8-Day Senegal Tour with Gorée Island, Lompoul Desert and Saloum

• Arrival at Blaise Diagne Airport.
• Welcome and transfer to Chez Salim Hotel at Pink Lake.

• Explore Gorée Island, where from the early 15th century until 1848, millions of Black people were abused, humiliated, enslaved, and shipped to the Americas. See the slave houses and their famous "DOOR OF NO RETURN".
• See also the shackles and the 10,300 kg iron ball the slaves were always carrying with them. Learn the cost of a slave in terms of exchange.
• Keep walking to see Gorée's ochre-painted buildings.
• Explore the 1830 French church and the houses of some mulattoes, owners of slaves and wealthy merchants such as Victoria Albis.
• See the 1925 French veterinary school for the colonies, the former French governor's palace, the French government square, the auction block, and the 1919 William Ponty School, whose purpose was to train executives for the French colonies.
• See also where the Portuguese built their 1481 chapel and the former French fortification. In short, all are World Heritage sites. Click some scenes of the Senegalese dressed in African attire doing their daily activities.
• Lunch on Gorée in a restaurant with a sea view.
• See Dakar's cultural park, an architectural and cultural jewel. Witness the Monument of the African Renaissance, the Museum of Black Civilisation, the National Theatre, and the Railroad.
• See the Big Cathedral, the Divinity Mosque, and more.
• Click a portrait of the Senegalese dressed in their local attire, and scenes of their activities.

Dinner and overnight stay at Chez Salim Hotel.

• Visit Bandia Reserve in a 4WD with the services of a ranger.
• Witness the hyenas, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, buffaloes, Derby and Cape elands, impalas, horse antelopes, green and red monkeys, and rhinos. See the African Big 5.
• See the baobab graveyard with its skulls, a symbolic tree used in ancient days as a cemetery.
• End the tour with the crocodile pond and lunch in Thiès.
• Go northwards to Saint-Louis.

Dinner and overnight stay at Cap Saint Louis Hotel or Diamarek Hotel.

• Take a boat ride in Djoudj Birds Park to see thousands of pelicans. Djoudj is the world's third-largest ornithological reserve. Every year, this park receives a great diversity of birds during the great migration.

• Witness the Eurasian and African spoonbills, the hadada ibis, the African jacana, the spur-winged geese, the African darters, monitor lizards, crocodiles, and more.

• Lunch in Saint-Louis.

• Set off to explore the city in a horse carriage to see what used to be the first French town in Africa. Saint-Louis is often compared to New Orleans.

• Continue to the Lompoul Desert, a desert of orange dunes. Once at Lompoul village, a jeep will take us into the desert.

• Have a camel ride in this fabulous setting and enjoy a sunset photo opportunity. Walk on your own in the middle of nowhere to enjoy the place. In a desert atmosphere, an African ballet will be performed in your honour.

• Dinner and overnight at Camp du Desert in Lompoul in a nomadic style.

• Visit Touba's biggest mosque. Touba is the capital city of an Islamic brotherhood called Mouridisme, created by Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba.
• Explore a typical village and get initiated into one of their daily activities: pounding millet. Discuss with the inhabitants and take photos.
• Lunch in Kaolack at Blue Bird Restaurant.
• Continue to Toubacouta.
• Take a boat ride on the Saloum River, a World Heritage site. Enjoy the sublime beauty of the mangrove and its oysters. While navigating the river, do some birding to see the Goliath heron, the osprey, and the palm nut vulture.
• See Shell Island and go to the bird's islet to witness spectacular scenes of the birds returning for a quiet night.

Dinner and overnight stay at Keur Saloum Hotel.

• Take a boat ride on the Saloum River to explore Sipo Island.
• Visit the bush school (if open).
• Return to the hotel.

Free afternoon. Take advantage of the pool and relax - dinner and overnight at Keur Saloum Hotel.

• Visit Shell Island, or Fadiouth, an island with a great majority of Catholics and a small minority of Muslims.
• See the holy baobab tree, the church, the granaries on piles, and the cemetery.
• From the graveyard, embark on a small boat typical of the Serer tribe to join the mainland.
• Lunch at Tavern Des Pêcheurs Restaurant.
• Continue to Mbour.

Dinner and overnight stay at MBaila Hotel.

• Transfer to the airport - end of the tour services.