Why Senegal
It is often the first trip to West Africa, and for good reasons: the language is French, the currency is pegged to the euro, the flight from Paris takes six hours with no significant time difference.
Gorée Island and its House of Slaves, Lac Rose, the Saloum delta, Djoudj park and its bird colonies, Saint-Louis and its colonial architecture: the distances remain reasonable. And teranga — hospitality — is not a brochure argument, it structures social relations.
Getting around
The regional express train links Dakar to Diamniadio and to the airport, which avoids the congestion of the peninsula, genuinely painful.
Elsewhere, the sept-places — shared taxis — serve the whole country from the bus stations, leave when they are full and cost little. For the Saloum or Casamance, a driver by the day often works out cheaper than a rental, and spares you the state of the tracks.
Money
The CFA franc is at fixed parity with the euro, which makes mental arithmetic immediate and removes exchange risk.
The country runs largely on cash: cards are accepted only in hotels and the large stores of Dakar. Mobile payment is very widespread locally but requires a Senegalese account.
Before you go
The yellow fever vaccine is recommended and required if you arrive from a country at risk. Malaria is present all year, more so during the rainy season: the question of preventive treatment is one to raise with a doctor.
Unsolicited guides are persistent at Gorée, at Lac Rose and in the markets of Dakar. A clear, smiling refusal, repeated, is the answer that works; entering the negotiation only prolongs it.
Casamance went through a long conflict, now calmed, but some border areas remain advised against: consult official advice before fixing an itinerary in the south.