A session of traditional wrestling in Cap Skirring, in Casamance: a half-day outdoors, organised with a guide, to discover the country’s most popular sport. The price is per person, decreasing with the size of the group.

A half-day of wrestling, organised by a guide

The activity is a traditional wrestling session, outdoors, over a half-day, with a guide who organises the session. The price is per person, and it decreases as the group grows: the more of you there are, the less each participant pays. Wrestling is the most popular sport in Senegal, an art that blends strength, technique, respect and culture, with its rituals, songs and symbolic gestures before the bout. Watching it, or trying it over a half-day, gives an idea of what stirs the villages and neighbourhoods of the country on big fight days. It is generally accompanied by rituals, songs and symbolic gestures, which make it more than a contest.

A half-day leaves the rest of the day free for the beach or another excursion in the region. If you live in Casamance, it is a cultural half-day in familiar surroundings. If you are visiting Cap Skirring, it is a way to step out of the beach stay and meet a local practice.

Cap Skirring, more than a beach

Cap Skirring is often sold as a beach: white sand, coconut palms, warm sea, the beach postcard of Senegal. All of that is true, and yet reducing the Cap to its shoreline misses the essential. The village is in Casamance, in the Ziguinchor region, between The Gambia to the north and Guinea-Bissau to the south. It is another Senegal: green, humid, slow, woven from rice paddies, gallery forests and bolongs (tidal creeks) winding between the mangroves.

Things to do in Casamance

To extend your discovery of the south, Casamance is a land of bolongs and mangroves, with among other places Carabane Island. Guided cultural visits give keys to the region, and other Senegalese wrestling options are available around the country.