Dakar

I've done about a month in Dakar - a lot has changed since the previous reviews. My sense here is that things here are on the upswing - but for a nomad it's a place with strong pros and strong cons.
The pros first: the vibes are generally good. Locals are friendly and kind, and the cultural life here is interesting and vibrant. Local food is really good. It's safe enough to walk around at night, and if you're on the BRT the local public transit is great. People are very active and there are loads of surfers if that's your thing. It's not the most techie place, but things are coming along - with the Wave app digital payments are accepted almost everywhere. The economy has been strong the past few years and a lot of new apartment complexes are coming up, so the quality of housing available is probably best in West Africa.
The cons: you're still in West Africa, which means the usual West Africa nonsense - things don't work and everything is too expensive. Supermarkets mostly have a limited selection of imported French products. I couldn't find a properly functional restaurant delivery app despite lots of ads for them (Club Tiossane for delivery groceries worked well, though). Hardly anyone speaks good English and even French speakers struggle to make real friends with locals.
But the real deal-breaker is the cost. The CFA franc is pegged to the euro (thanks France), so it's wildly overvalued and everything here is way too expensive for the quality. COL is comparable to a 2nd-tier American or European city - not worth it. If you really want to do West Africa, this might be the best place for a nomad, but on a global scale it's not competitive despite getting better. Come back if the government decides to pull out of the CFA arrangement and launch their own currency (there is a definite push for this).

This is the most realest country I've visited next to my homeland in Jamaica. Streets are made of dirt. Horses still pull carts. Very little English spoken. You cannot easily find things you need so bring all your necessities to start with. I have barely seen a street light, the traffic can be unbelievable. It's the perfect place for a real cultural experience and to learn wolof and French. You almost have no choice but to when here. Food made by the family I stayed with is great. So far I've only ate out once at a place in the city and I was not impressed. Get all necessary vaccines before coming here and depending on where you are staying. From what I see this country is very much undeserved and they really deserve better than this, so don't expect to get vaccines readily available like living in other parts of the world.

Financial services are shockingly backward and inefficient. Zero ease of doing business. This review is about Dakar specifically. Very difficult to find high quality consumer products in one centre of commerce, you have to go to random little shops all over the city. Most places don't have websites or have non-functional websites with bugs in online enquiry forms making it difficult to obtain information. E-commerce sites are poorly designed and barely function, and they don't accept credit card payments, you have to have an Orange Money account or cash on delivery. It's all very expensive and honestly not that great. Roads are not maintained, resulting in damage to car shocks and tyres. A lot of land pollution, litter everywhere including on beaches. Municipal services largely non-functional. Not safe for a single woman unless you have a car. Drivers have no issue with colliding with you and it's normal for most cars to be pretty banged up. Yellow cabs very old and in bad shape. These and the buses contribute hugely to air pollution because they're not roadworthy. Quality of petrol and diesel is so bad that it causes really bad air pollution and it's almost impossible to ever take a breath of clean, fresh air. The people of Dakar deserve better.