Dakar port

My friends and I are taking the Oceania cruise along the West African coast. One of our stops is Dakar Senegal. Any information and tips from those who have visited or lived there? We are interested in activities of historical and cultural interest. We also love visiting local markets. Can we do this area independently or should we use the tours offered by the cruise line?

We were there last month on the Ocean Princess. We took a private tour to Goree Island which is where the slaves were held before being placed on ships for transportation to the new world. It was much cheaper than the ship's tour, and included a brief tour of the town which the ship's tour did not. I did not plan it, and I don't have the contact for the tour.

Patbunyard,

I did the same tour as Paul. It was excellent especially visiting Ilse de Goree. I do know of a couple who went to the island on their own. It is doable and you just need to get from the dock to the ferry terminal.

Our tour was great as we saw quite a bit of Dakar both before we caught the ferry over to Ilse de Goree and afterwards when we went around the ocean to our lunch stop. It is a surprisingly modern city. Email me if you want to know our guides. I gave my email address when I answered one of your previous queries.

Jennie

We visited Dakar in 2008 when we were on HAL Rotterdam - we took the trip to The Pink Lake at Retba. Three coach loads of pax from the ship were transported with police escort through Dakar ... much to the amusement of the locals - they said the escort was to clear the traffic.

On arrival at Retba we all were allocated to jeeps and driven in smaller groups round the lake and through the sand dunes to the Atlantic coast. Great scenery and our driver was very informative. During the jeep drive we stopped off at a Fulani tribal village and met some of the villagers. this included tours of some of the villagers homes which we found interesting. Once this part of the tour was over we were taken back to Dakar.

For shopping a large group of traders had set up a market in the port area - where we purchased some nice wood carved statues and masks. Overall we enjoyed this port.

We are on the Nautica in November stopping in Dakar. Please let me know who you used for your tour. Thanks.

I spent a week there (so I don't know about doing this from a cruise ship), but their local market is amazingly fun. Very wonderful people!!! Someone gave me a quote, and I think it is very true. No one will hurt you there, but they are very creative with separating you from your money..... I gave a guy $50 to buy a goat for his daughter's birthday.... I knew I was being conned - but the guy was delightful, and it was such a fun afternoon, it was well worth the money.......:D

In Dakar we used a firm who provided us with a new air condtioned bus and toilet on board. We ended up with 30 of us from our Roll Call so we had plenty of room to move about. Lunch was also included at a restaurant down in a seaside suburb. It was a most interesting day. The Ilse de Goree was a must see which we did first thing in the morning.

Leave all your shopping until you get back to the dock as a large market is set up there by the locals and you need to bargain!!

Here are the tour guide's details:

Dakar – Senegal

Jerome Ndour – Ilse de Goree plus markets - $70US p.p. including lunch

Jeromendour@africassistance.com

Jennie

I just visited Dakar on Oceania. I located a tour guide through Viatour. His name was Meissa Seck. I'd communicated with him over several months regarding our wishes for the tour. He was on time, very friendly, took us to The markets, Lac Rose, Goree Island, did a city tour and even took the time so I could buy post cards and stamps. His English is excellent and he made us all feel very comfortable. We had the nicest boat ride at Lac Rose, that was a bonus!

We all enjoyed the tour and would highly recommend him. :D