Golden hour in Dakar in January

Dakar lies at 14.72° N, in the tropics, where the sun climbs steeply and sets fast. Its longest measured day falls on Thu 18 June 2026 with 13h 00m of daylight, and its shortest on Sun 20 December 2026 with 11h 15m — a difference of 1h 45m between the two extremes.

Evening golden hour in Dakar runs for roughly 31 minutes at the height of summer, 28 minutes around the March equinox and 31 minutes at midwinter. The warm window is at its most generous in summer, so summer shoots allow more time to work a location.

The sun sets toward 295° WNW in late June and toward 246° WSW in late December, a shift of about 49° in where the last light lands — worth checking before committing to a west-facing viewpoint. In Dakar, the sky reaches full darkness between evening and morning twilight year-round.