3) 6 p.m. Grilled fish

Before the sun dips all the way, ditch the kids and grab a taxi, plentiful anywhere here, and tell the driver to drop you at Magic Land. Once you’re in the parking lot and looking straight at the oddball amusement park, wander to the right between the buildings where you’ll reach a ramshackle beach. Vendors there sell some of the best catch on the continent. Point to the fish you want and it will be grilled on the spot. The thiof, a type of white grouper, is particularly delicious and served smothered in a tart onion sauce with fries and salad on the side. Darkness will fall as you’re seated at a plastic table on a rocky, and not particularly pristine, beach, but one with a marvelous view, and a few stray cats. A meal for two is about 15,000 C.F.A., but prices are negotiable. If a fancy meal suits you better, head next door to the restaurants of the luxury Terrou-Bi Hotel and dine on European fare with a few local dishes by the impressively lit infinity pool with the sea in the background.

4) 10 p.m. Dancing after dark

If you want to dance with the locals, you’re going to have to stay up late. The dance party in Dakar doesn’t start until well after midnight in most clubs –—a fact made all the more impressive when you consider many Dakarois don’t drink alcohol. If you’re a night owl, head to Le Vogue, where you can lose yourself in a swirl of smoke from hookah pipes (called shisha here) until the crowds push onto the downstairs dance floor about 2 a.m. For an earlier night, swing by La Calebasse, a restaurant where the music often starts a couple of hours before midnight. There’s no cover charge for Le Vogue on Friday nights.