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What to see in Senegal
Goree Island
- Holidays to Senegal
- Points of Interest
Tourist attractions Goree Island
Situated just over a mile off the coast of Dakar, the Senegalese capital, Goree Island is a tiny, car-free island with an extensive and remarkably tragic history. It appears to be an idyllic little island, with a tranquil atmosphere and old-world charms, but Goree Island is best known for its role in the Atlantic Slave Trade between the 15th and 19th-centuries. Classified as a district of the city of Dakar, Goree Island earnt UNESCO World Heritage status for its pivotal role as a ‘memory island’, reminding us of this dark period of history and the horrors of human exploitation.
If you travel to Dakar you can easily visit Goree Island as it’s connected to the mainland by regular ferry services which complete the journey in around 20 minutes, making it a popular stop on a tour of Senegal. Visiting Goree Island is an eye-opening and, at times, heart-breaking experience as the contrasts between the elegant houses of the former slaver traders and the grim slave-quarters are stark. Today, a peaceful island with a population of around 1,600 people, Goree Island has come under the rule of the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French successively over the centuries, when it was used as both a stopover for merchants and a slave market.
If you travel to Goree Island you will most likely pay a visit to the House of Slaves, an imposing building with a red-facade, once used as a holding centre for slaves during the 18th-century. Today, it is an informative museum and memorial to the horrors of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Other things to see on Goree Island include a number of colonial fortifications and the Relais de L’Espaden, the former residence of the French governor.
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Tourist attractions senegal
Points of interests
- Trips to Djoudj and Barbarie National Park
- Trips to Goree Island
- Trips to Lake Retba
- Trips to Saint Louis
Other Points of interests
- Trips to Taita Hills Wildlife Sanctuary
- Trips to Aberdare National Park
- Trips to Addis Ababa
- Trips to Amboseli National Park
- Trips to Arba Minch
- Trips to Arusha
- Trips to Arusha National Park
- Trips to Bahir Dar
- Trips to Bati
- Trips to Bazaruto
- Trips to Bigodi
- Trips to Bwindi National Park
- Trips to Diani
- Trips to Entebbe
- Trips to Gondar
- Trips to Great Rift Valley
- Trips to Jinka
- Trips to Jozani Forest
- Trips to Kibale National Park
- Trips to Kigali
- Trips to Kilimanjaro
- Trips to Lake Chamo
- Trips to Lake Manyara National Park
- Trips to Lake Naivasha
- Trips to Lake Nakuru National Park
- Trips to Lake Turkana
- Trips to Lalibela
- Trips to Lamu
- Trips to Maasai Mara National Reserve
- Trips to Machangulo
- Trips to Maputo
- Trips to Mburo Lake
- Trips to Menengai Crater
- Trips to Mombasa
- Trips to Murchison Falls National Park
- Trips to Musiara Marsh
- Trips to Nairobi
- Trips to Ngorongoro
- Trips to Queen Elizabeth National Park
- Trips to Samburu National Reserve
- Trips to Serengeti National Park
- Trips to Stone Town
- Trips to Sweetwaters
- Trips to Tarangire National Park
- Trips to Thomson Falls, Nyahururu.
- Trips to Tofo Beach
- Trips to Tsavo
- Trips to Tsavo West National Park
- Trips to Turmi
- Trips to Vilankulos
- Trips to Zanzíbar
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- Mauritius Trips
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- Namibia Trips
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