Joal-Fadiouth

Fadiouth is an island built entirely of clam shells, joined to the mainland town of Joal by a long wooden footbridge. Centuries of discarded shells have raised the ground, paved the lanes and been worked into the walls, and the granaries stand on their own stilted islet offshore. A second bridge leads to a cemetery shared by Muslims and Christians, laid out side by side under the same shell hill, which is rare enough anywhere and unremarkable here. Joal on the mainland was the birthplace of Léopold Sédar Senghor, poet and first president of Senegal.