SECRET BAY From 400€ for 7 nigths

Situation

70 kms down south Dakar, Somone, nature reserve and bird sanctuary, is one of the most beautiful and preserved place in the country. It is part of the region known as the "small coast", 12 kms from the Saly resort.
There are many beautiful sights to see and plenty of outdoor activities to do. This is one of the hidden gems of West Africa. The peaceful village of Somone offers an extremely relaxing and nature surfing and stand up paddling experience, by preserving is African tranquility way of life.
The Laguna, with beautiful clear water winding between sandbanks, depending of the tides, is a mangrove ecosystem that should be respected and protected.
The calm fishing village on the edge of a beautiful sandy beach has also a bay between ocean and laguna, with pretty waves, for our greatest pleasure. This is paradise found. During the time of a few days or weeks, your life will be much more simple...

Services Included

• Spots transfers
• Wifi
• TV in Room
• Swimming Pool
• Air Conditionning
• Laundry
• Parking
• Conference Facilities

Services non Included

• Airport transfers

Other Activities

• Snorkeling
• Fishing
• Horse Riding
• Bicycles
• Excursions
• Tennis
• Golf

Lodging

Very close from the laguna and 100m away from the beach, come and relax at te Domaine de la mangrove, first stand up paddle camp of west Africa. wake up with the birds sing, exotic garden, swimming pool... Everything is make so you can have a unforgatable stay. 8 bungalows offers you all cumfort.

Sport Services

Somone is little known as surf spot, 70 kms from Dakar. We will not complain about it.
 In fact there are no huge waves here.This is the ideal place to learn how to surf and do some stand up paddling on the gentle "Beach Break", and a good trip for a more advanced surfer who wants to find a nature place, wild, pollution free and relax!Perfect for longboarders! But be careful, sometimes the waves reveal some barreling surprise, even for a very good surfer.
Nice waves, preserved surrounding, Somone is the perfect place to experience the endless summer way of life. If you prefer giant, crowded and polluted waves, it may be not a place for you.We organize "Stand up paddle" and Indian canoe expeditions in the mangroves next to the surf camp very often. The right swell direction is S / SW or with a very large NW swell to rap around the Almadies peninsula. Wind is often "off shore" in the morning during winter time.

Packages

We are the first stand up paddle camp of west Africa, with a ideal playground for this activities : waves and mangroove cruising.
We offer you a pack accomodation for seven nights + breakfast, with a stand up paddle at your disposal for three hours per day.Get up stand up, and be happy.
All of it for 575 Euros.

Best Period

Senegal provides an excellent access and a wave breaking for the N/NW depression swells starting in Scotland and in the Ireland Sea.

From August to October, a S/SW swell, generated by thunderstorms appears off the African coasts.

In the Southern part of the country, in the Somone  region, nice beachbreaks for kilometres of beach, in a warm water with no-one around…
WINDS & TIDES
From November to April, in the surrounding spots of Dakar, the “Harmattan” blows N/NE during the day. In spring, it shifts to N/W. During the humid winter season, southern winds can rise. Tides are about 2 meters and affect some spots. Not many people in the water.
From November to February, wear a springsuit.
From July to October, the water temperature rise to 26°C for your boardshorts’ joy !
In the Somone region, the water is 21°C in winter and 28°C from May to October. Sandy spots and sometimes flat stones.

Weather / Temperature

Air temperature : 40°C (Summer) / 30°C (Winter)

Water temperature : 28°C (Summer) / 19°C (Winter)

Surf Story

If someone told you yesterday : Endless Summer I, plastered down boys aboard in a canoe to surf a magic wave with longboards along an islet in the depth of Black Africa…
If someone ask you tomorrow: a 4 hour flight, no jet lag, exotic and warm land, transparent water and sun in winter…do not hesitate!!
You will discover Senegal and its easy spots on the delta of Somone on the Small Coast. Coming back to the fishermen village, with the sound of drums and the Senegalese women’s smiles…

History

1.5 to 1 million years before our era – the Homo Erectus rules in the African savannahs.
From the 8th to the 11th century – Apogee of the Ghana Empire, covering a small Eastern part of Senegal.
In 1444 – The Portuguese land in Senegal’s coasts.
Around 1500 – Portuguese warehouses are created. Gold exploitation and slave trade.
17th/19th century – Slaves, sent to Americas and European countries’ fight to control the warehouses. During this time, about 20 millions of Africans were enslaved.
Inside the country, Islam is expanding. The shrines influence is developing.
1848 – It is France’s turn to abolish slavery.
Around the end of the 19th century, at the Berlin’s conference, the European forces are dividing the African continent. The biggest part of Western Africa belongs to France and becomes the Western French Africa.
1933 – Senghor becomes the first aggregated African.
1960 – On June 20th, Mali and Senegal become independent but remain within the French Union.

Geography

From the luxuriant delta to Casamance and to Sahelian savannah, Senegal presents a cultural and natural diversity: national parks, traditional markets, beaches, music…Easy accessible, friendly and hospitable.

Coastal but Saharan country, the diversity can be found in the landscapes and its population. Junction of civilizations, Wolofs’ land, Peuls’ pastors, Dioalas in Casamance, Mandingos shepherds, Serers and Toukoulors, Senegal requires to take the time to get used to the daily rhythm where music is omnipresent and palaver a habit.

Infos

Formalities :
A valid Passport is sufficient for the French people.
Warning ! : Since July 2013, a biometric visa is compulsory to enter Senegal for citizens from countries which apply a paying visas to Senegal citizens. Price : 50 euros.
Be careful, the Passport must be valid at least 6 months after coming to Senegal. Usually, you need to show your return plane ticket when landing in Senegal. Otherwise, you can be asked for a deposit (equivalent to the price of the return plane ticket).

Generally when you arrive, you get a landing card. You can give the address of the French Embassy (1, rue Assane N’Doye) if you did not book a hotel in advance. If you wish to cross Gambia, ask the embassy for two admissions to Senegal. If not, you may have troubles in the frontier.

Language :
If in Eastern Africa Swahili was developed as the common language, in Western Africa, this is the language of former colonizers dominating that is to say French.
Wolof stays spoken and understood by most Senegalese.
Dialects are numerous (at least 50 of which 15 are spoken by more than 15 000 people). Let’s not forget that like many ethnic group mainly Muslims, Wolofs and Mandingos use the traditional Arabic greetings (Salaam aleikoum, Aleikoum salaam…)

Health :
Check if your vaccines are updated and vaccinate against yellow fever, vaccine non-required by the Senegalese authorities but strongly recommended to go to Senegal.
Over there, be careful to what you eat and drink (avoid the tap water and be careful to ice cubes). Gastric and intestinal troubles are frequent even if they are out of danger most of the time. Do not be paranoid though. Finally, do not bath in soft waters; bilharziosis (also called snail fever) is a common disease in Senegal.
Consult with your doctor for a treatment against malaria. It is noticed a new spell of typhoid.

Time differences : GMT – 1 hour. When it is noon in Senegal, it is 1.PM in Paris.

Weather : The Senegalese climate is more pronounced by its rainfalls than by its temperatures.
Therefore, some itineraries inside the country could be restrained by the rain season from June to October. It is shorter in the Northern part of the country and June goes through the more precipitations.
The dry season is from November to May. In Dakar, from January to March, the daily temperatures rise to 24°C max and between 24° to 27°C in April-May to December. From June to October, they may reach 30°C.

Driving conditions : Renting cars is very expensive. Outside the cities, roads are usually dangerous and in bad conditions. Before deciding anything, think about hiring a taxi-cab or a bicycle-rickshaw for the day: it will be cheaper (between 20 and 50 euros per day) and if you break down, the taxi-driver will have to deal with it, not you.
Think also about bicycles (bikes or bicycles with large wheels): the land is flat and the distances are reasonable.

Water/Electricity : Do not drink the tap water and be careful to the delicious fruit juices with ice.
Electricity is 220 V and two round wall-plugs.

Currency : CFA Franc. Senegal is among the Franc zone. 100 F.CFA = 0.15 euros.
Since 1994, banks are allowed to deduct a 2% commission. You can sometimes get CFA Francs with a French checker in euros. Avoid changing in hotels where the commission is sometimes up to 5%.
Travellers’ checks can only be negotiated in banks and hotels. This form is recommended if you wish to cross the whole country. It remains a very useful and a safe solution.
Credit cards: BICIS and SGBS (two sub-companies of French firms) are in every important city. The first one accepts Visa while the other one has concluded a limited agreement with MasterCard.
Be careful, if they exist, ATM machines often break down so provide a large amount of money.
With Visa and MasterCard, with or without checks, you can withdraw 200 000 CFA Francs (300 euros) per week.

Price from

400€ for 7 nigths

Price includes

Seven nights of accomodation in twin bed, breakfast, and six surf lessons of two hours with materiel (surfboard and wetsuit if needed ).

Do not forget our Package : Lodging with stand up paddle at your disposal for three hours a day.
7 nights accommodation + SUP for 575 Euros.

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