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Colin Cross
Morgan Kunda Lodge, Jarjari, North Bank. The Gambia
I was invited to visit Morgan Kunda Lodge at Jarjari in the North Bank area of The Gambia by the owner and manager to assess the birding potential of local sites. As the Lodge is a charity based organisation I was very happy to do this. I stayed 27th October till 2 November 2018.
There are few places for birders to stay along the North Bank and this Lodge has great potential especially in the New Year when the road bridge across The River Gambia opens at Farafenni-Soma. The great drawback of a visit to this area has always been the excessive travelling time because of delays at the ferries at either the Banjul-Barra or Soma-Farafenni crossing. I have waited six hours at Farafenni in the past and I know others who have waited longer. With the bridge it should be possible to reach Jarjari in 5 hours from Senegambia.
The lodge itself is clean tidy and new, with mains electricity due to be installed soon. A generator presently provides power. The food was good and the staff very flexible about when I could eat. I was the only guest as the lodge had not properly opened for the season so I was well cared for by the ever helpful staff.
The whole compound is geared up for birders with a small drinking pool and hide installed and future plans to develop a large ‘watering hole’ adjacent with a properly designed low level photo hide. There are plans also to plant extensively with native species throughout the compound. There is a very smart raised birding platform with shade where you can spend the hot hours of the afternoon birding across the savannah landscape. There are boat trips available to visit Boa Bolong Reserve from the North bank and I hope to do this on my next visit. There is a really smart conference centre also available.
It was really exciting to explore a new birding area on my own. My aim was to find some signature species for the area to help attract birders to visit and stay for sometime rather than just using the lodge as transit accommodation.
I was able to find Chestnut-crowned Sparrow Weaver at two sites close by the lodge. The many Flappet Larks displaying with their wing-flapping display was amazing. There were numerous Saville’s Bustards but they were impossible to see with the grasses being 2 metres tall. I failed to find Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse but hope to return in February when the grasses are gone to do this. There are good wader sites within walking distance on the Boa Bolong tributary to the west of the camp. There were many migrant waders including Black-wing Stilt, Ringed Plover Green Sandpiper and Ruff. There were regular assemblies of over 50 Senegal Wattled Lapwing together. Raptors included many Grasshopper Buzzards and Dark Chanting Goshawks, both scarce at Kartong now, Batleur White-back Vulture and Lanner falcon. Bruce’s Green Pigeons were ubiquitous in the areas of woodland. Western Palearctic passerine migrants included singing Nightingales, Western Subalpine Warbler Willow Warbler and Whitethroat. A Greyish Eagle Owl visited the Bantaba most evenings!
The birding potential for this area is excellent having been so poorly recorded in the past.
The aim of Morgan Kunda Foundation is to develop the lodge to provide income to support the school they have built and this is highly laudable. The demographics of this area have been influenced by the inevitable movement of young people to coastal Gambia to find employment and sadly many who have left to go to Europe via the ‘back way’. The people of Jarjari and the adjacent villages were warm and welcoming always eager to know why a toubab was walking miles in the bush loaded down with camera and bins! Working with the MK Foundation we hope that we can help support bird-guide training for young people from these villages in the future.
This is a developing project and as such there are areas which will improve not least the website, which presently shows non-african species, don’t be put off though as it will soon change. There are plans to do similar to KBOs work at Kartong and develop the profile of the area to attract more birders. All in all I can thoroughly recommend a visit and a stay at Morgan Kunda Lodge, you will not be disappointed.
Full disclosure: my transport accommodation and food was provided free by the MK Foundation, but I paid for my own beers!
www.morgankunda.com
I was invited to visit Morgan Kunda Lodge at Jarjari in the North Bank area of The Gambia by the owner and manager to assess the birding potential of local sites. As the Lodge is a charity based organisation I was very happy to do this. I stayed 27th October till 2 November 2018.
There are few places for birders to stay along the North Bank and this Lodge has great potential especially in the New Year when the road bridge across The River Gambia opens at Farafenni-Soma. The great drawback of a visit to this area has always been the excessive travelling time because of delays at the ferries at either the Banjul-Barra or Soma-Farafenni crossing. I have waited six hours at Farafenni in the past and I know others who have waited longer. With the bridge it should be possible to reach Jarjari in 5 hours from Senegambia.
The lodge itself is clean tidy and new, with mains electricity due to be installed soon. A generator presently provides power. The food was good and the staff very flexible about when I could eat. I was the only guest as the lodge had not properly opened for the season so I was well cared for by the ever helpful staff.
The whole compound is geared up for birders with a small drinking pool and hide installed and future plans to develop a large ‘watering hole’ adjacent with a properly designed low level photo hide. There are plans also to plant extensively with native species throughout the compound. There is a very smart raised birding platform with shade where you can spend the hot hours of the afternoon birding across the savannah landscape. There are boat trips available to visit Boa Bolong Reserve from the North bank and I hope to do this on my next visit. There is a really smart conference centre also available.
It was really exciting to explore a new birding area on my own. My aim was to find some signature species for the area to help attract birders to visit and stay for sometime rather than just using the lodge as transit accommodation.
I was able to find Chestnut-crowned Sparrow Weaver at two sites close by the lodge. The many Flappet Larks displaying with their wing-flapping display was amazing. There were numerous Saville’s Bustards but they were impossible to see with the grasses being 2 metres tall. I failed to find Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse but hope to return in February when the grasses are gone to do this. There are good wader sites within walking distance on the Boa Bolong tributary to the west of the camp. There were many migrant waders including Black-wing Stilt, Ringed Plover Green Sandpiper and Ruff. There were regular assemblies of over 50 Senegal Wattled Lapwing together. Raptors included many Grasshopper Buzzards and Dark Chanting Goshawks, both scarce at Kartong now, Batleur White-back Vulture and Lanner falcon. Bruce’s Green Pigeons were ubiquitous in the areas of woodland. Western Palearctic passerine migrants included singing Nightingales, Western Subalpine Warbler Willow Warbler and Whitethroat. A Greyish Eagle Owl visited the Bantaba most evenings!
The birding potential for this area is excellent having been so poorly recorded in the past.
The aim of Morgan Kunda Foundation is to develop the lodge to provide income to support the school they have built and this is highly laudable. The demographics of this area have been influenced by the inevitable movement of young people to coastal Gambia to find employment and sadly many who have left to go to Europe via the ‘back way’. The people of Jarjari and the adjacent villages were warm and welcoming always eager to know why a toubab was walking miles in the bush loaded down with camera and bins! Working with the MK Foundation we hope that we can help support bird-guide training for young people from these villages in the future.
This is a developing project and as such there are areas which will improve not least the website, which presently shows non-african species, don’t be put off though as it will soon change. There are plans to do similar to KBOs work at Kartong and develop the profile of the area to attract more birders. All in all I can thoroughly recommend a visit and a stay at Morgan Kunda Lodge, you will not be disappointed.
Full disclosure: my transport accommodation and food was provided free by the MK Foundation, but I paid for my own beers!
www.morgankunda.com
