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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

First time visitors to Gambia (1 Viewer)

Jynx

Jynx

Mike King aka The Gloster Birder, Keeping Gloster
We are going to Gambia in February, having never visited before, or Africa for that matter. We are staying at the Laico Atlantic Hotel in Banjul.

Just a couple of questions to start with:

1. Can anyone recommend a bird guide based near here?

2. Medical - we have sorted out malaria tablets, and are already covered for Hep A, Tetanus & Polio - websites offer differing opinions on necessary vaccinations. I just wondered what other birders had done prior to their visit?

3. I've got to start somewhere with the field guide so does anyone have a link/list of the common species I need to familiarise myself with first please.

As always thanks in advance.
 
Hi,

We're going in January. First time in Gambia, though been to Africa lots. We're staying in a specialist birding lodge, so can't recommend a guide based on experience. However, we were at the Bird Fair this year and picked up a business card from a Gambian guide who was there. His name is Sering D Bojang with an email address [email protected] and a web site of www.discover-wild-gambia.com, which lists Sering and two or three other guides. Could be worth a look.

Standard field guide seems to be "Birds of the Gambia and Senegal" - a Helm guide. I have just checked on Amazon and there is a new edition coming out at the beginning of January "Birds of Senegal and the Gambia" with different authors.

Important We were advised that Travelers from the UK must have an in-date Yellow Fever certificate, which we now have.

Cheers,

Dave
 
Hi Mike

I went in November 2011 (11 till 25) with Birdfinders. We stayed at the Kombo Beach Hotel.
I got the vaccinations as you listed as well as Yellow Fever.

The link below is from one of the tour group and has a short trip report and photos:
http://birdsnap.blogspot.com/2011/12/gambia-birds-e.html.

One of our guides was Abdoulie Ndure ([email protected] www.birdguidegambia.com)

Brufut woods is a good place to start. I got about 30 lifers there:
- Hooded Vulture
- Red-eyed Dove
- Vinaceous Dove
- Laughing/Palm Dove
- Black-billed Wood Dove
- Blue-spotted Wood Dove
- Senegal Parrot
- Western Plantain-eater
- Senegal Coucal
- Klaas's Cuckoo
- Northern White-faced Owl
- Blue-bellied Roller
- Broad-billed Roller
- African Pied Hornbill
- African Grey Hornbill
- Northern Red-billed Hornbill
- Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird
- Vieillot's Barbet
- Fine-spotted Woodpecker
- Yellow-crowned Gonolek
- Yellow-billed Shrike
- Fanti Saw-wing
- Brown Babbler
- Greater Blue-eared Starling
- Long-tailed Glossy Starling
- African Thrush
- Beautiful Sunbird
- Village Weaver
- Northern Red Bishop
- Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu
- Lavender Waxbill
- Village Indigobird


Enjoy the trip
 
Last edited:
Almost any of the Bird guides with transport will come to your hotel but I don't know of any based at your hotel.

Yellow fever is a small but significant risk -monkeys are the reservoir & Aedes mosquitoes the vector. A few years ago a Belgian tourist died of Yellow Fever contracted in The Gambia. As a birder you will be at sites where both monkeys and mosquitoes are quite common (eg Abuko); why take the risk?

It would be a shame to visit The Gambia and not go out on a few trips -eg Brufut, Abuko, Faraba/Pirang, Marakissa ->with a decent guide you should see at least 180 species and possibly another 30-40 more.

It is best to contact a guide in advance & agree on a price for some day trips.
eg: http://www.gambianbirds.com/

I'm sure you will have a great and very productive time!!!
 
Hi Mike myself and four friends have been twice this year and have used a local guide called JJ- Junkung Jadama both times (he has his own website) and recommend him highly,as regards medication and field guides the other posters are spot on.My friend Phil Hill has posted a trip report of our first trip on birdforum page eight (vacational trip reports) should give you an insight on what to expect sites/species etc, we enjoyed it so much we went back at the end of November but this time upriver,your in for a treat let me know how you get on,cheers Rob.
 
Steve G said:
It is best to contact a guide in advance & agree on a price for some day trips.
eg: http://www.gambianbirds.com/
Click to expand...
It's a pity that this guide - who I'm sure is excellent, after all, one would be hiring him for his birding skills, not for IT - has been misled into creating a site that only works in Internet Explorer. There's actually lots of interesting information and pictures there which are inaccessible to users of standard browsers. Hope this is helpful to others following your link.
 
JJ has arranged for Dembo Sonko to guide us for two days, which is fine as the extended family is with us, £35 each per day, so £140 in total. We've certainly paid more than that in other countries and feel that this is helping the community in a small way.
Anyone been guided by Dembo before? I'm sure he will be great. Can't wait now!
Africa!
 
I was due to fly to The Gambia tomorrow but unfortunately I've had to postpone my trip at the last minute because of family illness. I had organised trips with both JJ and Modou, and both were happy to try and find me some of the more elusive mammals. Hopefully I will be able to use them both in a month or so as they seemed very helpful.

Mike - I'd be interested in any reptiles or mammals that you see. Hope you have a good trip.
 
skink1978 said:
I was due to fly to The Gambia tomorrow but unfortunately I've had to postpone my trip at the last minute because of family illness. I had organised trips with both JJ and Modou, and both were happy to try and find me some of the more elusive mammals. Hopefully I will be able to use them both in a month or so as they seemed very helpful.

Mike - I'd be interested in any reptiles or mammals that you see. Hope you have a good trip.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike, I'll let you know. Sorry to hear of your problems.
 
Hi Mike

hope this isn't too late, aside from all the brilliant birds:

Mammals

Red Colobus
Patas Monkey
Vervet Monkey
Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bat (I think this sp) - Roost at Laico Atlantic Hotel
Maxwell's Duiker ad & juv
Gambian Sun Squirrel
Striped Ground Squirrel
Guinea Baboon

Reptiles & Amphibians

Common African Toad
Agama Lizard
Brown-flanked Skink
 
There are quite a few good bird guides in the Gambia and they tend to hang out at the Kotu Stream - if you're around anywhere else with binoculars you may well be offered a bird guide, but check out their ID skills first, the Kotu Stream guys will often take you for a short free local tour as a taster.

The risk of Yellow Fever is EXTREMELY small, we wouldn't bother with the injection and it's certainly not compulsory in Gambia, on the other hand the risk of malaria is much higher and many tourists do return with the disease so take an effective anti-malarial such as Malarone.

We just got a list of 172 species on a 2-week holiday and this only included four days out with guides, at least 100 of those we would have got by ourselves but in many areas you need a guide to avoid being hassled by other would-be guides.
 
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