Coconut Residence in Gambia, cost £1,322. All prices include half-board and flights with Brussels Airlines.
