Senegal 2018

Our visit to Senegal has been part of a longer visit to The Gambia.  Senegal is surrounding The Gambia completely, except on the west side. In an earlier visit we have combined a visit to The Gambia with a visit to Senegal, but that time we have visited a part of Senegal on the east side. This visit was completely orientated on the North -West side of Senegal.

The main destination was the Djoudj National Park. The Djoudj National Park lies on the southeast bank of the Senegal River in Senegal, in northern Biffeche, north east of St-Louis.

It provides a range of wetland habitats, which prove very popular with migrating birds, many of which have just crossed the Sahara. Of almost 400 species of birds, the most visible are pelicans and flamingos. Less conspicuous are the aquatic warblers migrating here from Europe; for these, the park is the single most important wintering site yet discovered.

We travelled from Banjul (the Capital of The Gambia), crossing the Gambia River by the local Ferry into Senegal to our first stop for an overnight stay in Koalack.

On our way to Koalack we had a stop to visit a Roosting place of the Scissor-tailed Kite. Thousand of birds are arriving in the late afternoon to roost in a big colony. Not a place to be reached easily. Via a very unstable canoe and some muddy shores we had to walk for quite a bit. But then the spectacle was worth it … indeed very many Scissor-tailed Kites came in

Altogether the drive to the Djoudj National Park was long, the scenery was not very exciting and weather conditions did not cooperate too much. Strong winds causing a lot of dust in the air made it difficult to get anything nice. 

But it was very nice to see the big colonies of Great White Pelicans and their very special way of fishing in groups. Very much worth the visit.

We returned to The Gambia a bit earlier than planned, taking to ferry at Farafenni. It has been interesting to see this part of Senegal although we were not that lucky