Natural good looks, a breezy capital and an irresistable soundtrack.

Tropical Senegal is lauded for beauties both natural and urbane. With its suave capital, Dakar - many travellers' favourite amongst the larger African cities - and its entourage of internationally known musicians, Senegal brings in more visitors than any other country in the region.

Government

President: Aboulaye Wade
Prime Minister: Macky Sall

Environment

Area: 196190sq kms
Population: 11,987,000

Society

Language spoken (official): French
Language spoken (official): Wolof
Language spoken (other): Serer
Language spoken (other): Diola
Language spoken (other): Fula
Language spoken (other): Tukulor
Language spoken (other): Mandinka

Weather

Senegal's climate is pleasantly tropical, with Dakar ranking as one the coolest, breeziest spots in West Africa. The country's average daily temperatures range from 18°C (65°F) to 31°C (87°F). In the north and central parts, the wet season lasts from July to September, while in the Casamance it's about a month longer on either end. Rainfall averages range from 300mm (12in) in the north to as much as six times that in the south; Dakar gets over 600mm (24in) annually. The dry season (December to April) is the time of the hot, dry harmattan winds.

Communication

Dialling code: 221

Pre-departure

When to go

The best time to travel in Senegal is between November and February, when it's fairly cool and dry. It's also the best time to spot migratory birds and mammals. The only downside of visits during that time are the harmattan winds that bring in Sahara dust to cloud vision and waters (not great for scuba diving). The best music festivals happen in November/December and from April to June. Low tourist season is from July to September - the time of the tropical rains.

Visas

Visas are required for all foreigners, except nationals of Canada, the EU, ECOWAS countries, Israel, Japan, South Africa and the US, who may visit for up to 90 days without a visa.

Electricity voltage: 230V

Electricity HZ: 50Hz

Health conditions

Malaria

This serious and potentially fatal disease is spread by mosquito bites. If you are travelling in endemic areas it is extremely important to avoid mosquito bites and to take tablets to prevent this disease. Symptoms range from fever, chills and sweating, headache, diarrhoea and abdominal pains to a vague feeling of ill-health. Seek medical help immediately if malaria is suspected. Without treatment malaria can rapidly become more serious and can be fatal.

If medical care is not available, malaria tablets can be used for treatment. You should seek medical advice, before you travel, on the right medication and dosage for you.

If you do contract malaria, be sure to be re-tested for malaria once you return home as you can harbour malaria parasites in your body even if you are symptom free.

Travellers are advised to prevent mosquito bites at all times. The main messages are: wear light-coloured clothing; wear long trousers and long-sleeved shirts; use mosquito repellents containing the compound DEET on exposed areas (prolonged overuse of DEET may be harmful, especially to children, but its use is considered preferable to being bitten by disease-transmitting mosquitoes); avoid perfumes and aftershave.Use a mosquito net impregnated with mosquito repellent (permethrin) - it may be worth taking your own.

Schistosomiasis (Bilharzia)

Also known as bilharzia, this disease is carried in freshwater by tiny worms that enter through the skin and attach themselves to the intestines or bladder. The first symptom may be tingling and sometimes a light rash around the area where the worm entered. Weeks later, a high fever may develop. A general unwell feeling may be the first symptom, or there may be no symptoms. Once the disease is established, abdominal pain and blood in the urine are other signs. The infection often causes no symptoms until the disease is well established (several months to years after exposure), and damage to internal organs is irreversible.

Avoid swimming or bathing in freshwater where bilharzia is present. Even deep water can be infected. If you do get wet, dry off quickly and dry your clothes as well. A blood test is the most reliable test, but it will not show positive until a number of weeks after exposure.

Cholera

This diarrhoeal disease can cause rapid dehydration and death. Cholera is caused by a bacteria, Vibrio cholerae. It's transmitted from person to person by direct contact (often via healthy carriers of the disease) or via contaminated food and water. It can be spread by seafood, including crustaceans and shellfish, which get infected via sewage.

Cholera exists where standards of environmental and personal hygiene are low. Every so often there are massive epidemics, usually due to contaminated water in conditions where there is a breakdown of the normal infrastructure.

The time between becoming infected and symptoms appearing is usually short, between one and five days. The diarrhoea starts suddenly, and pours out of you. It's characteristically described as 'ricewater' diarrhoea because it is watery and flecked with white mucus. Vomiting and muscle cramps are usual, but fever is rare. In its most serious form, it causes a massive outpouring of fluid (up to 20L a day). This is the worst case scenario - only about one in 10 sufferers get this severe form.

It's a self-limiting illness, meaning that if you don't succumb to dehydration, it will end in about a week without any treatment.

You should seek medical help urgently; in the meantime, start re-hydration therapy with oral re-hydration salts. You may need antibiotic treatment with tetracycline, but fluid replacement is the single most important treatment strategy in cholera.

Prevention is by taking basic food and water precautions, avoiding seafood and having scrupulous personal hygiene. The currently available vaccine is not thought worthwhile as it provides only limited protection for a short time.

Transport

Getting There and Away (overview)

There are plenty of good connections between Europe and Senegal, particularly from Paris, which is well-served by regular flights as well as charter companies. Senegal is also well linked to other destinations in Africa, including Bamako, Banjul, Abidjan, Bissau, Nairobi, Addis Abeba and Johannesburg. There's even a direct connection to New York with South African Airways. Most airline offices are on or near the Place de l'Indépendance in Dakar, as are most travel agencies, some of which can have better deals.

The main entry points to the Gambia are along the Trans-Gambia Highway, at Karang and between Vélingara and Basse Sante Su, although there are many more routes.

Bush taxis run regularly from Dakar to Rosso, at Senegal's border with Mauritania, from where you catch a pirogue across the river. The whole journey can be done in a day if you leave early. Bush taxis also run from Tambacounda (12 hours from Dakar) to Labé, Guinea, though if you take that option be prepared for a long and rocky ride. Bissau can be reached by bush taxi from Ziguinchor.

Banjul is easily reached by road, and there are frequent bush taxis from Dakar.

The Dakar-Bamako train is the classic way to travel overland to Mali, though it's notoriously unreliable and derailments are frequent. There are two trains, one on Wednesdays and one on Saturday: each takes 40 hours. The train has a bar-restaurant car, or you can buy cheap food at stations along the way. Hold on tight to your valuables: this train is a notorious haunt for pickpockets.

Getting Around (overview)

Air Sénégal International has daily flights from Dakar to Ziguinchor, and less frequent connections to Cap Skiring (only during high season), Tambacounda and Saint-Louis.

The main roads between Dakar, Kaolack, Ziguinchor and other large towns are covered by buses (cars mourides, buses carrying 30 to 40 people) and Ndiaga Ndiaye (minibuses with between 15 and 30 seats).

The best option for long-distance travel is a sept-place taxi (bush taxi). On the main routes, these are usually Peugeot 504s with three rows of seats, and though they are fairly battered, and you're squeezed in with 6 other passengers, they are your safest, most comfortable and reliable option of travel. Fares are reasonable; buses are about a third the price of bush taxis (though you pay in travel time and fatigue), and minibuses are somewhere in between. There's normally a small extra charge for luggage.

Train services around Senegal have been cut and your options are limited to a twice-weekly service to Thiés and Tambacounda (and on to Bamako in Mali).

An excellent ferry service runs between Dakar and Ziguinchor. It adheres to international standards of safety, is reliable and tends to be a lot more comfortable than travel by battered bush taxi (and cheaper than flying).

Car hire is not cheap - often twice as much as hiring a taxi's service for the same long-distance drive - but many of the big international companies have offices in Dakar. Some smaller outfits have cheaper deals available.

Culture

History Before 20th Century

Senegal's recorded history dates from the 8th century, when it was part of the empire of Ghana. As this empire waned, the Djolof kingdom arose and flourished during the 13th and 14th centuries, in the area between the Senegal River and modern-day Dakar.

By the early 1500s, Portuguese traders had made contact with the coastal kingdoms, which was to last through the 16th century. They were displaced by the British, French and Dutch, who hoped to gain control of St-Louis and île de Gorée and, strategic points where slaves bound for the Americas could be collected. St-Louis was finally secured by the French in 1659.

By the end of the 19th century, France controlled all of Senegal, and Dakar was built as the administrative centre. Senegal sent a deputy to the French parliament as early as 1848, but it wasn't until 1914 that the first African deputy, Blaise Diagne, was elected. He was followed by a new generation of black politicians led by Lamine Gueye and Léopold Senghor.

Modern History

In the run-up to independence, Senegal joined French Sudan to form the Federation of Mali. The federation gained independence in 1960 but broke up two months later. Senegal became a republic under the presidency of Léopold Senghor.

At the end of 1980, Senghor stepped down as president. His place was taken by Abdou Diouf, leader of the PS, whose first major crisis occurred in 1984 when it was discovered that an estimated 700,000 tonnes of groundnuts (about three times the official exported amount) had been smuggled into neighbouring countries by peasants unhappy with the fixed payments they received from the government.

In 1989, a minor incident on the Senegal-Mauritania border led to serious riots in both countries in which many people died. Both countries deported thousands of the other's nationals (killing hundreds in the process), the border was closed and diplomatic relations were broken off until April 1992.

In the early 1990s, there were serious clashes in the Casamance region between the army and separatist rebels. Quite apart from the suffering caused to the local people, the fighting severely affected Senegal's tourist industry. This compounded Senegal's already desperate financial situation.

More violence occurred in Casamance and elsewhere in early 1993, following elections in which Diouf was elected president for a third term. After long negotiations, a cease-fire was declared in July that year, and in the following months peace returned to Casamance. Unfortunately, three years later, the cease-fire agreement collapsed.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the country, things were still far from peaceful. The government introduced a number of austerity measures, leading to a one-day general strike in early September and sporadic outbreaks of unrest in Dakar and other cities during the following months. The devaluation of the CFA in January 1994 also resulted in angry demonstrations. In February 1994, hundreds of people marched on Dakar's presidential palace and six policemen on guard were reportedly hacked to death. The government responded to this by ordering high-profile army patrols onto the streets of the capital. The popular opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade was arrested and accused of conspiracy. Dakar remained tense but peaceful in the following months, and Wade was released in May 1994.

The March 2000 presidential elections were a close contest between President Abdou Diouf and Abdoulaye Wade. After a tense second round of voting, Wade emerged victorious and became Senegal's new president, in one of the most peaceful and undisputed governmental transitions the continent had ever seen.

Recent History

President Wade promised that he and his party PDS would govern the country in an open and transparent way, and hopes were high that he would tackle Senegal's many problems with a renewed vigour. The reform progress, however, was disappointingly slow, and the first voices of discontent started to emerge. To make things worse, in 2002, the large passenger boat Joola sank, with a disastrous death toll of almost 2000 people. At the same time, conflicts in the Casamance still refused to subside, despite another peace agreement in 2001. Only the 2004 peace accord is finally showing signs of being effective, and tourists are returning to Senegal's most beautiful region in large numbers.

In 2005 the country was yet again in a flurry, as President Wade controversially ordered the arrest of former prime minister Idrissa Seck, accusing him of embezzling funds while working as mayor of Thies and of threatening state security. Seck was released in February 2006 after six months in prison, and the whole affair has since become somewhat hushed, probably to detract attention from inner-party conflicts in preparation for the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2007.

Places of Interest

Ìle de Gorée

Summary Review:

With its colonial brick-structures and sand-blown, bougainvillea-flushed alleyways, this island is a haven of tranquility. But there's a sad background to all this calm beauty - Ìle de Gorée used to be an important slave trading station, and many visitors come here for traces of this tragic past.

Full Review:

Try to visit Gorée on its annual Jours des Portes Ouvertes in May/June, when the island's numerous artists' ateliers and many private homes are open to the public.

Parc National des Oiseaux du Djoudj

Summary Review:

From November to April, some three million birds migrating south from Europe stop here, because it's one of the first places with permanent water south of the Sahara. This park is one of the most important bird sanctuaries in the world, and almost 30 species have been recorded. Pink flamingos, pelicans, ducks and waders are most plentiful.

Lac Rose

Summary Review:

Lac Rose owes its name to its pink colouring, caused by a high mineral and salt content, which also makes for very buoyant swimming. It's a popular Dakarois picnic spot, attracting tour groups and, inevitably, souvenir sellers, and has achieved notoriety in modern times as the terminus of the annual Dakar motor rally.

  © 2005 Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.

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