DESTINATIONS THE GAMBIA WINTER SUN LEFT:
Bakotu Hotel
RIGHT:
Mandina Lodges
see dozens of the mischievous creatures swinging in the trees, before we exit onto the beach.
w FEATHERED FRIENDS You don’t even need to leave your hotel to experience The Gambia’s wildlife. Every day, I wake up to the cheeps and chirps of birds and insects, and watch monkeys swinging in the baobab trees in the hotel’s lush tropical gardens, bright with butterflies and eye- catching birds. In fact, there are more than 540 native species of birds flitting around The Gambia, including kingfishers, hooded vultures, egrets, sunbirds, herons, and the brilliantly blue-green abyssinian roller.
I spend one morning watching
scores of magnificent vultures being fed at the Senegambia Beach Hotel, a free daily activity open to all. Although exotic birds can be seen wherever you stay, keen twitchers tend to favour the Bakotu Hotel, which has a bird- viewing platform over the Kotu Stream, and is naturalist Chris Packham’s preferred Gambian bolthole. Karen Durham, product manager at The Gambia Experience, says it’s the “ease of interaction with the local wildlife” that makes The Gambia such a fascinating place to visit. “It’s not such a bad beach destination either,” she adds.
We spot the heartwarming sight of a tiny baby monkey clinging to its mother’s stomach
w WILDLIFE HOTELS For an off-the-beaten-track adventure, visitors can stay in a floating lodge at Mandina Lodges, tucked away in the Makasutu Culture Forest on a mangrove-rich tributary of the River Gambia, just a 40-minute drive from the coastal resorts. Perfect for barefoot luxury, the plush lodges have open-air showers, private roof terraces, four-poster beds, and fans instead of air-conditioning to fit with the retreat’s eco philosophy. Travellers who don’t stay at Mandina can still explore the privately owned forest on a day trip, either on foot or on a dugout canoe ride. Look out for a wealth of bird life, including kingfishers, herons and weaver birds, as well as monkeys, baboons and reptiles. Further inland is the Chimp
Rehabilitation Project, home to 100 chimps living free on three islands. Set deep within the River Gambia National Park, guests
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travelweekly.co.uk 8 November 2018
can stay in comfy safari tents on raised platforms with sweeping views of the park. Chimps can be spotted during boat trips that run around the islands. From getting close to crocs to
gawping at monkeys, it’s virtually impossible to visit The Gambia
and not enjoy its natural highlights.
“I can’t think of another
destination that is so easily accessible from the UK yet offers such a wide range of wildlife experiences,” adds Durham.
Twin The Gambia with Senegal
Recommend that wildlife lovers and adventure seekers twin a break to The Gambia with a few nights’ glamping at Fathala Wildlife Reserve (pictured) in Senegal, a short hop across the Gambian border on a ferry boat laden with livestock and locals. Guests stay in one of 20 luxury air-conditioned safari tents that feature four-poster beds, open-air showers and free-standing baths. There’s a plunge pool and open-air
restaurant sited next to a watering hole, where white rhino and warthogs come to feed at sunset. The 6,000-hectare reserve is
populated by zebras, antelopes, warthogs, monkeys and giraffes, which are best viewed on a two- hour safari. Other tours on offer include a sunset mangrove cruise. Three-night add-ons at Fathala
Wildlife Reserve start at £449 per person, including transfers, with The Gambia Experience.
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