Five ideas for guided tours in Senegal

• Dakar

  Dakar should never be just the arrival and return point of your trip to Senegal. It is an exciting and cosmopolitan city, in constant effervescence. The city is located at the western end of Africa, on the Cape Verde. You can see the Phare des Mamelles, the oldest lighthouse in the city, which dates from 1864. Many markets are scattered in the city, such as Sandaga or Kermel. There is a joyful atmosphere, and food, local handicrafts, art objects and goldsmiths are sold there. Close to Dakar, you can visit two places that are not to be missed.
  – The island of Gorée was a sad trading post, a place where slaves left between the 16th and 19th centuries. It can be reached by a short 20-minute ferry ride from the Senegalese capital. It is nowadays a very peaceful place, which resembles the Mediterranean cities with its colonial style houses and its small unpaved streets without cars, decorated with beautiful bougainvilleas.
  – The pink lake or Retba lake is located only 30 kilometers from Dakar. It is a large lagoon surrounded by dunes, which contains a very high proportion of salt in its waters. There is a very high concentration of wading birds, including pink flamingos, in total harmony with the color of the water, which contrasts with the blue of the sky.

• The region of Kedougou

  The region of Kedougou is located in the extreme southeast of Senegal, on the border of Mali and Guinea. It is considered an ethnographic place of great richness, with many populations such as the Malinkes, the Bassaris, the Dialonkés, the Soninkés and the Peuls. Each of these peoples has different languages and customs. You can visit their villages and attend their festivals, accompanied by a local Senegalese tour guide. The landscapes of Kedougou are greener and more hilly than in the rest of the country. The National Park of Niokolo Koba will allow you to make magnificent strolls, in particular around the Gambia River, and not far, to go to observe the falls of Dindefelo, which offer fantastic views.

• Mbour

  The charming fishing port of Mbour is located 80 km from the capital, Dakar. The city has a beautiful atmosphere, with its old-fashioned cars and horse-drawn carriages, which serve as public transportation. The place is very famous for big game fishing, which is practiced in the open sea. Going to admire the arrival of the pirogues returning from fishing is a splendid spectacle. The daily market of Mbour is famous in the whole country, and constitutes an obliged exit for all the tourists of passage in the area. Seeing the thousands of vendors coming to offer their goods (clothes, vegetables, fish and meat) is a colorful and lively spectacle. Mbour is located only 5 kilometers from the beautiful seaside resorts of Sally and Nianing, and their heavenly beaches.

• Saint-Louis

  The former capital of French Senegal, Saint-Louis was founded in 1659 and named after King Louis XIV, who ruled from Versailles. It remains a favorite of tourists, who come for its beaches and its beautiful colonial-style houses, which have earned it a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Part of the historic city is linked to the mainland by the magnificent Faidherbe metal bridge. This grandiose structure, 509 meters long, was inaugurated in 1897. Walking through the streets of the old city, passing by its squares, and admiring the facades of the beautifully colored houses is a real enchantment.
  The beautiful park of the Langue de Barbarie is located 20 kilometers from Saint-Louis. It is a large reserve where you can observe a multitude of birds of different species.

• The Casamance

  Considered by some as the most beautiful region of Senegal, and by others as the wonder of West Africa, the Casamance, which is located near the border with Guinea-Bissau, will be one of the discoveries not to be missed during your trip to the country. It is a flora of any beauty that you will be able to discover in fabulous landscapes, that you will cross in dugouts, in a maze of hundreds of islands that thousands of birds fly over. To observe them, go for example to the island of birds called Saloum, near the small village of Kassel. In Casamance, the country is greener, the vegetation is very dense, with beautiful rice fields and inlets twisted by the mangrove. You can also rest on the most beautiful beaches of the country, such as Cap-Skirring, which has all the infrastructure of a beautiful seaside resort, surrounded by nature.