Senegal cruise through culture holiday
Click here to enquire about or book this holiday!
Basic information
Location: Senegal
Departures: Tailor-made
Duration: 10 days
Group size: 1+ people
Price: From £1153 - £1580.
Including all accommodation , all transfers , full board on the cruiser and B and B at other times.
Excluding flights and visas.
Location: Senegal
Departures: Tailor-made
Duration: 10 days
Group size: 1+ people
Price: From £1153 - £1580.
Including all accommodation , all transfers , full board on the cruiser and B and B at other times.
Excluding flights and visas.
What will I be doing on this trip?
Dakar ‘s famous nightlife will kick off your trip into the heart and history of Senegal and France’s colonisation of the region.
Our base is the historic city of Saint Louis, the former capital of French West Africa, and the embarkation point for your 6 day river cruise from the desert to the Atlantic. The beautifully refurbished Cruiser, has been doing this journey for 50 years and has achieved mythic status to the communities along the river. We go through Wolof Tukolor and Moore cultures and the Parc Oiseau de Djoudj, the world’s third most important breeding grounds for migrating birds.
Each day you stop off in villages or to visit old French Forts, gardens in the desert, the birding reserve. Throughout the trip you will be given a thorough history of the region both colonial and tribal, from an energetic and very knowledgeable guide who speaks good English and French.
Dakar ‘s famous nightlife will kick off your trip into the heart and history of Senegal and France’s colonisation of the region.
Our base is the historic city of Saint Louis, the former capital of French West Africa, and the embarkation point for your 6 day river cruise from the desert to the Atlantic. The beautifully refurbished Cruiser, has been doing this journey for 50 years and has achieved mythic status to the communities along the river. We go through Wolof Tukolor and Moore cultures and the Parc Oiseau de Djoudj, the world’s third most important breeding grounds for migrating birds.
Each day you stop off in villages or to visit old French Forts, gardens in the desert, the birding reserve. Throughout the trip you will be given a thorough history of the region both colonial and tribal, from an energetic and very knowledgeable guide who speaks good English and French.
My holiday itinerary...
Day 1: Arrival in Dakar
All to have arrived in Dakar. We may as well hit the ground running and have an evening in one of their good restaurants with live music - all the Senegalese greats like Youssou N’Dour play at these venues when they are in town.
Day 1: Arrival in Dakar
All to have arrived in Dakar. We may as well hit the ground running and have an evening in one of their good restaurants with live music - all the Senegalese greats like Youssou N’Dour play at these venues when they are in town.
Day 2: Dakar to St Louis
In the morning, transfer from Dakar to Saint Louis. In the afternoon, lunch and relax at a beach camp between the Senegal river and the Atlantic. Transfer to a hotel in Saint Louis. Day 3: St. Louis exploration In the morning, explore the historic and pleasant town of Saint Louis, the former capital of French West Africa. In the afternoon, transfer to Podor, one of the jewels of the River Senegal. This former colonial customs town dealt with much of the Saharan trade coming west. Visit the Faidherbe fort and wander the streets as the sun sets over the Mauritanian desert on the the other side of the river. Dine and sleep on the Bou El Mogdad cruiser. Day 4: Start of the cruise Breakfast on board as we cruise down the river. We stop off to visit a Maure village before getting in smaller craft to ride up a tributary river to a Tukolor village. Dine and sleep on the Bou El Mogdad. Day 5: Cruise through cultures A beautiful morning’s cruise through the Tukolor kingdom, palm trees lining our route and colourful village life punctuating our peace. At lunchtime we arrive at Dagana, a Wolof town and another former customs town. Visit the daily market. Dine and sleep on the Bou El Mogdad. Day 6: Horse and cart through colonial times On to Richard Toll, or “the garden of Richard Toll” named after the park of the Chateau of Baron Roger. We visit this old colonial town by horse and cart, stopping off at its sugar cane factory and “La folie de Baron Roger” - all in all almost Pythonesque! Dine and sleep on the Bou El Mogdad. Day 7: Border town experience Passing by Rosso, a border town with people, animals and goods crossing the river in pirogues. Dine and sleep on the Bou El Mogdad. Day 8: Birds, birds and more birds On to the Parc D’Oiseau de Djoudj - the world’s third most important breeding grounds for migrating birds. We will enter the park and get in motorised pirogues for a few hours twitching! Flamingoes, pelicans, cormorants, herons.. they’re all here. In the afternoon, we arrive at the Dagama Dam where the fresh water becomes saline andour ecology changes again. Dine and sleep on the Bou El Mogdad. |      |
Day 9: Back to St. Louis - free day
Disembark at St Louis, the afternoon is free.
Day 10: Back to Dakar
Transfer to Dakar. End of Tour.
Disembark at St Louis, the afternoon is free.
Day 10: Back to Dakar
Transfer to Dakar. End of Tour.
How to get to us...
By Air: Royal Air Maroc or Air France, Iberia, Air Portugal
By Car: With the company – on our Uk to Timbuktu trip!
Additional information
Family friendly: This trip is perfect for families with children aged 6 and upwards. There are no very long journeys. There is a small pool on the cruiser and the activities take place in well guided and supervised circumstances. This trip gives any newcomers to Africa a great introduction to the continent.
By Air: Royal Air Maroc or Air France, Iberia, Air Portugal
By Car: With the company – on our Uk to Timbuktu trip!
Additional information
Family friendly: This trip is perfect for families with children aged 6 and upwards. There are no very long journeys. There is a small pool on the cruiser and the activities take place in well guided and supervised circumstances. This trip gives any newcomers to Africa a great introduction to the continent.
How does this holiday make a difference?
Senegal is a great example of modern vibrant, open and progressing west Africa. Tourism has helped fuel their boom but, as with its neighbour The Gambia, it has often been package based holidays around the stunning coast. This type of tourism gives very little positive cultural interaction.
This trip aims to show you modern Senegal in Dakar and then to give this a historic and cultural background with historic Saint Louis and a cruise through some of it’s very different cultures.
Senegal is a great example of modern vibrant, open and progressing west Africa. Tourism has helped fuel their boom but, as with its neighbour The Gambia, it has often been package based holidays around the stunning coast. This type of tourism gives very little positive cultural interaction.
This trip aims to show you modern Senegal in Dakar and then to give this a historic and cultural background with historic Saint Louis and a cruise through some of it’s very different cultures.
The Cruiser has been making the journey from Saint Louis to Podor for over 50 years. In the last decade it was fully refurbished and is now back in action providing an important and much loved communication link along this stretch of the Senegal river. You are taken into the different communities who live along the river and who all benefit greatly from their links with the cruiser.
The cruiser is run by a Senegalese company based in Saint Louis. The company has long established links with the communities visited on the cruise . During the cruise we pass through the world’s third most important breeding grounds for migrating birds. |  |
Company Ethos
This company aims to dispel a few myths and to show you a modern, vibrant, open, safe and progressing west Africa and to ensure that your trip has a positive impact on the communities which host you. Too often tourism in Africa centers around the amazing wildlife and stunning scenery whilst the most vibrant, colourful and fascinating aspect of Africa - its people - pass by the window of the 4x4. We try to reverse the focus by taking you out into some of the amazing communities which we have befriended over our 20 years of traveling this vast and extraordinary continent.
The landscape is merely the background to the colour music, vibrancy and hospitality of the people of west Africa.Throughout the trip food and water is bought en route and as locally as possible.
Before your trip you will be sent our Responsible Travel guidelines, and en route you will be advised about changing cultural sensitivities.
This trip minimizes waste by advising clients to follow the African example and recycle everything. You will see how a system that provides no waste disposal produces very little waste.
We encourage you not to bring anything that we in the west count as disposable such as razors or wet wipes etc because in Africa they are not disposable.
Our company aims to minimize its environmental impact by:
As an alternative to carbon offsetting we offer you the opportunity to support these projects and thereby support communities which will be most affected by climate change.
Where is it?
This company aims to dispel a few myths and to show you a modern, vibrant, open, safe and progressing west Africa and to ensure that your trip has a positive impact on the communities which host you. Too often tourism in Africa centers around the amazing wildlife and stunning scenery whilst the most vibrant, colourful and fascinating aspect of Africa - its people - pass by the window of the 4x4. We try to reverse the focus by taking you out into some of the amazing communities which we have befriended over our 20 years of traveling this vast and extraordinary continent.
The landscape is merely the background to the colour music, vibrancy and hospitality of the people of west Africa.Throughout the trip food and water is bought en route and as locally as possible.
Before your trip you will be sent our Responsible Travel guidelines, and en route you will be advised about changing cultural sensitivities.
This trip minimizes waste by advising clients to follow the African example and recycle everything. You will see how a system that provides no waste disposal produces very little waste.
We encourage you not to bring anything that we in the west count as disposable such as razors or wet wipes etc because in Africa they are not disposable.
Our company aims to minimize its environmental impact by:
- Only flying one way for our season of tours in west Africa. For our outward journey we drive to Timbuktu – and you may too!
- Not having an office and our only paper based marketing product is a flyer.
- Having no brochures and doing most mailing by email.
As an alternative to carbon offsetting we offer you the opportunity to support these projects and thereby support communities which will be most affected by climate change.
Where is it?
Click here to enquire about or book this holiday!
To discover other Responsible Tourism projects, click here.
To discover more about Senegal, click here.
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