* EDIT:
Was late when I originally posted these yesterday and I was cream crackered, so not much background on the photos
Here it goes:
We were looking for a cheap destination in the sun for a holiday. It was either your usual Canary Islands or something different. Gambia sounded different! Flights were cheap and so was accomodation. We went for 2 weeks.
Hotel was basic, given the choice again we would have chosen a different one but there are no "no entry" restrictions on the other hotels, so you can just rock up during the day and try somewhere else, they are happy to have your custom even if you aren't staying with them. We tried a few different ones and ended up spending 2-3 days just resting at the Senegambia hotel pool and bar. But otherwise it was very much walking, exploring and a few organised trips out of the beach / main tourist areas.
First trip was to Georgetown, a 5 hour drive from where we were. We hired a guide to take us there and he organised the logistics, drove us and arranged the boat trip on the Gambia River where we saw wild hippos and the protected chimpanzees. Georgetown was hot! 40+ easily! The car trip was interesting in itself, the boat excursion was great with all the the animal sightings - we kept well away from the hippos! In that heat it wasn't easy however enduring the overnight stop... air conditioning had broken down in our room! We had to sleep on top of wet towels on the bed to keep cool. On the next day, an added bonus; wild baboons sighted from the car near a peanut farm from the road!
Another trip was to a monkey park nearby the hotel. We walked down the beach to it (about an hour walk) then another 2-3 hours to walk around the park trails. Lots of monkeys and Rachel spotted the black headed Heron included below which looks superb (IMHO!)
On the last week we met a bird guide - Mamadou Jallow, great guy, incredibly knowledgeable, ridiculously impressive spotting abilities; god knows how he could see an owl in a tree 100 metres away which took us forever to find with binoculars! He happily tolerated our inexperience with birds, we walked around a river near the hotel for where he knew a few good spots. The Pied Kingfisher below was taken there. As he was such a nice guy we booked the next day out with him to the Salaji forest park and the Tanji bird reserve. Most of the birds below were taken in Salaji.
Gambia itself isn't that picturesque but the markets were interesting. Gambia people are very peaceful and there is almost no crime in the Country. The 4-5 month tourist season is a main source of income for a lot of people, the remainder of the year many return to their family homes where they become self-sufficient again with animal+crop farming.
The only real downer for me was the hassling. If you walk down the beach for an hour expect to be approach at every bar, restaurant, juice and random vendor. It's even worse in the town as everyone will try and 'help' you in return for a tip. Unfortunately kids and teens are also catching on to this instead of staying in school. All of them are very friendly but pushy, and will insist in talking to you, shaking your hand and keeping you for a minute or two to explain what they have to offer. The same will happen to a lesser extent in the hotel areas and restaurants where the staff will often offer you their services as a guide on their days off. Day after day this soon lost it's novelty value...
Otherwise it was great weather, and cheap for a non-standard destination. Wildlife was superb and so were days off near the pool with a beer in hand. Was a great opportunity for my wife to get to grips with the DSLR in manual mode too with plenty of shots to try different settings with. We both took turns taking these and I'll probably be looking for a second Canon body for her now so we can share the lenses. Photography seems to be popular with tourists in Gambia - Chris Packham offers guided bird watching tours there.
So hope you enjoy the snaps, more to come soon!. Feedback and animal/location ID corrections always welcome!
1. Black Headed Heron
2. Alpha Male Chimp
3. Young Chimp
4. Pied Kingfisher
5. Piglets in the Woods
6. Red Colobus Monkeys
7. Red-Cheeked Cordon-Bleu
8. Nightjar
9. Monitor Lizard
10. Purple Starling
Was late when I originally posted these yesterday and I was cream crackered, so not much background on the photos
Here it goes:We were looking for a cheap destination in the sun for a holiday. It was either your usual Canary Islands or something different. Gambia sounded different! Flights were cheap and so was accomodation. We went for 2 weeks.
Hotel was basic, given the choice again we would have chosen a different one but there are no "no entry" restrictions on the other hotels, so you can just rock up during the day and try somewhere else, they are happy to have your custom even if you aren't staying with them. We tried a few different ones and ended up spending 2-3 days just resting at the Senegambia hotel pool and bar. But otherwise it was very much walking, exploring and a few organised trips out of the beach / main tourist areas.
First trip was to Georgetown, a 5 hour drive from where we were. We hired a guide to take us there and he organised the logistics, drove us and arranged the boat trip on the Gambia River where we saw wild hippos and the protected chimpanzees. Georgetown was hot! 40+ easily! The car trip was interesting in itself, the boat excursion was great with all the the animal sightings - we kept well away from the hippos! In that heat it wasn't easy however enduring the overnight stop... air conditioning had broken down in our room! We had to sleep on top of wet towels on the bed to keep cool. On the next day, an added bonus; wild baboons sighted from the car near a peanut farm from the road!
Another trip was to a monkey park nearby the hotel. We walked down the beach to it (about an hour walk) then another 2-3 hours to walk around the park trails. Lots of monkeys and Rachel spotted the black headed Heron included below which looks superb (IMHO!)
On the last week we met a bird guide - Mamadou Jallow, great guy, incredibly knowledgeable, ridiculously impressive spotting abilities; god knows how he could see an owl in a tree 100 metres away which took us forever to find with binoculars! He happily tolerated our inexperience with birds, we walked around a river near the hotel for where he knew a few good spots. The Pied Kingfisher below was taken there. As he was such a nice guy we booked the next day out with him to the Salaji forest park and the Tanji bird reserve. Most of the birds below were taken in Salaji.
Gambia itself isn't that picturesque but the markets were interesting. Gambia people are very peaceful and there is almost no crime in the Country. The 4-5 month tourist season is a main source of income for a lot of people, the remainder of the year many return to their family homes where they become self-sufficient again with animal+crop farming.
The only real downer for me was the hassling. If you walk down the beach for an hour expect to be approach at every bar, restaurant, juice and random vendor. It's even worse in the town as everyone will try and 'help' you in return for a tip. Unfortunately kids and teens are also catching on to this instead of staying in school. All of them are very friendly but pushy, and will insist in talking to you, shaking your hand and keeping you for a minute or two to explain what they have to offer. The same will happen to a lesser extent in the hotel areas and restaurants where the staff will often offer you their services as a guide on their days off. Day after day this soon lost it's novelty value...
Otherwise it was great weather, and cheap for a non-standard destination. Wildlife was superb and so were days off near the pool with a beer in hand. Was a great opportunity for my wife to get to grips with the DSLR in manual mode too with plenty of shots to try different settings with. We both took turns taking these and I'll probably be looking for a second Canon body for her now so we can share the lenses. Photography seems to be popular with tourists in Gambia - Chris Packham offers guided bird watching tours there.
So hope you enjoy the snaps, more to come soon!. Feedback and animal/location ID corrections
always welcome! 1. Black Headed Heron
2. Alpha Male Chimp
3. Young Chimp
4. Pied Kingfisher
5. Piglets in the Woods
6. Red Colobus Monkeys
7. Red-Cheeked Cordon-Bleu
8. Nightjar
9. Monitor Lizard
10. Purple Starling
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