We have been running trips in Senegal since 2017. We would ride, bus or fly over from Mali, run a trip, and then return to the Sleeping Camel in Bamako. In 2023, as the situation in Mali continued to deteriorate, we rented a house in La Somone, a small beachside town on Senegal’s Petite-Côte.

We still returned to Mali often, but we started spending most of our time — when we were not running trips — in Senegal. In Somone, we found fresh air and a community. Far more relaxed than its southern neighbors, Somone has one main road that runs through town that dead ends at the lagoon, the centerpiece of a 700 hectare nature reserve that helps keep a lid on sprawling development while offering a gateway to several different natural environments.

At the mouth of the lagoon, there are restaurants and bars and a pristine beach. You can rent kayaks and stand up paddleboards. You can take surf lessons (or simply rent a surfboard) — there is a consistent break just off the beach that is great for beginners.

Around the corner, there is a wonderful walking trail, an artisanal brewery and an oyster park, where you can get some of the freshest seafood in Senegal. Then there is the main market area of Somone just down the road, where you can find a few hundred meters of very manageable hustle and bustle.

I could go on — and I will in future posts, believe me — but I hope I’ve already succeeded in convincing you that this is a corner of Senegal that’s worth exploring. As of this blog post, you can come and stay with us while doing so.

Hostel? Scoot Shack? Community gathering space?

Let’s say all of the above.

We have a ways to go, but we are chipping away, trying to take a step forward each day. We have 4.5 rooms that are operational as of this writing. That will hopefully be 6 by the end of this month. We will then start working on a little dormitory and the various shared spaces. A restaurant and bar will be on the way eventually, too.

Of course, there is already plenty of space in the garden for tents, campers, bicycles, repurposed fire trucks etc. We have a few hammocks about, and our fire pit has already seen plenty of action.

It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to welcome overlanders in Mali. We can finally do it again, here in Senegal. How wonderful it has been to meet interesting travelers, pore over maps and share stories from West Africa and beyond.

We’ve launched a little website, an instagram account and a newsletter, if you want to stay up to date.

More importantly, when are you going to come and visit us?