Lac Rose
A salt lake behind the dunes north-east of Dakar, tinted pink by algae, where up to three thousand people gather salt and the Paris-Dakar rally used to finish.
- Arrival
- Blaise Diagne International · DSS
- To the lake
- About 25 km from DSS in a straight line
- Private jets
- At Blaise Diagne, through local agents
- Best time
- October to July
The city
Salt, algae and a line of dunes.
Lake Retba, as maps call it, is so salty in places that the water is close to forty per cent salt. An alga, Dunaliella salina, turns it pink; the colour is strongest in the dry season and at its deepest from late January into early March. The salt collectors come from all over West Africa and work six or seven hours a day in the water.
Only a narrow band of dunes separates the lake from the Atlantic. For years the Paris-Dakar rally ended on its shore, until the race left Africa for South America in 2009. Dakar is about 35 kilometres away, and the new airport closer still.
Arriving
Twenty-five kilometres from the runway.
Blaise Diagne International, built inland from Dakar, puts the lake within about 25 kilometres as the crow flies, nearer than the capital.
- Abidjan 2 h 40
- Marrakech 3 h 00
- Lisbon 3 h 55
- Nice 5 h 25
- Riyadh 9 h 00 long-range jet
When to go
October to July.
Figures for Dakar, a short drive away. Rain is rare outside August and September, and the afternoons sit between 26 and 31 °C. For the strongest pink, come between late January and early March.
- 26° J 2
- 27° F 1
- 27° M 0
- 27° A 0
- 28° M 0
- 30° J 15
- 30° J 72
- 30° A 179
- 31° S 149
- 31° O 39
- 30° N 1
- 28° D 1
What to see and do
Days in and around Lac Rose.
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Landmark
The salt harvest
Up to three thousand people gather salt from the lake, their skin protected from the brine by shea butter.
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Landmark
The dunes
A narrow corridor of sand, the only thing between the lake and the Atlantic.
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Landmark
The lakeshore camps
Small lodges on the shore hire out canoes and quad bikes and arrange rides.
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Culture
Île de Gorée
Twenty minutes by ferry from Dakar, this island on the UNESCO list since 1978 keeps the Maison des Esclaves of about 1776 and its Door of No Return.
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Culture
Museum of Black Civilisations
Opened in Dakar in December 2018, the museum traces African and diaspora history through pieces such as a Dogon hunter's armour and a sculpture of the exiled Oba Ovonramwen.
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Culture
African Renaissance Monument
Inaugurated in April 2010 on the Mamelles hill, the statue has a lift up to a lookout in the man's head over Dakar and the Atlantic.
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Wildlife
Bandia Reserve
Senegal's first private reserve, created in 1990, fences 3,500 hectares of savanna where giraffe, zebra, buffalo and a pair of white rhino are seen on guided drives.
Where to stay
At Diamniadio and on the Dakar coast.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
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Terrou-Bi A family-owned seafront resort with its own beach and a 34-metre pool beside the marina.
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Pullman Dakar Teranga Built in 1973 on the ocean side of the Plateau, with a spa and hammam, and refurbished in 2025.
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Noom Hotel Dakar Sea Plaza The former Radisson Blu on the Corniche, 234 rooms above the Atlantic.
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Novotel Dakar A business-district hotel with a heated pool; some rooms look out to Gorée.
Elsewhere in Senegal
More reasons to come.
- Dakar The westernmost city of Africa, with markets and a music scene.
- Gorée An island of colonial houses and the House of Slaves, listed by UNESCO.
- Saly The resort beaches of the Petite Côte.
- Sine-Saloum A delta of mangroves, and islands built of shells.
- Saint-Louis Balconied colonial houses on an island in the Senegal river, listed by UNESCO.
Flying to Lac Rose?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.