The Gambia is famous for its bird life. Nowhere in the world will you find such variety of bird species in such a small area. Ornithologists from all over the world come to The Gambia for birdwatching. This is why newly discovered species are regularly added to the already impressive list.
TravelPoort has excellent relations among the birdwatchers in The Gambia. They will guide you, hoping to show you an important part of the 450 bird species in The Gambia. To realise this, you have to go deep into The Gambia, although you can find about 325 species in the coastal region.
A day-to-day description
Day 1: Amsterdam-Banjul
Transfer from the airport Yundum to the Senegambia Beach Hotel for the first stay. During a welcoming drink, you will meet the English-speaking guides who will accompany you during the tour. You can find a description of the hotel here.
Day 2: Madiana & Tanji
You will 'hunt' the first exotic bird species near Tanji, along the river Madiana and the Tanji bird reserve. We will see the violet turaco, white fronted sand plover, swallow-tailed bee-eater, kelp gull, bleu-bellied roller, broad-billet roller, african pied hornbill and painted snipe. We spend the night and have breakfast at the Senegambia Beach Hotel.
Day 3: Abuko & Kotu
Abuko is the largest national park with a.o. black winged stilt, hammerkop, waders, black egret, nightjarr, green crested turaco, western bleubill, little greenbull, red-bellied paradise flycatcher and african jacana.
We spend the night and have breakfast at the Senegambia Beach Hotel.
Day 4: Faraba & Bantan
You will stay relatively close to home, because today we have a trip through the bush of Faraba-Banta in Pirang on the programme, and we try to find the martial eagle, short-toed eagle, stripe kingfisher and bateleur.
We spend the night and have breakfast at the Senegambia Beach Hotel.
Day 05: Yundum
The area of the airport and the inlands of Yundum are known for their great variety of birds. In this woodland, we find pied-winged swallow, hoopoe, woodpeckers and warblers.
We stay and have breakfast at the Senegambia Beach Hotel.
Day 6: Brufut & Bijilo
Today, you stay near the coast with a.o. a trip through the woods of Brufut, and a visit to Bjilo Park. We find fanti-saw wing, milkeagle our, black flycather, northern buffback, greater honey guide, bearded barbet, senegal coucal and little bee eater.
We stay and have breakfast at the Senegambia Beach Hotel.
Day 7+8: Tendaba & Kiang West
Today you travel about 150 km upcountry. Near the airport, we see the ground hornbill, greenfruit pigeon, buffalo weaver and african hawk eagle. A beautiful 3 hour boattrip will show us goliath heron, blue breasted kingfisher, malashit kingfisher, mouse brown sunbird, blue fairly flycatcher and pigmy sunbird. In Kiang West (the second largest national park) we spot the bateleur, fourband sandgrouse, starlings, shrikes, africangolden oriole, spotted thicknee, stone partridge and raptors.
We will have dinners and stays at the Tendaba Camp.
You can find a description of the accommodations here.
Day 9, 10, 11 and 12: JanjangBureh (Georgetown) & Basse
The trip continues to JanjangBureh, the former Georgetown. The town and the homonymous island are famous for the historic slave hunts and the chief´s school, but nowadays especially for the gorgeous nature that accommodates land- and waterbird species.
We divide up the area in 5 areas for the watching:
1. Fulla bantang village, marabout stork.
2. Jahally swamps, pranticole, godwits, jacana, snipes, ducks, gees.
3. Bush track to the river, african paradise flycatcher, stone partridge, red throated bee-eater.
4. Bansang quary, Cinnamon-breasted bunting, bush petronia, red-roated bee-eater.
5. Bansang ferry terminal, lapel-faced vulture.
From JanjangBureh, we make a 3 hour boat trip to Kuntaur, famous for the presence of hippos.
You will find the most exotic birds in Basse Santa Su, or Basse in short, situated at a somewhat narrower river Gambia. The creme-de-la-creme of the birds seem to reside here.
The 4 areas for watching:
1. Basse river, egyptian plover
2. Basse rice fields, Carmine bee-eater, black crake, giant kingfisher, european tuttle dove, black bellied bustard.
3. Basse quary, little green bee-eater, common red stuart, bush petronia.
4. Chanmoi bridge, painted sipe, crakes.
Dinners and stays at the JanjangBureh Camp.
You can find a description of the hotel here.
Day 13+14: Back to the coast
You can rest and let the impressions of the past few days sink in in the great tourist classe Senegambia Beach hotel. We stay and have breakfast at the Senegambia Beach Hotel.
Dag 15: Transfer to the airport
Other information
Included
- (return) flight Amsterdam-Banjul-Amsterdam
- transfers as described
- luggage care during the entire trip
- all stays as described
- stay and breakfast included
- tour as described
- entrance fees national parks
- ferry crossings
- transport in a comfortable air conditioned four wheel drive
- services of an English speaking guide and driver
Not included
- lunch on days 1, 7 and 8
- drinks
- tips
- personal expenses
- possible extension of your trip
Conditions
- during the trip, we may have to deviate from the given plan, because of unfortunate circumstances. We try to match the alternative to the original plan as accurately as possible.
Note: this is a private tour; if you book for 1 person, then you are the only participant of this tour. If you book for 4 people, you will travel only with this company.