For your one-day tours and excursions (Bandia, Gorée, Pink Lake, Siné-Saloum), we highly recommend private tours with Pape Khouma, the excellent and very friendly chauffeur of Villa Zehliana who has 9 years of experience as a tour guide in Senegal. You will have much more flexibility on the schedule, and it will be less expensive.

For multiple days circuits (Sénégal Oriental, etc.), consult the Tourism Bureau at the entrance of Saly for a list of tour operators and other agencies that offer tour groups.

The Pink Lake - end point of the world-famous Paris-Dakar rally, and one of the most visited sites in Senegal, Lake Retba is a large lagoon which pink color is due to its high density in salt and the micro-organisms of its water.
Not to miss: the salt harvest.

Gorée island - located 2.5 miles off the coast of Dakar and 20 mns by ferryboat, Gorée is a travel to the past: the calm and silent alleys, the french provence-style colonial houses with their old-world charm, the fort and the House of Slaves. Gorée island was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Siné-Saloum - an infinity of coastal ridges and sandy tiny islands, between ocean and mangrove swamps, lagoons and forests, the magnificent delta of

Saint-Louis - between river and ocean, on the edge of the Sahara desert, this former capital of French West-Africa (AOF) is dubbed the "New Orleans" of Africa. A must-see in the area: the park of the Langue de Barbarie (sanctuary for the breeding of sea turtles) and the park of Djoudj, the third largest ornithological reserve in the world.

the Siné Saloum hosts in its woody savanna and its marin environment a rich ecosystem and historic cultural jewels. Not to miss: the sacred baobab of Joal (the largest baobab in Senegal), the seashell island of Fadiouth and the lively fishermen villages on the coastline.

Sénégal Oriental (the Eastern

Province) - home to the most authentic ethnic groups of Senegal: the Bedick who live in high altitude villages and Bassari in the National Park of Niokolo-Koba, a vast natural reserve with a large concentration of almost all the animal and vegetal species of the African West.