Gallery: Gorée Island

Gorée Island • Dakar Bay • Senegal

A place can be at once weighty with the history it holds and transcendent in its beauty. SHIMA guests can discover the painful history of Gorée Island and its role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, meet the present day residents and artists of this island, and enjoy delicious Senegalese food. You can spend a night under the stars with the roar of the ocean ever-present, and wake up to a tranquil sunrise before taking the short ferry ride back to Dakar.

Explore Gorée Island with SHIMA Travel Tours

Scenes from Gorée Island

The Door of No Return

According to my guide in Gorée, this infamous door was so named because captured Africans who passed through it either ended up on slave ships, sold away from their homelands, or were thrown overboard if their value was questioned.

On my first visit to Gorée Island, the ocean was in an uproar. I boarded the ferry in Dakar with blinding trepidation — I always get seasick. The 30-minute ride felt like the longest 30 minutes of my life. The ocean roiled and heaved, lifting the ferry like a toy boat and slamming it down again and again. I held my head between my knees and reminded myself: Don’t look up.

As I stood at the Door of No Return, cold sweat crept in — the kind that comes before seasickness. I began to imagine what it must have been like for millions of Africans, bound together in the holds of slave ships, stripped of dignity and humanity, facing an uncertain future.

I tried to imagine it… and it broke me.

Woman standing inside the Door of No Return at Gorée Island facing the Atlantic Ocean

Moments from Gorée Island

Praying and pouring libations

View of the Atlantic Ocean

Gorée Island Sand Art

Gorée Island Artisans

Visitors arrive on Gorée

About Gorée Island
Gorée Island sits just off the coast of Dakar and is one of Senegal’s most historically significant places. A UNESCO Heritage site known for the House of Slaves and the infamous Door of No Return, the island stands as a powerful reminder of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Today Gorée Island is also a vibrant municipal district whose residents with their colorful homes, art and food welcome visitors from around the world.