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Latest guide recommendations (1 Viewer)

S

sbradfield

Well-known member
Hi all

We are hoping to do a week birding in Gambia this winter. Does anyone have any recent recommendations for guides (with transport) please?

Is there anyone we should avoid? (You can message me if you would rather not put that in an open forum).

A lot of the Gambian guides websites don't seem to have been updated for years!

Thanks
Simon
 
A difficult subject, there are a few good ones, a few half-decent ones many duffers and a few out-right crooks.

I can recommend guides who work with us at Kartong Bird Observatory:

Ranked alphabetically:

Musa Jatta https://turacobirding.org

Tijan Kanti: [email protected] (this is the correct email spelling)

Kebba Sosseh http://birdseekerstours.com

Whoever you get, stipulate that payment will only be made at the time of the visit and it will only be made if the guide you booked leads you. Often guides who are busy will double and triple book and pass the least lucrative groups onto their side-kicks/relatives/apprentices. Proceed with caution.
 
Bird Guide recommendation

I have used Modou Colley on numerous occasions over the last few years and Modou has always been reliable and honest as well as a great birder and excellent company, I can highly recommend him.

Follow this link to his website, http://bestgambianbirdguide.blogspot.com

Modou can also be found on facebook.....Professional Bird Guide in The Gambia, modoucolleybirdguide
 
#Billy No Mates

Do you mind me asking how your booking with Modou went? I emailed him to check his availability and his prices and he replied quickly. I then wrote an email to confirm and to ask how to contact him in Kololi when I got there and I've not heard from him in days? Is he generally laid back or should I worry?

I don't want to leave it till I get there to find he's not around and I can't contact him.

TIA
 
Sandhurst said:
#Billy No Mates

Do you mind me asking how your booking with Modou went? I emailed him to check his availability and his prices and he replied quickly. I then wrote an email to confirm and to ask how to contact him in Kololi when I got there and I've not heard from him in days? Is he generally laid back or should I worry?

I don't want to leave it till I get there to find he's not around and I can't contact him.

TIA
Click to expand...

Just got back from a week in Gambia guided by Ebrima Sidibeh. He was excellent in the field and the itinerary was reasonably hard-working to maximise species without stopping it being a pleasant experience (230-odd species in a week). Dunno if he'd be free during your dates, I think he's pretty much in demand.

John
 
Thanks for your feedback. I 'kind of' have a provisional booking with Modou, but he's incommunicado at the moment. I just wondered how firm your booking was with your guide and what communication/agreement did you have before you travelled? Maybe I'm worrying about nothing. I just want to make sure I don't get there and find I don't have a guide.
 
Booked Modou a few years ago and he sent a replacement to our hotel as he was busy with another group. Not impressed considering we supposedly had a firm booking. Turned out ok because the replacement was good and we used him for the rest of the trip and again when we returned to The Gambia.
Basically, if you do get let down, go to Kotu creek and you’ll soon be fixed up. Employ someone for a local half day and stick with them if you’re happy.
 
I used Modou most recently in March 2019 and again in November 2019 and had no complaints, he really is a first class guide and is very reliable. Several well known tour companies use him.
 
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I hired Musa Manneh this past December 2019. https://sites.google.com/site/musamannehbirdwatchingtours/about-me
My wife and I traveled with him upriver for 6 days and also birded what they call the "Coastal Area" for 5 days (It is not only the coast; that area can be 20 km from the ocean!). We found Musa to be an excellent, knowledgeable guide with a terrific personality. He provided a professional driver with a clean, comfortable vehicle. We also found his rates to be quite reasonable.
 
Billy No Mates said:
I used Modou most recently in March 2019 and again in November 2019 and had no complaints, he really is a first class guide and is very reliable. Several well known tour companies use him.
Click to expand...
That is half of the problem. If you make a booking for you and your wife, and then for the same timeslot he gets a request to guide a group, you will be dropped and an apprentice will turn up without any prior notification. I guess he passes on the lead for a small commission. Happened to me many years ago and depsite fury at the time, his apprentice turned out to be good and we used him again for our next visit. If he doesn't get a better offer then I'm sure he's a great guide....
 
I visited The Gambia in February (coastal area) and again March 2022 Inland and into Senegal, Modou Colley guided me on both visits. He is a great guide, i was very happy with his guiding services and throughly recommend him. I am currently planning my next trip and will be sure to use Modou Colley again. Follow this link for more info Modou Colley
 
Just back from the Gambia over Christmas and we used Foday Bojang of Fatou Tours. We had 10 days with him and a driver covering the coastal region and upriver. The customer service was superb and they were very flexible in customizing the trip so we could have a couple of days off for Christmas.
Heartily Recommend and very cost effective.
Fatou Tours
 
Swenglishnick said:
Just back from the Gambia over Christmas and we used Foday Bojang of Fatou Tours. We had 10 days with him and a driver covering the coastal region and upriver. The customer service was superb and they were very flexible in customizing the trip so we could have a couple of days off for Christmas.
Heartily Recommend and very cost effective.
Fatou Tours
Click to expand...
Out of interest where did you stay upriver ? I struggled to find anywhere that wasn't extremely basic.
 
Another shout out for Yankuba Tamba. We've just returned from our third visit to the Gambia where we've been guided by him. If you want a guide with a flashy car and constant banter then he's not the guide for you. If you want a guide with fantastic ears and eyes for instant identification, and good connections in the guiding community for news of rare sightings (eg a new, that morning, roost site for Greyish Eagle owl in Farasutu, after an established 6 week roost site was abandoned the day before due to fire-wood collection), then he's tough to beat. He's name-checked on page 1 of the Gosney "Finding Birds in The Gambia" booklet but no longer uses the email address listed there. His email is now [email protected] and phone number +220 995 4017.
He also offers his own photo hide set up by a pool as shown on the linked page on this website HBN Fotohut Gambia - Han Bouwmeester . Unfortunately it's in Dutch and the EN translation button doesn't seem to work on that page, but you can see the hide, plus Yankuba half way down the page.
 
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Tony Knight said:
Another shout out for Yankuba Tamba. We've just returned from our third visit to the Gambia where we've been guided by him. If you want a guide with a flashy car and constant banter then he's not the guide for you. If you want a guide with fantastic ears and eyes for instant identification, and good connections in the guiding community for news of rare sightings (eg a new, that morning, roost site for Greyish Eagle owl in Farasutu, after an established 6 week roost site was abandoned the day before due to fire-wood collection), then he's tough to beat. He's name-checked on page 1 of the Gosney "Finding Birds in The Gambia" booklet but no longer uses the email address listed there. His email is now [email protected] and phone number +220 995 4017.
He also offers his own photo hide set up by a pool as shown on the linked page on this website HBN Fotohut Gambia - Han Bouwmeester . Unfortunately it's in Dutch and the EN translation button doesn't seem to work on that page, but you can see the hide, plus Yankuba half way down the page.
Click to expand...
Farnboro John said:
Just got back from a week in Gambia guided by Ebrima Sidibeh. He was excellent in the field and the itinerary was reasonably hard-working to maximise species without stopping it being a pleasant experience (230-odd species in a week). Dunno if he'd be free during your dates, I think he's pretty much in demand.

John
Click to expand...

I've used Ebrima Sidibeh on three occasions now, I employ him for the full week, just returned from my latest week. He's very well respected by the other guides , a long term and key part of the association , and is nicknamed Hawkeye for good reason. Not just excellent visually but expert on calls as well which is key in the field. Well mannered and great fun I can recommend Ebrima, he's repeatedly led some of the leading Uk birders as well.

We recently got permission to go to the Bijol Islands off Tanji, I was hoping for some more pelagic stuff, we got several close British Storm petrels, and a possible Madeiran, and managed to read the colour rings on some gulls and terns, Little tern from Wales, two Auduoins gulls from Spain which were respectively 22 and 23 years old, and a Sandwich tern from Holland. We're going to arrange one or two more offshore trips next time, I believe a bigger boat is available so if you are in a group it's perhaps worth considering, very little has been done on the seabird passage so I guess at that latitude anything could turn up, be aware that accessing the boat is likely to be on the sand so you'll need to be a bit nimble and may get your feet wet! ( Ebrima can sort a trip for you ( local tel no 338 4839 or you'll find him on twitter ).

Birding is alive and well in Gambia after Covid, no restrictions, so if you want an intro to African birds and culture, and take some fantastic photos get booking!
 
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