Sine Ngayene Stone Circles

Sine Ngayène holds the largest concentration of stone circles in the Senegambian group inscribed by UNESCO in 2006: over fifty circles built from shaped laterite pillars, standing over burials that excavation has dated across a long span between roughly the third century BC and the sixteenth century AD. The pillars were quarried nearby, cut into cylinders and lyre shapes, and set in rings, some of them double. The site is flat, open savannah with the stones standing clear of the grass.

What you actually see

• The circles - more than fifty rings of shaped laterite pillars across the site.
• The pillar forms - cylinders and the distinctive lyre-shaped stones cut from single blocks.
• The double circles - rings set inside rings, among the more elaborate arrangements.
• The quarry - the source of the laterite a short distance from the monuments.

When to go

November to March is the cool dry season and the only comfortable window; this is a hot open site with no shade. Early morning gives the best light on the stones. The rains from July make the track difficult.

Honest expectations

There is almost no interpretation on site and a local guide makes the difference between stones in a field and a monument. The access track is rough. There is no shade, no water and no facilities.

Nearby

Wanar is northwest, Kaolack is northwest on the main road, and the Gambian border is south.