Hotel berhampiran Saloum Delta National Park, Foundiougne

Bon séjour au Keur Saloum. Service et cuisine au top ! Les excursions sont nombreuses mais pas toujours possibles. Bien se renseigner avant auprès d’Aliou à la réception et posez les bonnes questions car les descriptifs sont succincts et le programme écrit par toujours respecté. Les prix ne sont pas non plus à jour donc bien demander avant si vous ne voulez pas de surprise. La chambre dans les cases est correcte sans plus. La climatisation et l’eau chaude marchent. Pas de bouilloire dans la chambre. Dommage. Bon hôtel au dessus de la moyenne surtout dans cette région. Belle vue sur les bolongs à partir du restaurant où des suites mais pas des cases.

Stayed in Fathala lodge for 1 night. Very comfy room and bed. Loved the expertise our game drive guide had, professional and good knowledge of nature surrounding and its animals. Staff at the lodge nice and very helpful. Dinner and breakfast were good. Would wish more vegetarian options for the breakfast buffet. However the lodge prices outrageous - 2500 CFA ~ 4€ for a bottle of water when you’re remote with no other options (normal price in senegal 400 CFA ~ 0,60€), postcard basically advertising their own lodge 7000 CFA ~ 10€ (??). If you don’t pay for the package, breakfast is 18€ pp. Maybe the owners expect everyone to be happy (or trust their customers be unknowing about senegalese prices) and pay expensive prices, even on european standards, in Senegal. They also mention it’s forbidden to bring food and drinks from outside to their lodge. Wifi is also charged at 5000 CFA ~ 7,60€, sim card wouldn’t do you no good since the place is so remote. Feels silly to be benefitting from wildlife customers this badly when the country around you is at least 4 times cheaper. The south african lady at the lodge also doesn’t miss a chance to remind you about kevin the rhino and how he likes to come to the area infront of the lodge, this feels a bit too promising to keep bringing it up since we for example didn’t have the pleasure of seeing him, yet our hopes of seeing him were kept unnecessarily high - he is a wild animal after all. All in all we were happy with our visit to Fathala reserve and to Fathala lodge. Besides the rhino, we were lucky (and happy) to see basically all the other animals living in the reserve. Coming to Fathala for 1 night was a splurge on our month long budget holiday in Gambia and Senegal, so for us the pricing inside the lodge was a massive downside and affected our opinion about the experience. Only by 1 star though.