We visited Almadies Point (French: Pointe des Almadies) on Friday the 28th of February, 2025. We took a shared taxi and used the tips a fellow traveler gave us to dodge ‘security’ and visit the westernmost point of Africa without bribing anyone. Here’s how we did it without paying a bribe. Click here to scroll down to the interactive map
Contents
- 1 Research into Africa’s Westernmost Point
- 2 African Renaissance Monument + Taxi Ride to Ngor
- 3 Sneaking Past
- 4 Pointe Almadies on the Cap-Vert Peninsula
- 5 Kalao Craft Beer at Le Ngor
- 6 Map of the Westernmost Point of Africa
- 7 Did my post help you not pay a bribe? Consider buying me a beer!
- 8 Feel free to share this post or save it for later
Research into Africa’s Westernmost Point
A quick look at the reviews of the westernmost point of Africa tells you it’s not that easy. The area is surrounded by hotels in a state of decay. There are apparently security guys for new builds whose only job it is to discourage you from visiting. Unless you pay them. The amounts of money given to these fellas varies according to reports. Some say the price of entry is 2000 XOF per person, or about €3. I’m willing to pay that.
So it’s not allowed to visit Pointe Almadies, unless? Then why is there tourist infrastructure such as a scenic spot designed as a children’s playground and a directional signpost sharing info of dubious use like how many kilometers it is to Ottawa and Tokyo?
I think privatizing any waterfront is a heinous crime, especially in countries where lots of people live off fishing. And unless an extreme point of a continent is literally a military base, I’ll try to visit it.
Luckily, my day trip with to Zebrabar and Langue de Barbarie from Saint-Louis was with two other travelers. One was traveling south with us, the other came from where we’re going. This Dutch guy named Arjan had a treasure trove of information about where we’re planning on going next, including Guinea-Bissau, the Gambia, and of course the westernmost point of Africa.
Arjan told us it’s possible to visit the westernmost point while dodging the security guards. One just has to be a little sneaky. The day before our attempt, he sent me a map with dots of where the security guards are and a line for how to walk to dodge them all.
African Renaissance Monument + Taxi Ride to Ngor
We decided to give it a try on our day trip from Dakar Plateau out to the west.. Still in the morning, we took a Yango taxi out of our hotel in the Dakar Plateau neighborhood on the coastal highway past the Îles de la Madeleines national park (closed). Lovely driver who we could ask questions to about when Ramadan will start. Tonight, inshallah. Maybe tomorrow.
Our first stop was at the African Renaissance monument on one of the Deux Mamelles. It was already imposing from faraway in the distance, though we only caught short glimpses. We drove past the Mamelles Lighthouse before turning towards the monument. I’m interested in visiting that, but we’re taking it easy today as we’d totally overdone it on our day trip to Île Gorée the day before.
Mamelles LighthouseThe taxi dropped us off at the gigantic staircase, where several groups of school kids were in a neat formation. Luckily, they seemed to have just finished their visit. There were also souvenir stalls, but without assertive vendors. So far, all good.
Quite some stairs, lots of wind, very Soviet-style statue. Grotesque, but no match for my wide-angle camera. Though the statue itself is made of some kind of okay material, the fake rock it’s placed on just looks weird and plasticky. It was a fun side quest and it reminded me of my time living in Vake Park, Tbilisi, Georgia.
It’s possible to go inside the statue, visit the museum, and take the elevator up to the man’s head for a magnificent view. But this wasn’t the main quest today. Besides, the guys who talked to us about going inside were pushy about it. Foreigners pay 6500 XOF per person to enter, so this reduced visit saved us 20 questionable Euros.
Though the views of the lighthouse are blocked by a newly-constructed building, there are views of the Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport (DKR). This is the old international airport of Dakar, though sometimes there’s still a random civilian plane taking off from there. Jonas thought first that this is where people arrive in Dakar, but the new one (DSS) is 60 kilometers outside of town. All we saw were military helicopters flying over the statue and then circling over the Yoff neighborhood of Dakar.
Blocked view of the lighthouse
The old Dakar airportAfter the monument, we ate a pokébowl and sushi burrito with tofu at Moya Café Dakar (aka Matcha Café). I highly recommend eating here if you’re a vegetarian and crave tofu.
Our next taxi ride took us to Restaurant Le Ngor. Also a nice driver. Our analysis of Arjan’s map told us we’d need to go through this restaurant to access the beach. Then we’d be able to walk along the shore to the westernmost point of Africa. We were dropped off there around lunch time and casually walked through the fancy restaurant. No one questioned whether we could be there, since we just look like patrons. Then we took the stairs down to the beach and started our walk. I was hesitant at first.
Sneaking Past
From the beach, the first stretch was an easy walk over wet sand and rocks. Then we had to do a little climbing over the rocks past some villas. We eventually climbed up to the seaside path next to the villas and increased our speed. We looked into every beach access to see if there were people. No people, just gigantic birds of prey perching on villa walls or circling the skies looking for a snack. I’m no expert, but I think they’re some kind of eagle.
Part of the route goes past a construction site and some abandoned buildings. Or are the construction sites also abandoned? It was tricky to find a route over the rocks and through the spiky bushes, but we made it to a path further inland. That’s where we passed between a decaying building and a sea container and spotted Chaussée des Almadies Lighthouse out on the reef. Jonas and I kept very silent during the walk there to limit our chances of discovery. Behind the building, we could see the signpost and the westernmost point monument and the end of the Cap-Vert Peninsula.
Chaussée des Almadies Lighthouse in the distance
We looked for people, but then just casually walked to the end.
Pointe Almadies on the Cap-Vert Peninsula
We climbed the ship-shaped thingy to get a nice view of the westernmost point of Africa. As most capes, it’s so nice and windy. Looking back, there was one guy walking on the beach towards us, but he was still far away and didn’t look like a guard. We snapped pictures and took some videos, before I climbed down the scenic spot to walk further west. Jonas snapped some more pictures of me and we also took some pictures together.
If you head 770 kilometers due west from here, you scrape by the south coast of Brava, one of the Sotavento Islands of Cabo Verde. Brava was one of my favorite islands in Cabo Verde for hiking. And yes, Cabo Verde is named after the peninsula here in Senegal. Closer by, the 15-meter tall Chaussée des Almadies Lighthouse stands precariously on the surf. It would be great to come here at dusk to see if it still flashes. For now, there’s occasionally a pirogue on the sea. The area looks tricky to navigate. But apparently, it’s possible to do boat trips to this lighthouse (without landing).
I’m so happy to be standing here. Even if someone comes to hustle us for money, they can’t take this away from me. After Ras Angela in Tunisia, I still have Cape Agulhas in South Africa and Ras Hafun in Somalia to go. Speaking of Tunisia, the Ancient Carthaginians probably explored to and beyond the Cap-Vert Peninsula (and maybe also Cabo Verde) and called it Hesperu Ceras.
Looking east, we had a great view of Mamelles Lighthouse and a bit of the African Renaissance monument. If I were to return to Dakar, I’d probably try to visit that lighthouse in person as some people have had success with it. Online, it says visiting the lighthouse and museum costs 3000 XOF for foreigners.
Looking north, it’s just a nice area with a beach and a fishing port. The beach is mapped as the Club Med private beach, except there is no more Club Med in the area. Just north of there is a pub we’ve heard good things about called Kraken Pub that allegedly has craft beer. I’d love to wander there next and make it a round trip. But Jonas says we should go back the way we came to avoid detection and probable hustling. The man I identified as a fisherman was now in our area. No uniform, just walking around looking for stuff. It’s got nothing to do with us.
It’s such a shame there are people trying to gain something from tourists in an unclear and unofficial way. If the municipality of Dakar would develop the area or if the hotels would do it and just charge a small entry fee for visiting the westernmost point of Africa, we’d probably be okay with that. But this whole nonsense with just guys in uniforms aggressively asking for money and being confrontational is not a good look. We know Senegal is capable of making areas nice and having tourists experience a form of its Teranga. The shipwreck viewpoint thing was clearly meant for children to enjoy as well, as there was a little cave and some wall-climbing holds. The messaging about this place is just so incredibly mixed.
We walked back the same way we came, stopping at the signpost to check out which random cities they chose. But this time, the walk was much more efficient. The guy who approached us had vanished. We climed back to the restaurant over the rocks. On the wet beach, we looked back and saw a guy walking where we just passed. I’m not sure if that’s one of the guards, but it’s too late. We disappeared into the restaurant.
Kalao Craft Beer at Le Ngor
At Restaurant Le Ngor, we sat down and checked the menu for drinks. There was a mention of Kalao Beer, which we hope to try in Somone in a few days. But there’s no time like the present, so we ordered the Kasogho (witbier) and IpAfrika (IPA). This felt like a great way to wrap up our second day trip in Dakar on this lightning visit.
Though in theory I would’ve had the energy to still visit Ngor Island, this would require another taxi, followed by a negotiation with boatmen. It’s a couple of kilometers away, still in the same neighborhood of Almadies Point, conveniently called Ngor as well. I’ll save that for the next time we’re in Dakar.
Jonas ordered a Yango taxi to take us back. This driver spoke really good English and taught me some more Wolof. When I showed interest, we stopped at the Mosque of the Divinity to snap a quick picture before driving on. Ramadan, coming soon.
A few minutes later we drove past the Îles de la Madeleines again, still so far away. We were starting to get hungry for some Indian food at Koh-i-Noor restaurant, just a few hundred meters from our hotel in Dakar.
Tomorrow, we’ll head to Somone southeast of Dakar along the Petite Côte with a US American guy we met after visiting Île Gorée the day before. We’ll take that TER train a bit from Dakar Plateau to its current terminal station, Diamniadio, before finishing the trip by (shared) taxi or bus.
Map of the Westernmost Point of Africa
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