I spent a week in Senegal in October. This was my second time in Africa and first in Western Africa.
We spent the first few days surfing, scuba diving and visiting sites in Dakar. The diving was ok, not spectacular, but we saw enormous nurse sharks and a Chilean Devil’s ray. Nautulus was a wonderful provider.
We also did a touristy day where we saw Goree, the monument, and a large mosque. We went seprately to N’Gor and that was lovely. If I was going back, I would consider staying overnight on Goree (or at least bringing a swimsuit).
We then shifted down to Popenguine and did a day trip to Saly and M’Bour. We also visited the “safari”. It’s not a true safari, but was fun neverless. Popenguine is awesome. It’s a quiet, gorgeous beach. Unfortunately, there is some trash littering the beach, but the water was fine.
M’bour was the highlight for me. I love weird, witchy things and places away from tourists. It’s not a secret spot by any means, but we didn’t see any tourists.
Some general thoughts: - Senegal is expensive. Much more so than Latin America or SE Asia -you should have clothing options that cover your legs, but I was also ok when I wore shorts. It is a muslim country, so I was glad I had long dresses. - not a beginner traveler country. There is real poverty. I dropped an ice cream bar one night and a poor child picked it up off the street and ate it, which was very sad to see. -just use cabs. Their uber equivalents are terrible and I often had to direct the drivers since they did not know where to go -Popenguine has terrible cell service, so get a driver or rent a car (or get creative, which is what we did)