About 60 kilometres north of Saint-Louis, where Senegal’s river delta approaches the Atlantic coast and Mauritania, Djoudj protects a broad mosaic of lake, backwater, marsh and sandbank. UNESCO describes the World Heritage property as a wetland of 16,000 hectares. The first large water refuge many migratory birds encounter south of the Sahara, it offers a striking contrast to the dry landscapes around it: open water, reeds, floodplain and a sky crossed by flocks.
The sanctuary was established as a national park in 1971 and added to the World Heritage List in 1981. It is also recognized under the Ramsar Convention for wetlands. The park’s location matters as much as its size: the Senegal River system supports a transition between Sahelian and coastal environments, and seasonal water levels influence which habitats are available. This is a living hydraulic landscape, not an aquarium in which wildlife can be expected to gather in the same place on every visit.