Surf equipment hire in Dakar is available at three spots: the Almadies, Ngor and Somone. Board, wetsuit or boots, for a half day or a full day, priced per person, for those who surf on their own and can swim.

What can you hire, and where?

Nine options are arranged by place. At the Almadies, in Dakar: the surfboard, the wetsuit and the boots, each for a half day or a full day. At Ngor: the surfboard, for a half day or a full day. At Somone: the surfboard for a half day. The same range also includes water-sports equipment, paddleboards and skimboards, at the same spots. The equipment is included in the hire price; lessons and drinks are not.

For paddle hire on the Somone lagoon, a mangrove tax, an official fee, is payable on site, on top of the price.

The hire is for independent surfers, those who do not need lessons and just want a board. It suits the visitor who did not want to pay excess baggage for a surf bag, as well as the Dakar resident who wants to try a different board size or a wetsuit. For a lesson with a coach, it is better to look at the introductory options or private lessons.

Almadies, Ngor and Somone

The Almadies form the western tip of the peninsula, with reef waves. Ngor is a village-district at the northern tip, with a lively beach, its island reached by pirogue, its lébou traditions (the lébou are the traditional fishing people of the Dakar coast), its small-scale fishing and its bohemian atmosphere, where surfing has its place. Ngor beach and Ngor Island are a few minutes away. Further south, Somone is a village on the Petite Côte set around a lagoon classed as a community nature reserve, and the Somone lagoon is the natural mangrove site you explore by paddle.

Around the hire

To carry on on the water, paddle and kayak are practised at Ngor as at Somone, and surf lessons and courses are a good way in if you are starting out. After the session, a moment on the beach or a stroll around Ngor village rounds out the morning.