The Gambia - January 2024 - Logistics and Itinerary

  

Logistics

• A seven day trip in the fist week of January to The Gambia with a day in Senegal for a country tick and to try and find Egyptian Plover which at this time of year are much further inland. Mick and I booked a private guide, Modou Colley who is mentioned by Gosney, but who due to some kind of family emergency just before we arrived had subbed in another guide, Yankuba Tamba. Modou has sadly since passed away. He had booked all the accomodation that was needed on our trip up the river, as well as several boat trips, and Yankuba had a rented car as his was out of service. The total price per person for the guiding, vehicle, accomodation, food and boat trips was about £750 each.
• Flights: TUI from Gatwick to Banjul, booked as a package holiday with a hotel on the beach at Kotu Creek that we would use both at the beginning and end of the trip. TUI wasn't bad per se, but it's a no-frills experience - think long-haul Ryanair with everything needing purchasing and a rather minimal hand-baggage allowance (we did not get weighed luckily, though I'd planned for it if necessary). The flight is on a narrow body, takes just over six hours, and left Gatwick mid afternoon. The cost was £760 all in, so including the hotel which came with breakfast.
• Note that to leave the country there is a departure tax to pay, cash only and with absurd FX rates if you wish to pay in foreign currency. It also contributes to horrendous queues. Keep some Dalasi for this, and give yourself extra time before your flight. It was probably the worst part of the trip, and  unfortunately reinforced a lot of African stereotypes.
• Car/Driving: A beaten up 4x4 which did the job, and we only had to fix it once! Progress is slow because of very frequent checkpoints, manned by the Police or the Military. If it was the latter this generally involved aggressive young men in fatigues with big guns. If the former then a series of questions from a guy in a sharp uniform about who we were, where we were going and so on. Mostly Yankuba did the talking, but occasionally we were asked questions by the soldiers, generally about what we thought about The Gambia. The required answer is that it is lovely, particulary the general populace, and especially the soldiers. It was all rather tiresome but this is just how it is.

• Accomodation: Our TUI hotel was the Palm Beach at Kotu Creek, which we used on the first night and the last two nights. Excellent location for birding. Thereafter we stayed in camps of varying quality (basic to very basic) on our way up the river, as detailed in the Itinerary below.

• Literature/Resources
• Books: The Birds of Sengal and The Gambia by Nik Borrow, and Finding Birds in The Gambia by Dave Gosney.
• I printed eBird lists for all the main hotspots that we knew we would likely visit, and downloaded the packs for The Gambia and Senegal.
• Food - Rather a sore point. Whilst evening meals and breakfasts at the hotels and camps were fine, lunch on the go was very disappointing indeed - bananas, bread and water. We felt that the guide was attempting to save (and thus pocket) the money he was getting from the original guide. On the plus side this ensured we did not get ill at any point.

• Connectivity - I used eBird the whole time, pre-loaded with the requisite packs, and then uploaded the checklists via wi-fi each evening, which I think worked almost everywhere we stayed.
• Health - Whilst we were on anti-malarials and had all the required vaccines, I don't remember seeing many mosquitos at all. We were not asked for Yellow Fever certificates on entry to either country.
• Other - we didn't need much of the local currency, Dalasi, other than for a few beers here and there. In The Gambia the plugs are UK ones. In Senegal it's the European two-pin ones.

Itinerary

• Day 0 - We landed in Banjul just after 9pm local time. It takes a while to get through immigration and out of the airport, and Yankuba was there to meet us with a taxi driver. It was about a hour or so in heavy traffic up to Kotu Creek, and Yankuba got out halfway and said he'd see us in the morning, which he duly did.
• Day 1 - Kotu Creek to Tendaba. Early morning birding around Kotu Creek to get the list off to a decent start and then a slow drive to Tendaba, stopping at Farasuto, Pirang, and the Kampanti Raptor Bridge, the former for staked-out Owls. Overnight in Tendaba Camp which is on the south side of the river and right on the water's edge. Tendaba was easily the best of the camps we stayed in.
• Day 2 - An excellent morning boat trip around the mangroves on the north bank of the river before getting on the road and continuing east. We crossed the river at the  new Senegambia Bridge and then drove along the north bank to Janjanbureh. (aka Georgetown). Various stops along the way before arriving at Janjanbureh and taking a short ferry to MacCarthy Island. There was just enough time to bird the Bush Track to the east of town. Overnight at Baobolong Camp, which the most basic camp we stayed in and was extremely noisy all night for good measure.
• Day 3 - A long drive south of the river before crossing the border into Senegal near Velingara. Passports required, all very officious even if the border is just a chain between two oil drums. A long drive up and around before heading south west to Wassadou Camp on the river, which we reached mid-afternoon, followed by a boat trip early evening for the Plover. Overnight at Wassadou Camp.
• Day 4 - Good birding at Wassadou on foot all morning, before heading back to Janjanbureh and Baobolong Camp again, birding all the way. We arrived in time for some night birding on the Bush Track. 
• Day 5 - This morning we birded the western end of MacCarthy island for a while before hitting the road. Then a huge driving day all the way back to Serrekunda and our hotel at Kotu Creek. Birding stops at the Jakhaly Rice Fields, Dalaba Wetland, and Worokang for Temminck's Courser.
• Day 6 - Kotu Creek nature trail instead of a boat trip as the tide was stuck in the creek due to a sandbar. In the afternoon we tried again but there was no change so we birded the general area on foot again, and early evening we went to Tanji Beach, scene of a chaotic and vibrant fish market to try for seabirds.
• Day 7 - Kotu Creek and Brufut Woods in the morning, followed by Tujereng and Marakissa in the afternoon. Then back to the airport for an evening flight home, arriving at Gatwick at 4am the next day.