A while before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I had researched Dive Centres in West Africa, and one that came to my attention was in Senegal. It’s always been a country I have wanted to visit anyways, so why not!
During the last couple of years, I have been going away for my birthday, so for my 32nd Birthday, I arranged Senegal. I found a direct flight from Lisbon in Portugal, so I drove up to Lisbon from Gibraltar, and then took my flight to Dakar in Senegal.
I arrived on the evening before the big Muslim Festival Tabaski (Eid Al-Adha). At the time of booking, I was not aware of this. Because of this, scuba diving that next morning was cancelled, so I spent the day exploring Ngor, a fishing village in Dakar which I was staying in. I also saw the locals preparing their sheep for the festival on the beach, and managed to find someone running boat transfers across to an Island opposite the village called Ngor Island.
The following morning, I met the scuba diving team and headed out for my first dives in Senegal. I was taken to a reef quite far out from the fishing village. I assume it was because the visibility being further away from the coast was much better there. There was a lot of Marine Life around.
Throughout the next few days I managed to get a nice collection of the Marine Life local to Senegal photographed, in particular a species of ray, which I was told, was only found off some West African countries, such as Senegal. An expert Shark & Ray Underwater Photograph from Canada, was present during some of my dives, and had explained this to me.
During my week in Senegal, I spent a few days between the dives, also explore their beautiful country. In one of my excursions near The Gambia border, I was attacked by a lion! Whilst taking a photo of one, I was hit on my face with her paw, and one of her nails dug a wound under my left eye! Definitely now a scar to remember such a trip!
My final dive was a night dive, on the reefs I had been diving off Dakar, during the days before. I saw a few rays and a turtle, ending my diving in Senegal with a bang!
I hope to one day be able to explore the underwater world of other West African countries in the near future. Unfortunately, I have found it rather difficult to find any diving available in many of the other countries on the West African Coast!
Below is a link to a small video I put together, of my dives in Senegal:
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