Why this ride
On the way it passes Bassari Country: Bassari, Niokolo-Koba National Park and back through Bassari Country: Bassari. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Peul Dindéfello and Niokolo-Koba National Park · 641 km
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 641 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 10 h 59
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Peul Dindéfello
Dindéfello is where the Sahel finally gives up and the Fouta Djallon begins. The village sits in southeastern Senegal, tucked against the border with Guinea, and the plateau behind it drops away in a red cliff that feeds a waterfall of about a hundred metres. After the rains the fall is a proper white rope hanging off the rock. In the dry season it thins to a veil, but the pool beneath is still deep enough for a cool plunge and the walk through the gorge in the shade is worth the heat.
Read the complete Peul Dindéfello write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Peul Dindéfello is where the day begins. Next is Bassari Country: Bassari.
2. Bassari Country: Bassari
Where south-eastern Senegal meets Guinea, the flat savannah gives way to the first hills of the Fouta Djallon, and in these hills live the Bassari, a people who have kept their own beliefs, language and rituals despite centuries of pressure from surrounding powers. Villages of round huts with conical thatched roofs sit on hillsides among terraced fields of fonio, millet and peanuts, and the year is punctuated by initiation ceremonies in which masked figures in costumes of leaves and fibres come out of the sacred forest.
Read the complete Bassari Country: Bassari write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bassari Country: Bassari comes up 74 km in. Next is Niokolo-Koba National Park.
3. Niokolo-Koba National Park
In the south-east of Senegal, where the country presses against Guinea, the Gambia river begins to gather itself, and around its upper reaches lies Niokolo-Koba, one of the largest and oldest national parks in West Africa. It covers nearly a million hectares of savanna, dry forest, gallery woodland and grassy floodplain, and it holds some of the last strongholds of West African wildlife. UNESCO recognised it in 1981, and it has been listed as in danger since 2007, mostly because of poaching and pressure from outside.
Read the complete Niokolo-Koba National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
148 km in you reach Niokolo-Koba National Park. Next is back through Bassari Country: Bassari.
4. back through Bassari Country: Bassari
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bassari Country: Bassari write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Bassari Country: Bassari, late in the day. Next is Peul Dindéfello.
5. Peul Dindéfello
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Peul Dindéfello write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Peul Dindéfello. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Peul Dindéfello to Bassari Country: Bassari
Peul Dindéfello → Bassari Country: Bassari is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Bassari Country: Bassari to Niokolo-Koba National Park
Bassari Country: Bassari → Niokolo-Koba National Park is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Niokolo-Koba National Park to back through Bassari Country: Bassari
Niokolo-Koba National Park → back through Bassari Country: Bassari is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Bassari Country: Bassari to Peul Dindéfello
back through Bassari Country: Bassari → Peul Dindéfello is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.