Mbour Fish Market

The fishing town of Mbour, about six kilometres south of Saly, has one of the most impressive fish markets in Senegal. Arrive between six and eight in the morning to see the pirogues returning with the night's catch and the market in full swing. Enormous quantities of barracuda, thiof (white grouper), capitaine, and smaller species are sorted, auctioned, and loaded onto trucks — the atmosphere is chaotic and completely alive.

The market itself sits right on the beach next to the pirogue landing. It is a working market, not a tourist attraction — go early and stay out of the way of the traders and loaders. The scenes are extraordinary: painted boats, mountains of fish on ice, women in bright boubous haggling at the top of their lungs. A guide or a taxi from Saly can get you there easily.

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Mbour has one of the largest artisanal fishing fleets on the Petite Côte — hundreds of colourfully painted pirogues go out each night and return in the early morning. The fish market at dawn is one of the most spectacular scenes on the Senegalese coast, and the sheer volume of the catch gives a sense of how important this fishery is to the entire region.