The Grande Côte is a stretch of coastline in

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

, running north from the

Cap-Vert Cap-Vert, or the Cape Verde Peninsula, is a peninsula in Senegal and the westernmost point of the continent of Africa and of the Afro-Eurasia mainland. Portuguese explorers called it Cabo Verde or "Green Cape". The Cape Verde islands, further ...

peninsula of

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

to the border with

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

at St-Louis. A sandy beach runs along the entire coast, which, unlike the

Petite Côte The Petite Côte is a stretch of coast in Senegal, running south from the Cap-Vert peninsula to the Saloum Delta, near the border with the Gambia. The northern section near Dakar contains seaside resorts such as Saly Portudal, Rufisque, Nianing a ...

, has few settlements –

Kayar ''Kayar'' (English: ''Coir'') is a 1978 Malayalam epic novel written by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. Widely considered one of the most seminal works in Malayalam literature, ''Kayar'' received many major literary awards, including the Vayalar ...

and Mboro being exceptions. The last stage of the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, ...

used to run along the beach. The coastline is also relatively rich in heavy minerals, with significant amounts of

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of the r ...

having been discovered in the 2000s. Fish market photo 2 by Serdiuk

Transport

In 2012, a railway branch line was proposed to haul mineral sands. In 2014, Grande Côte Operations began operating trains from its mineral sands extraction project. The newly operated branch line consisted of 22km of new alignment to Mékhé, and the rehabilitation of the existing line from there to Dakar, a distance of around 100km.

References

Coasts Geography of Senegal {{Senegal-geo-stub

Transport

See also

References