My husband and I had the pleasure of touring the Gambia and parts of Senegal with Ousman Joku this past December. We have taken numerous birding tours these past 30 years, both with companies, and individually as we did with Ousman. He is a very accomplished birder as well as tour guide. We had two target birds, the first of which he found for us the second day, the Egyptian plover. We worked a little harder for our second bird, the Abyssian ground hornbill, but did find it after 5 hours of searching. We saw many additional birds, well over 250 different species. I had asked for some cultural experiences as well. Never did I imagine we would be so completely emerged into the Gambian way of life. He invited us to his village to see his 3 day old son. This was also Ousman’s first visit with his new son. While there, we participated in a wedding reception, ate a typical meal in one of their houses, and watched Ousman’s soccer team win the area village’s tournament, and picked the best oranges I have ever eaten off his brother’s tree. The people were welcoming, friendly, and would give you want they had. I highly recommend him if you are looking for an accomplished birder who can find the birds you want to see. Ousman has the personality to make your trip enjoyable at so many levels. Our driver, Demba, was excellent as well. He managed to get us through a 4 hour stop and go traffic jam on the last day of our tour on our way to the airport, calmly and professionally.
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