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WEST AFRICA

Why Senegal is this year’s most exciting package holiday

The West African nation promises golden sands, safaris and a deep-dive into its rich history — all for less than £900pp

The beach on Gorée island in Dakar
The beach on Gorée island in Dakar
ALAMY
The Sunday Times

On the Senegalese island of Fadiouth, the dusty-white clam shells that litter the ground crunch as I make my way to the highest point, with just the sound of lapping water around the semi-submerged mangrove trees and the frittering calls of gulls above.

Hyacinthé Diouf, a local man who’s short in stature but big on gravitas, shields his eyes from the sun and points at the mainland on the other side of a wooden bridge. “Here you can get a good view of all the important structures,” he says. “For the Christians, it’s the church; for the Muslims, the mosque; for the animists, the sacred baobab tree. And for the young children, the 5G tower.”

I’m here via Tui’s first direct flight from the UK to Dakar, Senegal’s capital. At the gate in Gatwick, two tanned holidaymakers told me they were delighted to have a new place to try out; the couple had already visited the neighbouring Gambia and Cape Verde. A woman next to me on the transfer bus explained it was the bargain price that had attracted her — where else can you get 30C heat at this time of year for under £1,000 all-inclusive, she said.

A baobab tree
A baobab tree
ALAMY

According to Tui, it’s this good value (which has become increasingly important of late) that attracted them to Senegal, coupled with the variety of experiences that travellers can have. As I find, it’s far from just a place to fly and flop.

On the west coast of Africa, on the same latitude as Cape Verde and almost cut in two by the Gambia at its heart, Senegal is the same size as England and Scotland together, with just a third of the population. More than a million people live in Dakar, its capital on its northwestern tip, before they spill down to the rest of the coast, where fishing and tourism are big business. Inland, much of it is given over to countryside and its six wildlife-filled national parks.

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Dakar is just a five-and-a-half-hour flight from the UK, and better still there’s no time difference — the only downside, it seems, is the need to brush up on my GCSE French, as English speakers are hard to come by. I’m staying at the recently opened Hotel Riu Baobab, just over an hour by transfer bus. Unlike the rest of the modest accommodation that tends to dot the Petite Côte — this part of the Senegal coast that reaches south from Dakar to the Gambia — it offers a premium experience.

The pool at the Hotel Riu Baobab
The pool at the Hotel Riu Baobab

It’s an expansive resort, with its own private beach, decked in neutral tones with African-inspired touches — tribal masks, artsy black-and-white portraits and patterned headboards in the 524 rooms, and wicker wall art in the spa.

I could easily spend the entire time in the resort, with its pools, delicious buffet lunches (including the national dish, thiéboudiene, made with fish, rice and tomato sauce) and swim-up bars for sundowners — in this case baobab cocktails, made from the fruit of the tree. They taste vaguely of caramel, with a fresh fruitiness. Of course, this being Tui, there’s also plenty of live entertainment and a nightclub.

Locals in Fadiouth, where the ground is covered with seashells
Locals in Fadiouth, where the ground is covered with seashells
SHILPA GANATRA

But as tempting as the Hotel Riu Baobab is, it would be a travesty not to explore further afield, hence my trip to Fadiouth. It’s also known as the Île aux Coquillages, or seashell island, for the shells on which it sits — it was, almost literally, built on its centuries-old fishing trade. Today Fadiouth is part of the largest artisanal fishing port in west Africa and its waters still heave with seafood. Thousands of shells now litter the well-trodden footpaths, and the island remains car-free.

For animal-spotting, the privately owned Bandia Nature Reserve is the closest to the Riu Baobab. We explore its warren of baobabs, thorny bushland and great mahogany trees by 4x4, hoping to meet its zebras, antelopes, giraffes and two very camera-shy white rhinos. Later I escape to Saloum Delta, where I escape the midday sun on a pleasant boat ride through the mangroves, after a horse-and-cart ride on the shore.

Shilpa Ganatra climbs into the trunk of Senegal's biggest baobab tree, in Samba Dia
Shilpa Ganatra climbs into the trunk of Senegal's biggest baobab tree, in Samba Dia
SHILPA GANATRA

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On a bike tour around Pointe-Sarène — the rural land surrounding the hotel — my guide Doudou Sane and I pedal the dusty roads past parched lagoons and sandy swathes. All I can hear is the whistle of the warm breeze in my ears and the undulating whirring of crickets somewhere in the scrub as the arid, flat landscape passes in a rust-coloured blur.

Best long-haul destinations for 2023

An elderly lady, who’s balancing a pot on her head, stops us to ask whether Sane is my husband. If not, she says, can she have him. Later down the road a farmer driving his horse and cart is tickled pink by my greeting of “na nga def” (“may peace be with you”) in Wolof, which is the main dialect here. A group of farm hands invite us to join their breakfast — a family-sized bowl of millet couscous with milk, straight from the curved-horned cows they’re tending. It’s teranga, Sane explains, the Wolof word for hospitality which the Senegalese apply to tourists, strangers and neighbouring tribes alike. We’re treated like old friends.

The House of Slaves in Gorée Island
The House of Slaves in Gorée Island
FEDERICO MENEGHETTI/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/GETTY IMAGES

Later, when I meet Sogui Wade, a kind-eyed tour guide from the region near the hotel, we drive the three hours to Gorée Island, the most popular attraction in Senegal, which is a twenty-minute ferry ride from the mainland of Dakar. It was a key port for the transatlantic slave trade between 1536 and 1848, when the French finally abolished it — abductees were brought here to board ships destined for the Americas and Europe. It was the first African Unesco World Heritage site and counts Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton as previous visitors (£64pp; nfsenegal.com).

We visit the House of Slaves, a two-storey, salmon-pink house on the edge of the island that was once a holding pen for captured Africans, and now acts as a museum to mark this atrocity. I peer inside the cells where young children were “stacked like sardines”, according to Wade. It’s a gut punch, deeply upsetting — as is seeing the Door of No Return, an archway through which enslaved people left the continent for the final time; behind it lies a seemingly infinite expanse of Atlantic Ocean. Afterwards I meet Brenda, a visitor from east London. “You read about the slave trade, but it’s different actually being here,” she says, visibly shaken by the experience.

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I ask Wade how it feels to take in these sights of his country’s past. “It’s our history, so I cannot be indifferent. We remember what happened, but we forgive,” he explains. The fact that the Senegalese’s focus stays on the future is a sign of the country’s tolerant spirit.

I can’t help but remember the view from the highest point on seashell island — the church, the mosque and the sacred baobab tree. The addition of a 5G tower is testament to that.

Shilpa Ganatra was a guest of Tui, which has seven nights’ all-inclusive at the Hotel Riu Baobab from £871pp, including flights and transfers (tui.co.uk)

African pirogue canoes on the beach in Dakar
African pirogue canoes on the beach in Dakar

Three more Senegal tours

1. Step into Senegal
Starting in Dakar, you’ll have time to soak up the mbalax music of Senegal before stops at Lac Rose, whose saline waters (up there with the Dead Sea in salinity) turn a delicate pink hue in the dry season, and St Louis, the former capital of Senegal with its French colonial architecture, which you’ll tour by horse-drawn cart. Cutting through the Gambia, you’ll then visit the southerly Casamance region, where you’ll meet the Dioula people to learn about animism and the ancient traditions that are still practised today.
Details
10 nights’ full board from £2,499pp, including transfers (nativeeyetravel.com). Fly to Dakar

The Saloum Delta National Park
The Saloum Delta National Park
MARIUSZ PRUSACZYK/GETTY IMAGES

2. Go wild in West Africa
Experience more of west Africa with this trip, which takes in Dakar, Gorée Island, Lac Rose, St Louis, bird reserves and Touba Mosque in Senegal, before crossing to the Gambia. The focus is on the natural world: you’ll cruise down the Gambia River to search for its resident hippos, crocodiles and monkeys, then explore Kiang West National Park and the Bao Bolong Wetland Reserve to see baboons, colobus monkeys, warthogs and mongooses. For the most part you’ll sleep under the stars in rustic eco-camps. Then it’s back up to Senegal to stop off at Saloum Delta and Fadiouth, before ending in Dakar.
Details
13 nights’ B&B from £1,640pp, including transfers and some other meals (explore.co.uk). Fly to Dakar

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3. Meet the lions
Animal lovers can indulge in Senegal’s best safari with a stay in Niokolo-Koba National Park, one of the only places to witness wild lions in the country. After a day-long drive from Dakar to the park in the south, the rest of this trip is spent exploring the forests, savannah floodplains and rocky slopes of the protected area. With patience and time, you could spot leopards, giant elands, chimpanzees and perhaps even elephants and African wild dogs.
Details
Seven nights’ full board from £1,395pp, including transfers (responsibletravel.com). Fly to Dakar

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