Senegal

For our first trip to sub-Saharan Africa, we chose Senegal as we were greeted by a Senegalese friend very familiar with his country. We were able to find a flight Lyon-Dakar on a charter of Air Mediterranean for a good price. We stayed on the outskirts of Mbour and our trips we rented a car, using the Senegalese system (basically a particular lends us his car and we pay for that ...).

 

We started our week with a tour near Saint-Louis, its fishing port and most visited national park Djoudj rich in birds and pelicans particularly at this time. On the way back to Mbour, we spent a night in the small desert Lompoul, the dune field offers an amazing contrast with other local landscapes. We then visited the Sine-Saloum famous for its mangrove (even birds ...) and Ile de Mar Lodge.
Back in Mbour, we took a day to reach Dakar and its traffic jams to embark on Goree Island, the departure point for ships carrying slaves to the Americas. The colorful colonial architecture is particularly photogenic but the place is eminently tourist. Return in the late afternoon we took a quick pass at the Rose Lake Retba also saltier than the Dead Sea. As in Goree, the place is very touristy and it is difficult to take pictures quietly without being bombarded by many small vendors ...
During the last two days, we visited the small game reserve Bandia near Mbour, before heading into the bush in the village of our friend.
The Senegalese are friendly, always smiling and are well suited to game photos! The discovery of the country in this way has enabled many contacts with people, which is not the case in strictly spa stays I could only advise.