Senegal:
Did you know there is a country where sheep and horses go to the beach every Sunday? Spa day for the sheep begins with their being led into the ocean to soak for several minutes. Next, it’s back out of the waves for a thorough scrubbing on the shore with soap and a brush.
Do you know in which country the spa days takes place each Sunday?
It is Senegal indeed.
Spa day for the sheep begins with their being led, almost always by men, into the ocean to soak for several minutes. Next, it’s back out of the waves for a thorough scrubbing on the shore with soap and a brush.
The sheep take another dip to rinse off, and then it’s manicure time: cleaning out the hooves with a stick and trimming them with scissors. Each animal is taken back into the water for a final swim, then is tied to a nearby tree or beached fishing boat to wait for the rest of the flock to bathe.
It’s easy for them to drip-dry: Senegalese sheep look more like goats than like the fluffy, woolly breeds common to the West.
The same waters are also used to bathe the draft animals that pull horse carts, the pickup trucks of Senegal. The horses are led into the water up to their necks and then scrubbed down, becoming regular interlopers in the Sunday surfing classes at Dakar’s wide and crowded Yoff Beach.