When I was young and less traveled, I used to believe that Kenya was the best country in Africa, wapi!!.

In course of my hustle, I am privileged to have to visit Dakar Senegal at-least once per year for the last 4 years in a row.

In a period of 4 years only, I am impressed on the scale of infrastructural development I have witnessed in Dakar.
From new city (Diamniadio) built from scratch to new highways to new metro-train network to new International airport (DSS).

Diamniadio New city.
Looked like misplaced project when I first landed in Dakar.
It was a vast grassland dotted with baobab trees just 4 years ago, now we are talking of fully operational city, 35 KM from Dakar, complete with world class Arena, conference center, 5 star hotels (like Radisson Blu), apparel factories, modern housing etc etc.
All this while we are still talking of Konza city and 'big 4' in Nairobi.

Metro train
New rail stations are ~ 95% complete and new rail tracks in larger metropolis are being done.
Of interest is that the metro cuts through Pikine region, the Kibera of Dakar. meaning it is meant to benefit the majority of citizens.

New Airport. (DSS)
The new Blaise Diagne International airport named after first black mayor of Dakar, is located about 52 Km from Dakar has replaced Yoff Airport which is now catering for local flights.
The airport is easily accessible via auto route, meaning you are less likely to miss your flight due traffic congestion.

Road Transport.
New roads criss-crossing greater Dakar region, Thies and Mbour region were built by french conglomerate and are now operational, all this in about 4 years.
The new highways (auto route) are so cool that, cruising at 120 Km/hr feels like you are doing 40km/hr.
I must commend Senegalese driver on discipline.
They always give-way to any car behind and faster than them. Thika & Msa road users need to learn 'respect for faster machines' like it is done in Dakar.

The only down side for this pay for use, roads is that, there are so many toll stations. For example, there are 3 toll stations from Dakar-downtown to new city which is just 34 Km away. I must admit this is a better option than how the situation was before on totally dilapidated roads. a complete transformation.

Guys are quickly abandoning old Renault mini buses popularly known as 'Rapides' in favour of BRTs which are already operational in Dakar (they call them, Dakar Dem Dikk - which translated as Dakar go-come in Wolof language).
Sonko and dynamic duo need to borrow a leaf.

People.
Looks like Senegalese are closely related to South Sudanese in many ways. Tall, dark and slender with similar names such as Deng/Dieng/Akot.
There is a community known as Madinka ..(Dinka in SS).
Similar culture with a lot of Arabic influence which is also common in SS.
Senegalese love big cars, big mansion, living large ....like our neighbors do.

Politics and democracy
It will be remembered that, during the last election, the former president A.Wade quickly accepted he lost to opposition alliance led by his former PM, This stabilized the country and new regime focused on development. Presidential Election are due in Feb this year where M.Sall is expected to win. (I hope he will relinquish power as his predecessor, in case he loses).
The Senate, an indirectly elected upper chamber, was abolished in 2012 to save money !!.
The level of economic corruption that has damaged the development of the economies in other parts of the world is very low in Senegal.

Culture
Street-art and graffiti is very vibrant in Dakar, it looks like there are 1000's of Boniface Mwangi type in Dakar.You wonder who finance it.

One peculiar thing though. goes like this, a guy come hawking small birds like sparrows in a cage. you buy five of the captive birds and you release each of them in different directions to get blessings of some sort. this looks like uchawi to me.

In a nutshell
No doubt Senegal is making its mark in development and shaping its future.
We hope to see all countries in Africa rise like Senegal has risen.

Hayo ni maoni yangu tu.

How many other towns did you have a chance to visit?
Dakar is the only city in Senegal. The second city called Kaolack is the size of Ngong.
One big city in a country does not tell the story. Luanda and Malabo are also good cities in sea of poverty.
The rural senegal is very very poor!

Wololo.. this is not a deflation of our exitement but a complete burst.

@tonker,3. Its not the Chinese who are developing Dakar,😊😊. Most of the Global money in circulation is hedged to the Chinese Yuan. Most Infrastructure projects from Europe to Africa have a Chinese element in them. Uncle MAGA and the Euro fanatics no longer lend

Kumbe Gambling iko na pesa. Macau owes no one a dime.The casinos there bring the cash.KE tuko no 85 at 55%. The way there is so much noise one would think we are top of the world in external debts

The funniest thing about the list is that the famous China is ironically at position
111. Crazy statistics.

. Thats a one man show country. The big man holds a tight grip.

47% of GDP is very healthy. Not all debt is bad, debt =using other people's money to make some of your own ofcourse who you borrow and at what interest rate and how long you will take to pay it back matters.

Most of the Chinese debt and even Japanese debt is owed to it's people (bonds and the likes)

As for gambling, the house always wins

Ps* Mark Masai was waaaaay ignorant in his answer. Goes to show these journalists never research anything.

I did a basic internet search and found that the city of Touba which 180 km east of Dakar has 500,000 people. The images I see are of a medium size city.

Touba is like Mecca. It is the home of the Bamba brotherhood and many people go there from all part s of West Africa for pilgrimage.

How many highrise buldings do you see on that pic?