Bandia Reserve

Bandia is a fenced private reserve in the dry thorn forest an hour from Dakar, stocked from southern and eastern Africa with species that had disappeared from Senegal. Giraffe, white rhino, eland, zebra, oryx, kudu and buffalo now range across it, and warthogs and patas monkeys move through freely. Baobabs of great age stand over the tracks, one of them holding a griot burial chamber in its hollow trunk. Crocodiles lie at the reserve's small lake. Bandia is the easiest wildlife stop in Senegal and is reached on a half day from the Petite Côte beaches.