5-13 January 2018

Our last step before Dakar was La Somone, a lagoon of the Petite Côte classified as a natural reserve. We stayed at the Dalaal Diam ecolodge which has a fantastic view of the lagoon and the original rooms are worth the detour. http://www.dalaaldiam-village.com/

This lodge is a heaven of peace in an area that is gradually being devastated by mass tourism.

Special mention should be made of the diversity of shorebirds and the discreet presence of the Spotted Thick-knee.

From the Somone, it is possible to join the only senegalese cliff, Popenguine, where you can observe rock species that are difficult to find elsewhere in the country like Common rock thrush, , the blue rock thrush , Eurasian Crag martin, etc…

The last step in Dakar allowed us a trip to Iles de la Madeleine, the smallest National Park in the world off the coast of the busy city. You don't have to be in a hurry to get there but the observation of the nesting Red-billed Tropicbird, Great Cormorant colonies on very old stunted baobabs and the volcanic ground are well worth the wait! It’s also a place to observe the Northern Gannet as well as some Brown booby quite near.

Another extraordinary and atypical place located in the suburbs of the capital is the Technopole. This is an area that cannot be built on because it is regularly flooded and is therefore full of migratory and wintering birds. The list would be too long, but Bram Piot writes about it regularly on his blog https://senegalwildlife.wordpress.com/

The second good place in Dakar is the Calao Hotel terrace on the seafront. It is mostly known for the post-nuptial migration (autumn) but early January brought us some surprises: Pomarine jaeger, parasitic jaeger and Cory's shearwater  .It should be noted that monitoring spring migration could also be interesting.

The other visited sites :

- Djoudj National Park and the Langue de Barbarie in the North

- Sine Saloum National Park, south-west, just above Gambia