Keur Saloum

This hotel has a lot of potential. The staff are wonderful, great food and beverage and the grounds of the property are absolutely stunning. The rooms, however, are extremely outdated and in some desperate need of some TLC. The shower in my room was extremely weak, I had tears in my linen and the overall condition of the room was just down run down.

We stayed for 5 nights in this hotel and made the best of it. It didn't help that the temperature was nearly 40 degrees every day. The air con in the room was only just about adequate, the bed was a mattress on a concrete base. The shower cubicle had broken tiles underfoot and only a handheld shower. Only one bottle of soap provided in the room. The grounds are really pretty and quite well maintained. The swimming pool will be unusable soon as all the little tiles on the steps are falling off. By the time we left the staff were quite friendly but we had to work at it. The food was basic, a lot of meat and only 2 choices of main course and everything else set. I had a severe bout of food poisoning one night which didn't improve my opinion of the hotel as it was the only place we ate. We did a couple of tours and the bird life is fantastic but the guides really weren't that interested. It was lovely to sit out in the evenings when it had cooled down a bit as the hotel looks over the water and mangroves. When we came to pay, the receptionist was busy chatting on the phone so wasn't concentrating and overcharged us. To her credit she did realise and came to our room in the evening but gave us the over payment in CFA's which was absolutely no use to us as we were leaving Senegal the next morning! Wi fi was pretty poor most of the time. It's a real shame as the hotel has lots of potential but we understood that it had just been sold so hopefully the new owner will rectify matters.

We are just back from a holiday which included 4 nights in Keur Saloum and were very sad to leave. Thankfully, we had upgraded to a suite closer to the riverfront, as the standard rooms are a bit pokey for 4 nights. The food was very good, especially for fish-lovers like us. Watching the sunsets, over the river, is a highlight, as they are stunning. As for excursions, the absolute winner is "Seashell Island and the Dormitory of the birds" - make sure a guide explains the history of the former and have your camera/video ready for the latter (only 24 euros per couple, at most). For birdwatchers, you either need to speak some French, or book an English-speaking guide through the tour operator. The wi-fi is erratic, but best in the bar/restaurant area. Oh, and there's a 3.5% charge levied on credit card payments