Petite Côte is the Senegalese coast south of Dakar, between the Cape Verde peninsula and the delta of the Sine and Saloum rivers, here's what to see and what to expect from this part of Africa.
La Little Coast is a Senegalese coastal area which extends from a few kilometers south of Dakar to the small town of Palmarine, where the great delta begins, consisting of the introduction of the two large rivers Sine and Saloum into the Atlantic Ocean.
Le fine golden sandy beaches they are very long, it is possible to walk them for kilometers and kilometers, see i colors of the ocean change as light and currents change; it is not difficult to meet the locals and be lucky enough to observe enchanting scenes from their daily life. Despite being a highly touristic area, with majestic holiday villages and Western-style commercial offerings, it is still possible meet fishermen who in the morning cast their nets offshore with the typical multicolored pirogue and, a few hours later, retrieve them from the shore, with considerable effort and with the help of the local boys who, in exchange, earn some fish to sell at the market or to take home for a family meal.
From time to time, near the fishermen's houses, on the beach there are little shops in wood and straw offering trinkets, handicrafts and fabrics. They have a tourist point of view, of course, but they are not at all cheeky and know how to be perfectly in line with the environment that surrounds them, to the point of almost blending in.
Children who then learn to to surf in a totally autonomous way I'm a force of nature.
Dedicated to those who love a holiday of comfort and relaxation, perhaps inside a piece of Africa that also has much more to offer from a landscape and human point of view, the Petite Côte is in an easy position to reach the Largest Baobab in Senegal which, with its 32 meters in diameter, has a unique majesty and brings with it a mysticism that borders on magic, especially knowing how important a baobab is for Africans.
Along the coast, there is also the Joal Fadiouth village, facing the sea and connected to the wonderful island of shells, so called because its 11 meters of hill are entirely made up of shells deposited naturally. On the same island there is the cemetery of both Christian and Muslim artists and where you can breathe tranquility between a baobab, a cross and a Muslim symbol. Finally, the delta of Sine-Saloum knows how to amaze for the calmness of its waters, the relaxing trip in a pirogue, the possibility of spotting flamingos and pelicans among the mangroves and walking in the swamp with the water above the knees, among crabs, minnows and quicksand under the feet (for those who love the genre of course).
At least one day of the holiday I urge you to spend it as responsible tourists, with a view to spontaneous approach to local populations. Take a walk to the villages of Saly Portudal, Niakh Niakhal, Nianing where the houses are built in a rough way, where along the streets it is easy to find the goats as well as the inhabitants, where there are boutiques where water is sold in 250 ml bags and candies one by one at an inconvertible value because it is too low, where you can run into local dances and be invited to take part in it, where djembé players, boys resting during the Attaya rite and women selling tax poulet in front of the house will make you feel at times observed as a toubab and at times one of them. It is worthwhile, especially for the soul and to lighten the heart a little.
And if you have managed to be fascinated by the fishing villages, I recommend you a really low cost binge of fish in one of the restaurants hidden beyond the beach. You can choose fish in the morning, negotiate the price, pair it with a wine and show up in the evening to taste the menu they have created for you. In this the Senegalese really know how to do it!
On the other hand, there discourage tightly M'bour, a town in which I had a really bad experience between the absence of waste disposal, stinking mud and terribly dirty beaches so much that they were impracticable. In short, here we know the other side of Africa, which is not so far from swimming pools and four-star all inclusive. Unfortunately.
