Harmattan

The dormitory section of the Harmattan Auberge/Restaurant is new, so it is not currently listed in any of the common backpacker travel books. The Harmattan is run by a French family and they have an upmarket restaurant and hotel rooms as well. Everything is new, with massive toilet and shower cubicles, a huge dorm that is cleaned daily, and little alcoves for each of the beds with curtains. The local girl that does the daily cleaning is amazing. She would even fold up the clothes and pack them back into our bags, and she did any washing lying around. We gave her a nice tip at the end.

The clientele was pretty interesting in the restaurant - wealthy, alternative expats - which made the evenings interesting. We stayed about four nights and on our last night we were joined by two American peacecorps volunteers who were having a weekend off in town. The day we left a group of French armymen were coming in to use the facility and do volunteer work in town.

We actually found the Harmattan by default, but found the location near all the major restaurants, clubs and bars really useful. There is plenty to do in St Louis and as soon as you walk out the door at the Harmattan you are in the centre of life there.

-- Exclusive Hostelz.com Review