Hello,
I'm looking for recommendations for a hotel in the Gambia that has decent hotel grounds for my non-birding other half to poke around in, she likes photographing plants/insects lizards etc....
Cheers,
Mark
We stayed at the Sheraton in Brufut Heights.
It was excellent for birds,lizards and other wildlife.
There were 50 birds species from the grounds alone!
On either side there is rough scrubland accessed from the hotel full of birds.
The hotel itself is excellent.A huge lawned area with well spaced out sunbeds bordering a lovely quiet beach.
The rooms,food and service were all top notch.
The hotel is in walking distance of two wonderful reserves:The Brufut Woods and
Tanji.
The entrance to Tanji Forest is 5 minutes from the hotel.The Tanji Lagoons are a 25 minute walk along the beach from the hotel.
There were lots of great birds to see in both reserves.
I have pasted the section of my report covering the Sheraton,Brufut Woods and Tanji to give you some idea about what you can see.
The Sheraton
The grounds were full of birds.
The most unusual was the Pygmy Kingfisher and Squacco Heron on the pool near the fitness club.
This area was excellent as I also found a Green Sandpiper there as well as 4 Double Spurred Francolins and a Zitting Cisticola.
The were some Black Headed Plovers and Wattled Plovers in the dry scrubby area just north of the pool as well as a Black Crowned Tchagra and Chiffchaff in the wooded area near the telecommunication mast.
Around the rest of the grounds and in the southern scrubby area I found:
Little Bee-Eater, African Palm Swift, Senegal Coucal,Laughing Dove,Speckled Pigeon,Red Eyed Dove,Hooded Vulture,Palm-Nut Vulture,Black Kite,Black Shouldered Kite,Cattle Egret,Black Headed Heron, Pied Crow,Piapiac,Red Billed Hornbill ,Red Chested Swallow,Common Bulbul,Brown Babbler,Chiffchaff,Copper Sunbird,Variable Sunbird,Beautiful Sunbird,Splendid Sunbird,Yellow Crowned Gonolek,Yellow Billed Shrike,Yellow Billed Oxpecker,Greater Blue Eared Starling,Long Tailed Starling,House Sparrow,Yellow Fronted Canary,Grey Headed Sparrow,Black winged Red Bishop,Village Weaver,Little Weaver,African Silverbill,Red Cheeked Cordon Bleu,Red Billed Firefinch,Bronze Mannikan,Pin Tailed Whydah, and a Blue Bellied Roller.
Either looking out to sea or walking south along the beach I saw Grey Headed Gulls,3 Gannet, 1 Osprey, 2 Peregine Falcon,2 Slender Billed Gull,1 Long Tailed Cormorant,1 Sanderling,1 Bar Tail Godwit,Western Reef Heron,Whimbrel,Grey Plover,several Ringed Plover,Turnstone, and numerous Caspian Terns and Royal Terns.
Tanji Nature Reserve
Wonderful!
The lagoons were full of birds including:
Pied Kingfisher,Little Egret,Western Reef Heron,Grey Heron,Black Headed Heron,Cattle Egret,Spur Winged Plover,Greenshank,Redshank,Sanderling,Common Sandpiper,White Fronted Plover,Ringed Plover,Whimbrel,Caspian Tern,Royal Tern, Long Tailed Cormorant,Lesser Black Backed Gull, and Grey Headed Gull.
The wooded area to the east of the main road was easily accessed from the police checkpoint area just after Ghana Town.I walked from the hotel.
I took an easterly path till I reached a walled area then followed the main sandy track south to a small mosque.
The woods were heaving with birds.All the common ones were seen as well as: African Grey Hornbill,Red Billed Hornbill,Western Grey Plantain Eater, White Shouldered Black Tit,Red Bellied African Paradise Flycatcher,Brubru,Rose Ringed Parakeet,African Thrush,Brown Babbler,Yellow Fronted Tinker Bird,Red Billed Firefinch,Red Cheeked Cordon Bleu,Bronze Mannikan,Yellow Crowned Gonolek, and Black Crowned Tchagra.
Brufut Forest
I wouldn’t attempt to find this place alone!
It was well hidden behind Brufut Village.I walked through the village and eventually found a helpful chap called Moses who led me to the promissed land aka Brufut Forest.
Again a fantastic habitat.All the common species were seen as well as a Lavender Waxbill,Villiage Indigo bird,Western Grey Plant Eater,Green Backed Eromola,Grey Backed Camaroptera,Yellow Crowned Gonolek,Palm Nut Vulture, and my 600th life species – a Blue Spotted Wood Dove.