jacques flanders
New member
With family visiting from Belgium we decided to not only show them the tourist area of Senegambia but also the nature, then animals and the birds of South Gambia in a couple of days. So we did make a trip with guide Foday Bojang from Fatou Tours Gambia who, after breakfast, did pick us up at our hotel for a short drive to the wel known Monkey Park. After a short walk we did get the company of a lot of monkeys who clearly expected that we had some food for them. Great start of the day, also because we did see a lot of young monkeys , playing with each other or in company of their mother. Also we did see some hornbills and bee-eaters, and then we did make a new short drive to the Abuko Livestock farm. A short but very interesting visit to see how this animal market works. Next stop was the Abuko Nature Reserve, the oldest nature reserve of Gambia. Great little walk, with again some monkeys but also a lot of birds like the very colorful bee-eaters. Great pictures !!!!Still before noon we did drive to the beautiful wooden Lamin Lodge, discovering already a little bit the inland of The Gambia. Very interesting tour with a guide about oysters, nice views of the mangroves, birds and fishes. Time to go for a lunch, so we did drive to Paradise Beach, one of the nicest beaches of the country. Lunch and some relaxing, then it was time to go to the last hotspot of this day : the Tanji fish market, one of the biggest fish markets of Gambia. So a very busy market and a very impressive visit. We saw the arrival of the boats, the selling, how they prepare for the transport to mainly Senegal, the smoking of the fish. Also the walk on the beach between the fishermen and close to the boats was absolutely a great experience. Finally we did do some birding at the beach, seeing a lot of stern diving for fishes, and also some herons and egrets and pelicans. Sort drive back to the hotel after a great day, so we decided to do some days later a new tour with fatou tours gambia that did organize this day perfectly.
