Before you visit a rural African village in Senegal, you’ll probably start in Dakar, since it’s the capital, the largest city, the most cosmopolitan and, well, the airport is right outside Dakar. It’s not really an option. Check out tips for the airport here and here.

Dakar is a wonderful place to visit and we will address it specifically in other posts. Here, we are going to talk about visiting “en brousse,” French for “the bush.” These are the small, very rural villages all over Senegal. It’s where most people live.

En brousse is where I lived as a Peace Corps Volunteer, where Alassane lived as a rural school teacher, where we met, and where we were married. Our village is called Fanghotte. At that time, it was a village of about 300 adults, many children, lots of chickens, some goats and sheep, and one huge ox. It is about five kilometers off the road through a forest of palm trees. No one just happens upon it.

Surrounding Fanghotte is still a huge rice field where everyone (including me) worked to cultivate enough rice for the village to live.

If you’re traveling to the southern region of Senegal, called the Casamance, you can find villages like Fanghotte with lush rice fields and shallow wells. More northern villages are drier, with less foliage to the far north, which is desert. You may even see camels. (I traveled to the northernmost part of Senegal specifically looking for a camel. I only found one, but you could have more luck.)

No matter which region of Senegal, if you are going to visit the most rural villages, you will need a guide. You will also want to know a few phrases in the local language, not just French.

We can help with both of these. Download the free language audio file at the bottom of this page for French and Wolof phrases. We will be creating audio files for other languages. In the meantime, if there is a specific place you would like to visit, use the Contact Us page and we can set you up with a guide and some language assistance.

What to expect in an African village:

All villages are different (as are all people), but here are some general expectations:

• If you are with a guide who knows the people in the village (and that’s who you should be with), people will be very friendly
• It does not matter your race: if you are other than West African, the children will stare and follow you; it is nice to bring some candy or coins with you to give out to the children
• You might want to bring a gift for the village or the specific people who you will be visiting. Ask your guide what would be appropriate.
• If you have learned even a few phrases of the local language, the people will be absolutely delighted
• Some of the villages now have electricity in some places (there was none at all when I was a Volunteer); most will not have running water
• Many people, even in the most rural areas, now have cell phones
• Depending on the season (which fruits are in season, for instance), a villager might give you a gift to take with you
  • On my first visit to Fanghotte (when I was just meeting everyone and wouldn’t be moving in for a few weeks) Alassane, whom I had never met, gave me a watermelon to take with me. He says he doesn’t remember this, but I remember it distinctly. It was a very nice gesture, though I was concerned as to how I was going to get this watermelon back to the road, as I had walked the five kilometers into the village (an agricultural extension agent with a motorcycle helped me out, to my great relief)
  • After staying three days at a different village to do a site survey to see if they should get a Peace Corps Volunteer the following year, the women’s group handed me a live chicken with its feet tied together. They told me to bring it back to the women of my village. It was a great village (I definitely recommended that they get a Peace Corps Volunteer if they wanted one) and this was a very, very lovely gesture. I did not want to travel all the way back to my village (several hours, at least) with a live chicken, but I had to accept it and get it back to the village. The resulting trip was quite interesting and hilarious, and I might tell it in another post at some point. Suffice it to say that the chicken did make it to Fanghotte and the women were very pleased.
  • The point is, if someone gives you something, accept it graciously and worry about any logistical issues later

I hope you will decide to visit a village or two. It will greatly enhance your trip to Senegal and is an experience you won’t soon forget.

Don’t forget to download your audio language file below and let us know if you need help finding a guide.