Senegal, Casamance

A long strip of land about 24 miles wide, Casamance extends well over a hundred miles from west to east. In contrast, with the rest of the country, Casamance offers the richness of a mosaic perpetually renewed by its landscapes. Savanna, bush, majestic forests, coconut palm groves rustling with the ocean breeze - the list is endless. Here, each of the tropical essences is present, imposing baobabs, mangroves with multiple roots, glittering flame trees, undulating palm groves, glistening bourgainvilleas, fragrant eucalyptus trees and the most majestic of all, the kapok tree, whose twisted trunk is sometimes more than two meters thick.

On the coast, the fine sandy beaches stretch endlessly from Gambia to Cape Skirring, a place regarded as having the most beautiful beaches in West Africa. The exceptional amount of sunshine, the warm sea and the groups of hotels scattered inside the coconut groves bordering the beaches, make Casamance a paradise for your holidays in Sénégal.

The Casamance region is home to a very traditional group: the Diolas and their cousins, the Mandjakes and the Balantes. They live in a very lush area of deep forests and perform their initiation ceremonies in the "sacred woods". Some are annual, others take place every 30 to 40 years. The best way to understand the culture and really exchange with the people is through the highly successful "integrated rural tourism". The people of fifteen villages have built huts exactly like theirs, at the periphery of the village,and have added a few amenities for the tourists. Their guests eat the food prepared by the women, take pirogue trips with the men, enjoy the calm life of the village and the vitality of the numerous traditional dances and ceremonies. All proceeds remain in the village and are used in development projects.