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Senegal to watch Sabar dancing (aka original twerking)
Original twerking in west africa comes from Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire in french) and it's called " Mapouka"
"Sabar
The sabar—from the Serer people in origin,[1] is a traditional drum from the West African nation of Senegal (also played in the Gambia). It is generally played with one hand and one stick. Among its most renowned exponents is the Senegalese musician Doudou N'Diaye Rose. The sabar was used to communicate to other villages. The different rhythms correspond to phrases and could be heard for over 15 kilometers.
Sabar is also recognized as the style of music played while using this drum."
Wikipedia
It doesn't say it's a twerking dance,it's just a regular dance,not a twerking one
I thought Senegal was a great deal more interesting, but then, I think French Africa is more exotic and fascinating then British Africa, so that is probably a factor in my thinking. In West Africa, one still "feels" the same kind of cultural separateness that one feels traveling between France and Britain, and it colors the experience. Also, there is a lot more cultural mixing in Senegal, which has a strong Arab/Muslim/Saharan presence.
Dakar is also a regional cultural center, which Accra is not. Ghana is more focused on its western-model economic development, while in Senegal, one has more of a sense of a celebration of African-ness.
My observations are based on experiences from a very long time ago, but I wouldn't expect a great deal to have changed along those lines.
^^Yes, Senegal is overwhelmingly Muslim (I think something like 95%). While Ghana has a substantial Muslim population in its northern region (close to 20% of the entire country), it has more religious diversity/cultural mixing on the whole than Senegal does. As for ethnic diversity goes, both Ghana (Akan) and Senegal (Wolof) are dominated by one major ethnic group that, and the smaller groups in each country play a similar role, so I don't know if I'd call one more ethnically diverse than the other.
Dakar may very well be more of a regional cultural center than Accra, but, on the whole (the last time the two countries have numbers to compare in a given year), Ghana had more international arrivals than Senegal did for what that is worth. Source: International tourism, number of arrivals | Data | Table (933,000 v. 900,000 in 2010).
I've been to Ghana four times (first time circa 1986) and Senegal three times (first time circa 1990). Both are interesting cultures and countries. I enjoy Islamic culture (which slightly tends to be the focus of my travels) for its practices and devotion...which isn't to say that Christians, Jews, Hindus and others don't have interesting practices or are not devout. This is just a preference.
Senegal also feels further from Western culture. With Islam, there is also less drinking (not none, of course). I don't care to be around alcohol. Again, just a preference.
In Ghana's favor, it seems to be less inviting for tourists in terms of its infrastructure and biases. (I don't have any interest in usual tourist things - beaches, museums, shopping, hotels.)
They're both worth visiting.
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