Today I want to share my guide to things to do in Dakar with you. The capital of Senegal and home to the westernmost point in Africa, this city has a lot to discover.
Things to Do in Dakar, Senegal
The first thing that struck me about Dakar was how much more developed it was than Bamako, the previous destination on my Africa trip.
Tall buildings—or really any buildings at all—were a stark contrast to the low-slung structures that lined the streets of the Malian capital.
All the roads were paved instead of just the few main streets, and the city had a cosmopolitan feel to it.
Hotel in Dakar, Senegal
The second stark contrast came when my boyfriend and I arrived at our accommodation, the King Fahd Palace Hotel. Housed in a tall tower, it was a far cry from the bohemian Sleeping Camel in Bamako.
While we had the good fortune to be upgraded to a suite, it didn’t have the local touch we enjoyed so much in Mali.
The hotel manager took us up the elevator to the fourth floor, where he walked us down the hall and stopped in front of an alcove.
When I saw that the room had three sets of doors, I knew we’d been given a large suite. But it wasn’t until he opened the first set that I realized just how large it was. Embarrassingly large.
First came the dining room table that sat eight, then came the living room area with several sofas and a TV.
Following that was the master bedroom, the first bathroom, the second bathroom, and the mini bar room. Yes, even the mini bar had its own room.
We settled in with a plate of complimentary cookies, then quickly started to feel dwarfed by the suite.
Go to La Pointe des Almadies in Dakar
Leaving the hotel, we walked down the street to La Pointe des Almadies, the westernmost point in Africa. Visiting is one of the most most popular things to do in Dakar.
We made our way through vendors selling everything from artwork to jewelery, then walked down to the small beach which was flanked on one side by restaurants and on the other by a jumble of souvenir shops.
Our first impression of the beach was a memorable one. To the right side was a man fishing on a rock. He was sitting dangerously close to a giant pink pelican.
We started to watch the pair, and quickly discovered the bird was the man’s pet.
For five minutes, we watched in awe as the pelican, which was twice the size of the man, angled its beak between the man’s hands to pry out the fish he was using for bait.
At one point the bird got so agitated it jumped up onto the man’s back and sat for a few minutes prodding the man’s arms with its two-foot beak. It was pretty amazing.
The man eventually stood, picked up the bird, and tossed it lightly onto the roof of a market stall. The bird, which had clipped wings, stood on the roof trying to figure out how to get down. It was not pleased.
A friend of the man’s came by, and the pelican took its revenge by clamping the friend’s head between the long halves of its beak, eliciting a shriek from the victim but no help from the master.
When we’d been sufficiently entertained by the man and his pelican, we wandered along the beach in Dakar, which was full of big, beautiful seashells.
Farther down we noticed large bags of the shells, which were presumably collected from the beach for sale or use elsewhere.
Go to the Beach in Dakar
We then headed back to the King Fahd Palace Hotel and found its beach. It was larger than the one at La Pointe des Almadies.
We walked down the jetty and along the rocky shore, admiring the immensity of the waves that were pounding their way onto the sand.
It was beautiful to see. Visiting the beaches was quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do in Dakar.
Eat Dinner at La Pointe des Almadies in Dakar
Darkness fell and we escaped the hotel’s buffet restaurant by heading back to La Pointe des Almadies for dinner.
We enjoyed crab farcis and scallops while fighting off swarms of mosquitoes, then headed back to our palatial room to get some sleep before our trip to Saint-Louis the following morning.
Relax in Dakar
We had a great time in Saint-Louis, and found ourselves back in Dakar afterwards. After six days of non-stop traveling, my boyfriend and I woke up on Monday and decided we needed to give ourselves a bit of time to relax.
We sat by the pool at our hotel in Dakar from 10am until almost 2pm, reading books and sipping cafes au lait.
I have to admit I had a hard time with it. Being type A++, I wanted to be on the move, discovering more of the best things to do in Dakar.
However, I was also exhausted and running low on energy. I knew I needed to take some time to rest if I wanted to keep up the pace of the first part of our trip to Africa.
See the Coast in Dakar
Once we were sufficiently rested, we found ourselves a taxi at the hotel and went into the city center. On the way from Les Almadies in the northwest to the ferry port in the southeast, we drove all along the coast of Dakar.
The huge surfing waves, rows of whitewashed houses with tile roofs, and stunning cliffs made me feel like I was in San Diego.
Dakar’s beautiful coastline and peaceful aura were pleasantly surprising for a city my guidebook described as having open sewers and being inadvisable to walk around.
Go to the Ile de Goree
After 30 minutes, we reached the ferry port and boarded the boat for the short hop from Dakar to the Ile de Goree.
The island is known for being both the first French settlement in the Dakar area and for its unfortunate involvement in the historic slave trade.
We alighted at the pier on the Ile de Goree and found ourselves in a peaceful car-free area full of leafy trees and beautiful French colonial buildings.
I could already tell that visiting the island would be one of the best things to do in Dakar.
For the next two hours we walked all over the Ile de Goree, exploring everything from the small streets to the castle, the artisan markets, and the museums (which, incidentally were all open despite everyone having told us that they were always closed on Mondays).
The rich red and yellow hues of the buildings and the bright bougainvillea that climbed their walls were stunning.
Wrought-iron balconies and brass lion-shaped door knockers added rich detail to the scene, as did the contrast of the snow-white goats bleating softly against the backdrop of the sea.
At one point we heard a noise coming from some bushes on the edge of the cliff by the castle. I thought it was a bird at first, but my boyfriend recognized it as the cry of a cat.
We braced ourselves on a tree and leaned over the edge to discover two newborn kittens. They couldn’t have been more than a week old.
The pair was smaller than my outstretched hand and their tiny squinting eyes and not-yet-developed ears were absolutely adorable.
We tried several times to get them to look up for a photo, but they were preoccupied with crying for their mother. I hope she eventually came back.
We left the Ile de Goree in the beautiful yellow light of the early evening and headed back to the mainland.
Eat at the Best Restaurants in Dakar
After a quick stop for tea at Cafe de Rome in the Dakar city center, we drove north to an Ethiopian restaurant. My boyfriend had read good reviews online and we couldn’t wait to try it.
We weren’t disappointed. The outdoor roof terrace was all pillows and lanterns, with wrought-iron furniture and large swaths of bright fabric overhead.
The chicken with ginger and spices was amazing, as were the side dishes of lentils and cabbage. Not surprisingly, I ate way too much. Eating was definitely one of my favorite things to do in Dakar.
Go to Le Village des Tortues
After an early night, we woke up the next morning and ventured back into heavy traffic on the way to the outskirts of Dakar. We were headed to Le Village des tortues, or Turtle Village, in Rufisque.
The village was a sanctuary for turtles, complete with a breeding program and a nature conservation scheme. Since my boyfriend’s favorite animal is the turtle, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit.
Le Village des Tortues did not disappoint. Despite being in Dakar, it felt like it was a million miles away from civilization.
The tree-lined sanctuary had a sweet perfume-like scent that was a welcome relief from the exhaust fumes we had inhaled in the city, and the turtles were plentiful and active.
The sanctuary was well-run and had information about both the turtles and the other wildlife in the enclosures. We first walked by the adult pens, where there were a few huge turtles that weighed 190 pounds (90 kilograms).
In each pen there was a dog that seemed to have adopted the turtles, watching over them from the edge of the fence. We couldn’t figure out if the canines were trained to do so or if they just took a special liking to their shelled companions.
Next we came to the juvenile pens where the 3-10 year old turtles lived. There we found some biologists weighing and measuring the turtles.
We watched for a while as they took the dimensions of one turtle and then tied a rope around its shell before hanging it from a scale to check its weight.
After they finished, the biologists turned to acknowledge us and held out the turtle. Smiling, we took turns holding it and posing for photos. It was much heavier than it looked!
Our final stop at the turtle village was the nursery where the baby turtles—some no bigger than the palm of my hand—were munching on tiny chunks of beans.
With their minuscule shells and miniature bodies, they were the cutest of all of the critters we saw at the village.
See Lac Rose
Our circuit complete, we got back into the taxi and drove a short distance to Lac Rose, or Pink Lake. The lake is called Lac Rose because in direct sunlight it turns a beautiful pink color.
When we arrived, the lake was orange. Strange. We took off our sunglasses to get a better look, and the lake promptly turned brown.
A local explained to us that because of the high winds that day, the lake would not be pink. So much for that. We put our sunglasses back on and settled for an orange lake instead.
Wading our way through souvenir stalls and extremely persistent men selling everything from pirogue rides to ATV tours, we went through a small clearing to the beachfront restaurant of the Palal Hotel.
There we tucked into a meal of poulet yassa, a lemon chicken dish we couldn’t get enough of during our trip to Senegal. We decided we need to learn how to cook it when we get back to London.
Dakar to Palmarin
After lunch we walked around a bit more before getting back in the taxi for the two-hour drive to Palmarin. The seaside village is located on the Petite Cote, which runs from Dakar in the north to The Gambia in the south.
Best Things to Do in Dakar
While we won’t be back in Dakar again except to catch our flight back to Nairobi, I can’t help but wish we’d had a little more time to get to know the Senegalese capital.
Maybe my morning of relaxing by the pool on Monday wasn’t the best use of my time. Or maybe I’ll just treat it as an excuse to plan another trip to Senegal to experience more of the best things to do in Dakar.
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