Baobab Soleil

The swimming pool is the central attraction, surrounded by lush greenery. There are many different kinds of birds in the trees. It is a pretty little oasis away from the main road, and is hard to find at night. There are no shops or services for miles so you are on your own. Bring snacks and extra water to save costs. Breakfast is extremely sparse, but you can get good fish here for dinner. The room is very basic but the bed is comfortable. I was allowed very late checkout without fuss. Bring your own entertainment since there is nothing to do here except getting a great tan by the pool.

This hotel is tricky to find, the best is to have the telephone number with you. The place is really nice with baobab trees, good WiFi in the common area. Big rooms with comfortable beds.

Do not stay here! Especially if you are female or on your own or have kids. Owner alternates between aggressive, passive aggressive and mean but can be helpful with some of the French guests (he's French). He calls himself Le Capitaine and his girlfriend? / wife? / concubine ? who speaks English does not help at all, in fact she sleeps in the common area on the chairs and gets annoyed if you disturb her, even though this is the only place where the wifi works. The driver was supposed to take us to a specific beach area but couldn't read a gps so he tried to get rid of us by dropping us off in the middle of nowhere, then tried to drop us off at some random house in some random town and then finally listened to our directions to get us near where we wanted to go. He complained that he needed us gone as he had to get back to the hotel for an airport run. The facility is close to Bandia Reserve but otherwise there is nothing nearby which is a problem because the owner keeps to a very rigid meal schedule. Dinner is 7:30, no flexibility. Even when we went out for the morning and came back for lunch to find the owner gone and we were unable to eat as there was no one there and kitchen was closed. Except for the cat that lives in it. When the owner finally returned late afternoon with his partner, the two of them sat down to a large meal of rice, meats, salads, dessert. We asked if we could get something to eat which was answered with a snarky no, dinner is at 7:30. We explained we hadn't eaten since breakfast and they didn't serve lunch as they weren't there. The female partner got mad at us for interrupting them. We settled our bill and left. The whole place has an "ick" factor to it. Not child friendly with the very rigid and late dinner hour as well as a phallic tap in community bathroom, sexually inappropriate murals in the rooms, French tv is always on the common area, the pool is closed although advertised as open, beer is more expensive than anywhere else we went in Senegal including fancy hotels. Felt celebratory to get out of there.

We booked this property to be accessible to Bandia Reserve. However, we discovered it is actually easy to get to Bandia if you stay within 1/2 hour radius or so as there are taxis on the streets of towns or arranged through other accommodation, including beach areas. Wished we had done this and had not stayed here as there is nothing around this hotel so you are stuck in the middle of nowhere. And to the owner's very set dining times. A lot of his menu was never available. A cat lives in the kitchen. Dinner at 7:30 is late, especially if you have children. Not really a family friendly place as some of the decor was not appropriate, e.g. phallic tap in communal washroom and sexual murals on hotel room walls. Pool was not operating when we were there although it had been advertised as working. Beer is more expensive than other restaurants including the 5 star restaurants. But the most disappointing part of the hotel is the owner and his wife? / girlfriend? / concubine? We returned one afternoon for his set lunch hour to find no one was there. So we couldn't eat. When the owner returned around 4, we told him and his partner that we had not eaten since breakfast and could we have something. A very rude NO. We had to wait until 7:30. They said this to us while they were eating a full meal of rice, salad, meats, etc. We showered and left for good.