Langue de Barbarie National Park

The Langue de Barbarie is the long sand spit that runs south from Saint-Louis, separating the Senegal river from the Atlantic for tens of kilometres before the river finally breaks through. The park, about two thousand hectares and a Ramsar site since 2021, protects the southern end, where the sandbanks and islets carry breeding colonies of terns, gulls and pelicans, and marine turtles come ashore. Boats go down the river channel from the landing, which is the only way in, and the birds are watched from the water.

What's there

• The tern colonies - breeding terns and gulls on the sandbanks and islets.
• The spit - a narrow sand tongue with river on one side and ocean on the other.
• The pelicans - white pelicans working the channel and roosting on the banks.
• The boat channel - the run down the river between the spit and the mainland.

When to go

November to April is dry and comfortable. Breeding runs roughly April to July and is when the colonies are busiest. Mornings are calmest on the water and best for the light.

Good to know

Everything is done from a boat and the trip is short, an hour or two on the water. The spit was cut through near Saint-Louis in October 2003 to relieve flooding, the four-metre channel widened to some six kilometres by 2020, and its shape keeps changing, so old maps mislead. There is no shade in the boats.

Nearby

Saint-Louis is twenty kilometres north, and the Guembeul reserve is on the mainland behind the spit.

Key facts