What it is
About 5,000 square kilometres of mangrove, tidal creeks called bolongs, salt flats and low islands south of the Petite Côte. UNESCO listed it in 2011, partly for the several hundred shell mounds built up over centuries by the people who lived here. Toubacouta, Ndangane and Palmarin are the usual bases.
Why go
It is the quiet counterweight to Dakar. Days are spent in a pirogue through the channels, with pelicans, herons, terns and, on the sandbanks, large mixed roosts. Fishing is good. Palmarin has a stretch of near-empty beach and a small reserve with hyena and jackal. Joal-Fadiouth, at the northern edge, is a village on an island built from clam shells, with a shared Muslim and Christian cemetery.
When to go
November to May. The delta is tidal, so boat trips work around the water rather than the clock; a half-day out at the right tide beats a full day at the wrong one. Sandflies are worse at dusk near the mangroves than most people expect.
Most people stay 2-3 nights.