On The Trail Of Migrants Tours

On the Trail of Migrants

Day 1: Welcome to Senegal.

From the airport, your expert cultural tour guide will meet, assist, and transfer you to your hotel in a private vehicle. You will be briefed about what to expect during your stay.

Overnight in Dakar

No meals included

Day 2: Dakar – Goree Island – Dakar

After breakfast, we will go first for a city tour of Dakar, to feel the contrasts between some upscale residential areas and other popular neighborhoods.

We will also visit tourist hotspots like the Kermel market for vegetables and seafood, Independence Place, the presidential house, and the main cathedral before continuing by a seafront drive towards Soumbedioune market for crafts, and the mosque of the Divinity.

This afternoon, we will take a 20 ferry ride to Goree Island.

Land of martyrs and suffering

Goree was an important slave transit center before their deportation to the Americas

Titled a world heritage by UNESCO, our visit will start at the famous slave's house, to observe the Door of no return, through which millions and millions of enslaved Africans crossed the way of slavery.

We will walk through this island to feel the daily life and discover its homogeneous architecture before cruising back to Dakar for an overnight

Meal Included: Breakfast

Day 3: Dakar – Sarpan Birds Island – St Louis

After breakfast, depart to Soumbedioune Bay, where we will embark on a boat to sail 03km to Madeleine Island, well known as Sarpan Island.

Covering an area of 50Ha, the island offers an environment as rich as it is varied, with more than a hundred species of trees, some reptiles, and different kinds of birds.

Lined by a sandy beach, where turtles come to lay their egg during the winter.

This island is made of volcanic rock, and with it, the turquoise blue waters are a nice place for swimming

We will walk around to discover this fauna or collect sea urchins, oysters, and other seafood before sailing back to Dakar.

In the afternoon, lunch and route for the North in Saint Louis, the former capital city of French West Africa

Overnight in St Louis

Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner

Day 4: St Louis – Djoudj Birds Sanctuary- St Louis

From St Louis early this morning for the Mauritania border

The Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary is located on the southeast bank of the Senegal River and is the first point of water just after flying over the Sahara Desert for migratory birds.

By boat, we can sail to observe more than 400 species coming to this place each winter: cormorants, pelicans, kingfishers, flamingos, eagles, crocodiles, varans, warthogs, jackals….

Djoudj is also a breeding and resting area for white pelicans. Covering a surface of 16 thousand hectares, this wetland comprises a large lake surrounded by streams, ponds, and backwaters…

Back to St Louis for Lunch and by horse carriage to discover this city built in the middle of 17th century

St Louis first capital city of Senegal, is also the settlement of the Signares: some mixed peoples, descendants of black African mothers who were the slaves and European fathers who were the slave masters.

Visit Guet Ndar village, a populous area where the fishermen called Lebou, located between the Atlantic Ocean and the west bank of the Senegal River.

Here, the common daily activity is fishing, meeting, and interacting with them before going back to the hotel

Overnight in St Louis

Meal included: Breakfast

Day 5: St Louis – Touba – Toubacouta

Complete a tour of St Louis after breakfast or sightseeing for our postal card, we will leave this colonial city for the Delta of Sine Saloum near the Gambia border.

A stop will be made in Touba to visit the largest and most magnificent mosque in Africa

Touba is the Land of a powerful brotherhood born in Senegal called Mourid, and this city is also compared to the Vatican by its autonomous administration.

You will learn about Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, the mystic and spiritual founder of Mouridism way

Continue South with some stops on the way to visit Wolof or Fulani villagers. We can meet the locals and learn about their daily activities and culture

Once we arrive at the Sine Saloum area, we will start our excursion by boat through the mangrove forest to discover the birds' island……...

Nestled next to the continental ridge, this delta is an important reserve of biosphere covering a surface of 2 hundred thousand hectares, made of islets, marshy areas, bird houses, shell islands…

Let us observe the spectacular return of birds to the nests at sunset and back to the hotel

Meal Included: Breakfast and Dinner

Day 6: Toubacouta – Fathala Safari / Lion walk

After breakfast in front of the Saloum Delta, we will check out and drive straight to the Fathala wildlife reserve

We will enjoy a typical African bush experience in an open-air vehicle. See family herds of the rare West African giant derby eland, only found in this part of the world

Other antelope species such as roan, waterbuck, and bushbuck.

Also to be seen are giraffes, rhinos, buffalo, warthogs, zebras, as well as red and green monkeys, and exquisitely colored bird species.

Just aside, let us meet the king of the jungle

The ‘’Lion walk’’ is a chance to walk with some tamed lions that have been raised from a young age.

Accompanied by a local guide,s we will have less than an hour with the king of the Jungle, a rare opportunity for a great postcard

After this adrenaline rush, in the free afternoon, walk around before dinner, and overnight in luxury tents.

Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner

Day 7: Fathala – Fishing Port – Warang

Enjoy morning coffee and snacks next to the waterhole as you experience the magnificent African sunrise

We will check out and drive toward the North, to arrive at the other side of the Delta

We will discover on the way the millenary baobab tree in Fadial, then continue through the bush

Stop nearby a nomadic camp or a sedentary village to meet and interact with the locals

After lunch, our last visit should be the second biggest fishing port of Senegal, where we will attend to the return of the fishermen

Back from fishing, they face the swell to dock their boats, whose fish will be sold at auction. Sensational spectacle rich in color and smell

Back to the hotel for dinner and overnight

Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner

Day 8: Warang – Bandia Park – Somone

This morning we will drive for half an hour to arrive in Bandia Park, and spend 03 hours in a forest of baobab trees and acacias

We will see mostly herbivorous wild animals such as buffalo, antelopes, impalas, gazelles, eland, kudu, giraffes, monkeys, zebras…

Bird species such as small hornbills, eagles, vultures, kingfishers, grey herons…

In this game drive, let us visit a special baobab tree for an archeological course, the tomb of the griots.

Griots were cast people; storytellers, drummers, and singers, and were often buried inside the hollow of the baobabs.

At the artificial river, just aside to pet or swim with the crocodiles.

In the afternoon, let us drive to the Somone Lagune and embark on some catamarans

We are going to sail inside a forest of mangrove trees to meet the shore birds such as pelicans, herons, egrets, cormorants, kingfishers, etc.

Located aside from the Atlantic Ocean, the Somone delta is made up of islets and marshy areas, birds’ houses, shell islands…

Swimming in the blue waters and way back to the hotel

Overnight in Somone

Meal Included: Breakfast

Day 9: Dakar – Aeroport

Breakfast and leisure at the beach hotel or sightseeing before the transfer to the Airport for your onward flight

Meal Included: Breakfast