I Haven't Been to Senegal Yet...
But Here's Why I'm Going.  🇸🇳✈️

I have been to 38 countries. I have stood in front of the Eiffel Tower, taken a felucca down the Nile, eaten jerk chicken at a beachside shack in Montego Bay, and watched the sun set over the Greek islands with a group of women who started as strangers and ended as family. I have seen a lot.

And yet, there is one place that has lived in the back of my mind for years. A place I kept saying "next time" to. A place that every time someone brought it up, I felt something shift in my chest — something that felt less like wanderlust and more like a pull. Like something was waiting for me there.

That place is Senegal.

The Birthday Trip That Started It All

Every year I plan something meaningful for my birthday. March 30 is not just a day I let slide by. It is a moment I mark with intention — usually somewhere beautiful, usually with people I love, always with good food and better views.

This year, I was torn. My shortlist came down to two: Marrakech, Morocco or Dakar, Senegal. Both were calling. Both felt significant. Both were African soil. But they were different calls — and the more I sat with the decision, the more it became clear.

Marrakech is stunning. I know that. The medina, the riads, the spice markets, the food — it is all real and it is all gorgeous. But Marrakech has been on the radar. It trends. It shows up in every "top travel destinations" list. It felt, to me, like a trip I could take any year.

Senegal felt different. Senegal felt urgent.

"West Africa is calling me home. Not just as a destination — as an answer to a question I have been carrying for a long time." - Eka, A Dose of Travels

Why Senegal? Let Me Count the Ways.

I want to be honest with you about something: I cannot fully explain the pull. Some of it is ancestral. Some of it is cultural. Some of it is the stories I have heard from travelers who went and came back changed. But let me break down what I know:

1. Dakar is Not What You Think

Most people, when they think of West Africa, imagine what they have seen on television — which is not real Africa. The real Dakar is a cosmopolitan, vibrant, electric city sitting right on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. It has a coastline that rivals anything in the Mediterranean. It has art. Music. Fashion. Street food that will ruin you for everything else. Dakar is alive in a way that hits different when you actually walk its streets.

The city pulses. Anywhere you go there are colors — in the fabric, the murals, the women dressed in boubou that move like they were born knowing exactly who they are. There is a confidence and a pride in Senegalese culture that you can feel before anyone says a word to you.

2. The Food Is a Whole Conversation

Thieboudienne. Say it with me. It is the national dish of Senegal — rice and fish cooked in a tomato-based sauce with vegetables, slow and deliberate, the kind of meal that takes all day and tastes like someone put their whole soul into it. Then there is yassa poulet, mafe, dibi — I have been researching Senegalese cuisine like it is my second job and I have not even left Texas yet.

As someone who travels specifically for food culture, Senegal is not a question. It is a destination.

3. Goree Island

There is no way to write about Senegal without acknowledging Goree Island. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site just off the coast of Dakar and it is one of the most significant sites in the African diaspora — the House of Slaves and its Door of No Return stand as a memorial to the transatlantic slave trade.

I am going to be transparent with you: I am going to cry there. I know it. And I am okay with that. There are places in the world that demand your tears, your presence, your full attention. Goree Island is one of them. Going there is not just tourism — it is acknowledgment. It is witness. It is something I owe to myself and to my ancestors.

4. Saly — The Beach Town You Have Not Heard Of Yet

After the depth of Dakar, I wanted to build in lightness. That is where Saly comes in. About 80km south of Dakar, Saly is a coastal resort town with the kind of beaches that make you forget you have a phone. Warm water. White sand. Laid-back energy. It is the exhale after the inhale.

We are spending our last two nights there, at the Movenpick Resort Lamantin Saly. After days of immersion and culture and emotion, a little luxury by the ocean feels exactly right.

5. I Have Been to 38 Countries and None of Them Were West Africa

That stopped me when I typed it. Thirty-eight countries. And I had not yet stood on West African soil. That gap felt like something I needed to close — not out of guilt, but out of genuine desire. My passport has taken me across Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, North Africa, the Middle East. West Africa deserved to be on that list. It deserved to be more than just a plan I kept putting off.

March 30, 2027, it becomes real.

What "West Is Home" Actually Means

When I was naming this trip, I did not want something generic. "Senegal 2027" was not it. "African Safari" — absolutely not (and also not accurate). I wanted a name that said something true.

West Is Home. It came to me because it is not just about geography. It is about the feeling that so many of us in the diaspora carry — that pull toward West Africa, that quiet knowing that something over there belongs to us. That "home" is not just where you grew up. Home is also where you come from.

The Itinerary (What We're Actually Doing)

We fly into Dakar on March 25, 2027 — five days before my birthday, which means we will be deep in the motherland when March 30 arrives. That is the plan. We spend the first five nights at the Pullman Dakar Teranga, a luxury hotel in the heart of the city, and we use those days to explore everything Dakar has to offer:

• Goree Island and the Door of No Return
• The IFAN Museum of African Arts
• Sandaga Market and the artisan vendors of Soumbedioune
• The African Renaissance Monument
• Local food tours and restaurant experiences
• Cultural excursions led by our on-the-ground guide, Ali of Andaando Travel

Then on March 31, we head to Saly for two nights at the Movenpick Resort Lamantin. Beach time. Rest. Celebration. Exhale.

We fly home on April 1 — and I guarantee none of us will be the same people who landed eight days before.

What I Want You to Know Before You Decide

I am not going to sell you on this trip. That is not how I operate. If it is calling you, you already know. But I do want to be clear about a few things:

This is a cultural trip, not a beach vacation. Yes, we end at the beach and yes, it will be beautiful. But the heart of West Is Home is immersion. We are going to Goree Island. We are eating the food. We are buying directly from local artisans. We are learning, feeling, absorbing. If you come on this trip, you should come ready for all of that.

You do not need to have been to Africa before. In fact, if this is your first time on African soil — welcome. That is exactly what this trip is for. You will be in great hands. Ali has been our boots-on-the-ground guide connection, and I do not work with people I do not trust.

We go the day after my birthday. Just kidding — my birthday is March 30 and we will be in Dakar. I am planning something special for that evening that I will announce to the group. All I will say is: it involves food, good music, and people I love. The way it should be.

I Cannot Wait to Go

I know I said I have not been to Senegal yet. That is true. But I feel like I have been waiting for this trip my whole career as a travel curator. Not every trip I plan is about me — most of them are about my travelers, about creating experiences for other people. This one is different. This one is personal. And I am bringing you all along for it.

West Africa has been patient with me. I am finally showing up.

If you want to come — and I hope you do — the link is below. Early Bird pricing is available through June 30, 2026. After that, rates go up. All payments are non-refundable, travel insurance is strongly recommended, and spots are limited by design. This is not a massive group trip. It is an intimate one. It is supposed to feel like something.

Because it will.

See you in Dakar. 🇸🇳

— Eka  |  Founder, A Dose of Travels LLC  |  38 countries and counting