Fraternité: Exploring a Vibrant Surfing Community in Dakar, Senegal

One of the best things about surfing are the communities that revolve around it. If there are waves, it’s likely that a group of wave-lovers will pop up around them, no matter where they are. And back in November of 2021, Italo Ferreira, surfing’s first Olympic gold medalist, went to visit one such place.

Ferreira made a promise to visit Cherif Fall in Dakar, Senegal. Fall also surfs with the Billabong sticker on his surfboard, and South African Joshe Faulkner — who we’ll surely be hearing more from in the future — linked up with them. What they found was a thriving surfing community, firing waves, and staggeringly beautiful coastline.

Billabong and Wasted Talent Magazine put the short film you see above together, and it shows a surfing trip in West Africa that might put the place on your bucket list.