A wildlife guide to The Gambia: Birds, hippos and chimpanzees

Cutting a narrow slice into Africa’s westernmost bulge, The Gambia stretches more than 300km east to west, but barely 50km from north to south. It owes this unusual geography to a bit of British-French colonial rivalry, but most of all to the waterway that gave the country its name. Rising in Guinea’s well-watered Fouta Djallon Mountains to the south-east, the Gambia river bisects the country lengthwise, winding a serpentine route back and forth across the land and spilling into innumerable mangrove-lined side-channels and creeks, known locally as bolongs.

While the oft-repeated story of a British gunboat heading up the Gambia river to fix the territorial borders at the length of a cannon shot is untrue, the country’s unusually narrow shape belies a diversity of landscapes. These range from windswept coastal dunes and wetlands to relict patches of gallery forest, mangrove swamp and a mosaic of woodland and savannah running the length of the nation.

Despite this diversity, The Gambia’s modern reputation often precedes it. Since the country became a package-tourism phenomenon in the 1970’s, it’s often been overlooked by more adventurous travellers, and dismissed as nothing more than a stop-and-flop destination for Europeans escaping the winter cold. But there’s a lot more here than sparkling sands. Though it’s the smallest nation on the African mainland – around half the size of Wales – The Gambia is a true heavyweight when it comes to avian diversity. Indeed, the local checklist runs to more than 600 species – about the same as Great Britain, which is nearly 19 times larger in size!

But it’s not only a birder’s paradise. The Gambia’s national parks protect a huge range of flora and fauna, from the wild and remote coastline at Niumi to the sweltering riparian forests and chimp-filled trees of River Gambia National Park. Even in unprotected areas, the wildlife can often astound visitors – just ask anyone who has witnessed bottlenose dolphins jumping and frolicking in the wake of the river cruises that set out from Banjul.

Inland from the tourist heartland, a landscape of farm and forest unfurls: donkey carts trundle along in the shade of baobabs, women thresh and winnow along the roadsides and fishermen in dugout canoes toss their hand nets into the river’s unhurried flow. So skip the nightlife of The Strip and aim for the wild interior, where a day out can reveal dolphins, chimps and eagles. It’s a refreshing reminder to not judge a destination too soon.

The tourism and urban development fever breaks as you head south of ‘The Strip’ and along the coast, from Tanji in the north to Kartong in the south. At the former, you can wander forest paths down to the beach and spot some of the 260 species of bird recorded there, or take an early-morning kayak trip into the mangrove creeks. At Kartong, you’ll discover a former sand-mining project that has been turned into a magnificent coastal wetland.

Best for: Coastal beaches and birding. You’ve got 35km of unspoilt and diverse coastal ecosystems, including forest, dune and wetland.

Stay at: Halfway between Kartong and Tanji is Footsteps Eco-Lodge, one of The Gambia’s most endearing stays, hidden several kilometres down a bush track amid forest, field and coastal dunes.

This eponymous national park protects a densely forested stretch of river where low cliffs line the banks and hippos laze in the shallows. But the park’s most famous residents didn’t arrive until 1979, when a project rescuing wild animals sold into the pet trade resettled a handful of orphaned chimpanzees on a cluster of river islands. Today, almost 150 chimps live across three islands, and the afternoon boat safaris to see them are a golden-hour delight.

Best for: Chimpanzees and other primates, including red colobus monkeys.

Stay at: The Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project Camp has tents in the park. Or head upriver to historical Janjanbureh, where Fair Play Gambia offers kayak and hiking excursions as well as boat trips to see the chimps.

This private reserve seeks to dissolve the barriers between cultural and natural tourism. The day begins with a walking safari through the 10 sq km of riparian forest and savannah, where troupes of guinea baboons and antelope crash through the brush. This is followed by a dugout canoe trip along the mangrove-lined Mandina Creek, where scores of egrets and other waterbirds roost.

Best for: Culture and wildlife. Veteran Gambian birding guide Malick Suso (named best ‘Wildlife & Safari’ guide at Wanderlust’s 2023 World Guide Awards) says that Makasutu is one of his favourite wildlife spots.

Stay at: Mandina Lodges is The Gambia’s most luxurious eco-retreat, with creatively designed rooms found in the forest alongside Mandina Creek.

Where else?

Bijilo Forest Park

Set right on the beach, next to the (in)famous ‘Senegambia Strip’, this surprisingly wild-feeling escape covers 36 hectares of coastal forest and scrubland. Universally known as the ‘monkey park’, it’s home to green monkeys, red colobus, and patas monkeys, which are quite unafraid of contact with the visitors to this popular reserve.

Abuko Nature Reserve

This patch of Upper Guinean Forest is now almost totally surrounded by urban development, but it still supports an impressive 270 avian species in just a single square kilometre.

Bintang Bolong

One of the largest and most attractive stretches of mangrove creek within easy reach of the coast, this is a birder’s haven and a great place to get out on the water or relax at the fabulous AbCa’s Creek Lodge.

Fathala Wildlife Reserve

Though just over the border in Senegal, Fathala Wildlife Reserve largely caters to tourists visiting from The Gambia. It’s home to giraffe, rhino and lion, but the critically endangered western giant eland, the world’s largest antelope, gets top billing – just 200 of these creatures remain in the wild.

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