Here’s some of the practical info. (for images click here).
Total time to travel:
- Travel from Dakar/Thiès to Tambacounda: 6-7 hours
- From Tambacounda to Niokolo-Koba park entrance: 1 hour
- Places to stay:=
- in Tamba: Hôtel le Relais
- near park: Wassabou campement, very beautiful
- inside park (Simenti): complicated because apparently need to be accompanied by a guide and have your own car (or pay additional day rental) because not allowed to be only on foot in park
Times to visit:
Dry season; apparently most animals are visible in the March/April months
Costs:
At Park:
- 10.000CFA for entering your car into park
- 5.000CFA park fee (for foreigners)
- 3.000CAF park fee (for locals)
- 10.000CFA fee for the guide (full day and regardless of no. of people on trip)
Car Rental:
- called Mady Ndiaye who runs one of the campements in Simenti +221 77 433 7517 and he connected us with chauffeur Abé
- 40.000 car full day rental (driver is included in that price)
- 25.000cfa for gas for full day
We split these costs between 3 people and turned out quite reasonable!