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[[File:SenegalStreet.jpg|thumb|left|Street scene in Senegal]]
'''Senegal''' is a country in [[Western Africa]]. It is the most developed country in West Africa and has the best road network; most major roads are now paved. On those major roads, hitchhiking is very easily doable - there is a high number of private vehicles and the Senegalese are sympathetic towards the cause. Drivers are usually very friendly and often you might find yourself invited to spend the night if evening is coming close. If you leave the main roads, things get a lot harder - be prepared to either wait or walk lots; most of your lifts will be short hops and most traffic will be taxies. Speaking a little bit of [[Africa phrasebook#Wolof|Wolof]], which is the unofficial national language, will increase your popularity and your chances greatly. [[The-nomaddicts]] found that a helpful phrase to learn is "Doma yo balay? Amuma halis", which is Wolof and roughly translates to "Will you take us with you for free? We have no money." There is no direct translation for "hitchhiking" in Wolof, but this got the job done. To leave the towns, there is only one way (with the possible exception of Dakar): Get to the end of the city by foot or mototaxi and hitch from there.
As in all of Westafrica, a big part of the traffic is public minibuses, taxis and sept-plus who will charge you for a ride.
Private vehicles will often ask you for a fare aswell and you will most likely find yourself mixing payed rides and hitchhiking to get forward. Prices are very reasonable and usually the same for foreigners, apart from obvious tourist destinations.
TonyPro says: I won't edit the main article because I only tried hitching a few times, but I found the claim that "hitchhiking is very easily doable" to be extremely optimistic. I spent 5 hours on the main road outside Kedougou with no luck, even though lots of private, half-empty vehicles passed me. Plus the locals had no qualms about queue-jumping, standing in front of me to flag rides for themselves. Then I faced another problem: I gave up and decided to flag down public transport, but buses and sept-place taxis fill up before leaving the towns, so if you are waiting on the edge of a city, they will always be full.
[[The-nomaddicts]] found that a helpful phrase to learn is "Doma yo balay? Amuma halis", which is Wolof and roughly translates to "Will you take us with you for free? We have no money." There is no direct translation for "hitchhiking" in Wolof, but this got the job done for us through 6 weeks of hitching around the country. Throughout hitched Senegal throughout Jan 2020-Feb 2020 we . We hitchhiked all over the country starting in Diama, going into Dakar, around The Gambia through Tambacounda, down into and around Casamance, and back east all around the Kedougou region. We had to be patient, especially when hitching in remote areas outside of Kedougou but never had to wait more than 3 hours for a ride. Learning the Wolof phrase for hitchhiking and a few others was definitely helpful!
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