How to recognise Senegal in a street photo

Dropzone #4 · 30 October 2026

Dakar Region

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How to tell

1. Green-yellow-red flags: Vertical green-yellow-red flags with a green star mean Senegal.
2. Pastel concrete apartment blocks: Flat-roofed, pastel-painted blocks with barred windows suggest urban coastal West Africa.
3. Sandy dust, right-hand traffic: Pale sand everywhere, not red earth, and right-hand driving fit dry Sahel coast.

The tiny flags on the poles in the middle are the jackpot: green, yellow and red vertical stripes with a small green star are Senegal, while Mali uses the same colours without the star. Before spotting them, the pale sandy dust on every surface, flat-roofed concrete blocks in pink and cream, and cars driving on the right already point to dry, French-influenced West Africa rather than East Africa or the Maghreb. The mix of newish SUVs and an older Mercedes on a busy multi-lane road suggests a big city, and in Senegal that usually means Dakar. Carry this forward: sand-coloured soil plus pastel apartment blocks is very typical of the Dakar peninsula.

Easily confused with

• Bamako, Mali: Mali's flag has no star, and its dust is redder.
• Nouakchott, Mauritania: Mauritania's flag is green with a crescent, plus Arabic signs.

Remember: Green-yellow-red flag with a star and pale sand: think Senegal.