Senegal tour, Senagal uncovered
Highlights
Dakar | Goree Island | Lac Rose | Saint Louis | Toubi | Sine Ngayene | Banjul (Gambia) | Casamance | ZiguinchorDescription of Senegal tour, Senagal uncovered
Senegal’s north is dominated by the sahel – where the landscape changes from desert to savannah., To the south is the Gambia, and then the lush south of Senegal, and the forests of Casamance. This tour takes you from the dry grasslands down into the forest.First up on this ten day tour is Dakar, a lively West African capital. Goree Island just off the coast was once the centre of the slave trade, but is now a peaceful place after the bustle of the mainland.
In St Louis to the north, you can tour the streets in a horse-drawn caleche (carriage), enjoying the colonial architecture and mix of Islamic and Christian influences. Lac Rose close to Dakar is a pink lake, but there’s even more pink to be found at Djoudj National Park, home to pelicans and a large, blushing flamingo population.
On this trip you’ll spend time with the semi-nomadic Fulani people in the Ferlo Desert, and Dioula people in Casamance, and discover amazing Neolithic structures at Sine Ngayene. You’ll also cross briefly into the Gambia to explore Banjul, the colonial capital of the country.
Travel Team
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Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.
While on this tour we visit Djoudj National Park, an important wetland sanctuary that is home to around 1.5 million birds, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our visit here provides income to local communities, who are thus incentivised to continue preserving the area and are able to see the value of it as an environment rather than a resource. The entrance fees paid also help to fund continued conservation efforts.We also spend time at Sine Ngayene, another UNESCO World Heritage Site which relies heavily on visitor entrance fees to maintain, enhance and protect the area.
This tour travels through some very remote regions, some of which have barely been touched by the presence of humans, and we strongly believe in maintaining their pristine nature. We strive to ensure that we leave these areas as we find them and our team have been trained in strict no litter policies, meaning that we take all refuse to either be recycled or properly disposed of in nearby towns.
Similarly, in conjunction with our local team we work with hotels and guesthouses to implement best practices when it comes to environmental matters – again in some places this is far behind what we might be used to in other parts of the world. This includes basic things like not replacing towels each day, as well as saving electricity and turning lights off.
Our travellers are specifically briefed on not to buy souvenirs made from endangered species – people in remote parts of West Africa do not always have the same respect towards wildlife as most travellers will have, and can sometimes offer such things for sale. This also extends to bushmeat – it is quite common to find antelope, porcupine or even monkey served in restaurants, and we specifically advise our travellers against contributing to the depletion of local populations.
The Impacts of this Trip
As with many of the trips that we offer, this tour has a strong focus on local culture and different ethnic groups. Where possible we try to ensure that local people benefit from our presence.
We spend time with some traditional ethnic groups on this trip, including the semi-nomadic Fulani people and the animistic Dioula people. Tourism rarely reaches here and we recognise that we have a special responsibility to ensure that the encounters that we have are carried out in a responsible manner. We consult extensively with local tribal elders to ensure that our presence here is very much welcomed – we feel that it is very important to be seen as guests here rather than outsiders come to merely look. We are able to spend time with the communities learning about their traditions and customs.
We are careful not to disrupt the traditional way of life of the people that we meet. As a way to say thank you for allowing us to visit, we bring traditional gifts, such as sugar, tea and so on – we do not bring modern accoutrements that may change their way of life as we feel that it is important for all tribal groups that any move towards a more ‘modern’ lifestyle is made on their own terms and not imposed upon them. We give gifts to the elders of the villages who will then ensure that they are distributed appropriately, rather than just giving them to individuals, which can cause problems, jealousy and fights within small communities.
Where small local shops exist within the villages, we encourage our travellers to buy something, be it a cold drink or a snack, so that we have some economic benefit, however small. We employ local guides from the villages to show us around – not only does this give our travellers a greater insight into traditions but again it helps to put money into the local economy.
These are very traditional areas with certain codes of behaviour, and the people here are not that accustomed to outsiders. We ensure that our travellers are appropriately briefed in order so as not to offend local sensibilities. This includes photography – while we recognise that many people are incredibly photogenic it is important for us to respect their wishes should they not want to have their photo taken, and our travellers are carefully briefed upon this.
While on this tour we visit Djoudj National Park, an important wetland sanctuary that is home to around 1.5 million birds, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our visit here provides income to local communities, who are thus incentivised to continue preserving the area and are able to see the value of it as an environment rather than a resource. The entrance fees paid also help to fund continued conservation efforts.We also spend time at Sine Ngayene, another UNESCO World Heritage Site which relies heavily on visitor entrance fees to maintain, enhance and protect the area.
This tour travels through some very remote regions, some of which have barely been touched by the presence of humans, and we strongly believe in maintaining their pristine nature. We strive to ensure that we leave these areas as we find them and our team have been trained in strict no litter policies, meaning that we take all refuse to either be recycled or properly disposed of in nearby towns.
Similarly, in conjunction with our local team we work with hotels and guesthouses to implement best practices when it comes to environmental matters – again in some places this is far behind what we might be used to in other parts of the world. This includes basic things like not replacing towels each day, as well as saving electricity and turning lights off.
Our travellers are specifically briefed on not to buy souvenirs made from endangered species – people in remote parts of West Africa do not always have the same respect towards wildlife as most travellers will have, and can sometimes offer such things for sale. This also extends to bushmeat – it is quite common to find antelope, porcupine or even monkey served in restaurants, and we specifically advise our travellers against contributing to the depletion of local populations.
The Impacts of this Trip
As with many of the trips that we offer, this tour has a strong focus on local culture and different ethnic groups. Where possible we try to ensure that local people benefit from our presence.
We spend time with some traditional ethnic groups on this trip, including the semi-nomadic Fulani people and the animistic Dioula people. Tourism rarely reaches here and we recognise that we have a special responsibility to ensure that the encounters that we have are carried out in a responsible manner. We consult extensively with local tribal elders to ensure that our presence here is very much welcomed – we feel that it is very important to be seen as guests here rather than outsiders come to merely look. We are able to spend time with the communities learning about their traditions and customs.
We are careful not to disrupt the traditional way of life of the people that we meet. As a way to say thank you for allowing us to visit, we bring traditional gifts, such as sugar, tea and so on – we do not bring modern accoutrements that may change their way of life as we feel that it is important for all tribal groups that any move towards a more ‘modern’ lifestyle is made on their own terms and not imposed upon them. We give gifts to the elders of the villages who will then ensure that they are distributed appropriately, rather than just giving them to individuals, which can cause problems, jealousy and fights within small communities.
Where small local shops exist within the villages, we encourage our travellers to buy something, be it a cold drink or a snack, so that we have some economic benefit, however small. We employ local guides from the villages to show us around – not only does this give our travellers a greater insight into traditions but again it helps to put money into the local economy.
These are very traditional areas with certain codes of behaviour, and the people here are not that accustomed to outsiders. We ensure that our travellers are appropriately briefed in order so as not to offend local sensibilities. This includes photography – while we recognise that many people are incredibly photogenic it is important for us to respect their wishes should they not want to have their photo taken, and our travellers are carefully briefed upon this.
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