Niokolo-Koba National Park

28 november 2022

I have spent a fantastic two days in this national park. I'd recommend making the trek out to it for the following reasons:

* it is very authentic and unspoilt
* the facilities are simple and very peaceful
* you see animals in their natural habitat and very close up
* the guides are locals and very knowledgeable

I took a Kedu taxi heading for Kedougou from Tamba garage for 6000CFA and arranged to get out to Dar Salem village. This is where the park entrance is. You can stay at that Dar Salem village at Chez Ibrahim for 16,000CFA per night if preferred. I then negotiated a two day visit; the guide fee is mandatory (10,000CFA per day) and for the 4x4 with driver, I arranged at the park entry ( I paid 50,000CFA per day). There is a tax of 10,000CFA added. Once in the park there are two places to stay; Hotel Simenti (30,000CFA per night + 9,000CFA for dinner) and The Lion Camp (16,000CFA per night + 5000CFA for dinner). I stayed alone at Simenti, which was comfortable with an excellent evening meal. The Lion Camp is more rustic and by the river - a good option.
I gave the guide a tip of 10,000CFA and the driver a tip of 5,000CFA - these were prices recommended by a person at the gate - I thought this was fair.
I returned to Tamba after the trip by taking the local bus (1000CFA)

On the taxi ride to the park, I sat on the back seat next to two fishermen, who showed me pictures of the fish they catch and explained some of the music the driver had playing. I now have some additional names to my Senegal music list.

After meeting all the people at the park gate, negotiating my trip and getting lunch at Ibrahim's, we set off into the park. I loved being out in the open throughout this, on the back of the pickup. You get a really good view and sense of the dense variety of fauna growing in this region.

We saw plenty of birds and an antelope before the major sighing of the first day. I could not believe it when I spotted a lion couple sitting leisurely in the grass shade. They were 10m from the pickup and peacefully viewing us from their spot. We watched as they eventually stood up and wondered off into the undergrown. We saw a lion couple again on the second day. Again they were laid close to the road.

Throughout the two days, we saw a red-flanked duiker, a common duiker, an oribi, a harnessed bushbuck, a roan antelope and several kobs. I loved seeing many warthogs, a jackal, the colonies of baboons and green monkeys and the most incredible range of birds. Many new animals, that I hadn't seen in the wild before.

We visited the border military at the Gambia river side, crossed a swinging bridge to get to a baboon island and stayed in the dilapidated Hotel Simenti grounds in round thatched huts. The rest of the hotel is well past its best unfortunately due to lack of finances to keep it maintained. We also stopped at the Lion Camp for refreshments. This camp is being developed and had more visitors.

The park is well worth a visit with at least one night's stay inside the park.