Senegal

Dakar, Senegal. The local fishing fleet, waiting out a big storm on Ngor Beach in Dakar. It's hard to tell from this photo but the waves out there about a mile away on the outer reef are 12-15 ft high. This was mostly a surf trip, and that very wave (upper-center of photo), called Ngor Rights, is one of the best waves in the country. It was originally made famous back in the 1960's in the movie "Endless Summer".

Dakar, Senegal. Dakar sits at the tip of a long peninsula that sticks out into the eastern Atlantic. It's very exposed and picks up just about any swell that's out there. Because of this it's the center of most of the best surfing in Senegal, with about a dozen good surf breaks scattered around town. But if you want solitude, plenty of desolate beach breaks can be found out in the "country", on both sides of Dakar.

Top : The main break, "Ngor Rights", located just out the front door of the Ngor Surf Camp. As seen in the movie "Endless Summer", and photo #1 above.

Left : The poorly-named beach break called "Secrets", one of the most crowded surf spots in

town. Cafe's line the beach and it's kinda nice having food & drink right there when you come in though.

Left : A rare surf-pic of me, at "No Return", another nearby break. It's rare that I get a pic of myself but one of our crew was playing cameraman that day.

Below : A hazard at most of the rocky surf spots around Dakar - urchins. It took well over an hour and many shots of rum to dig out all the spines. Thankfully this foot wasn't mine!

Ile de N'gor, Senegal. Since the surf camp and main break are on a small island off the coast, boats are the main mode of travel here.

Above : Why make the long paddle out to the break when you can just ride out in a panga?

Right : The short hop to the mainland for some surf exploration up the coast.

Senegal is home to some of the most friendly, happy, peaceful people I've seen anywhere in Africa. Always quick with a smile or a laugh, or some helpful advice or great music.

Beach Cruiser.

Lac Rose, Senegal. The colorful local girls, hawking some tourist bling.

Dakar, Senegal. Working and playing on the beach in west Africa.

For a small country that is mostly desert, I was surprised by how densely populated Senegal is. In Dakar traffic jams are expected but even out in the rural areas it's just people - people - people everywhere. Everybody seems to be on the move all the time and it's rare to see any kind of transport that isn't packed to the max.

Ile de Goree, Senegal. It's nice to see kids just playing outside in the dirt. No video games, no iPads, no tv. And they were having just as much fun as our (much more pampered) kids.

Dakar, Senegal. It doesn't get much more "Classically-African" than this lady.