With the Heat of the Hivernage, the Rainy Period From July to October, Residents of Dakar Are Heading Back to the Shore.

As the hot and rainy season runs until October, the beaches of Senegal's capital are drawing families and surfers — along with the waste and sewage carried by a fast-growing metropolis. With the arrival of the hivernage, the rainy season that lasts from July to October, residents of Dakar are heading back to the shore. "Families come to swim and eat on the beach, says Pape Fodé, owner of a surf shack on Virage beach, in the middle of the Senegalese capital.

But year after year, the season has also become synonymous with pollution spikes. "With the rains, the city's waste slides down to the beaches and the ocean, the young man explains, standing in the sand. The idyllic picture of children playing in the surf while surfers paddle offshore fades when one notices the plastics littering the sand and floating in the water.

In Hann, Ngor, Ouakam, Le Virage and Yoff, Dakar's coastal neighborhoods, the observation is the same: the capital's beaches and bays are covered in plastic. In April, Surfrider Foundation Senegal, the local branch of the American NGO dedicated to coastal protection, published the results of dozens of samples taken over three years on six beaches, focusing on fecal bacteria, E. coli and several enterococci, indicators of bacteriological pollution. According to Babacar Thiaw, a surfer and co-founder of the local NGO, 42.8% of the samples show quality that is not compatible with swimming, according to various international standards.

The nautical events of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games, to be held in Senegal from October 31 to November 13, will even be moved to Saly, further south, to avoid any problem. The rest of the article is reserved for subscribers. As the hot and rainy season runs until October, the beaches of the Senegalese capital are seeing families and surfers flock, along with the waste and sewage carried by a growing metropolis.