Tour 8 Day Round Trip Gambia Explorer

Accommodation

First Night: Djembe Beach Resort Second Night: Djembe Beach Resort Third Night: Kartong Camp Fourth Night: Sindola Fifth Night: Tendaba Camp Sixth Night: Georgetown Seventh Night: Kairo Garden Eighth Night: Your departure or you book a hotel.

Meals

Breakfast, Lunch and dinner will be available throughout the tour. This tour offers Vegetarian and Meat.

Transport

Adventure trucks, coaches/buses, boat, ferry

Guide

Drivers & Local Guides are Available

Not included:

Insurance

Travel Insurance is not included

Flights

Flights are not included

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Day 1 Day 1
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 1

Arrival and transfer to Djembe Beach Resort. Dinner and overnight.
Day 2 Day 2
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 2

An introductory half day tour around the Gambian capital city and the surrounding areas, to familiarize everyone with the main places to visit and which may be returned to later in the day if more time is needed for exploration.

We start the visit to Serrekunda, the biggest and the most densely populated town in the Gambia, taking us to a display of “TYE en DYE” factory after which we head towards Bakau, to the sacred Kachically crocodile pool, where you may be fortunate enough to see “Charlie” as featured in a British TV documentary.

Then to Banjul where we start the visit to the National Museum, showing the Gambia’s history. We then take a drive through Banjul stopping to visit the local daily market with much hustle and bustle, where anything from live chicken, fish, vegetables, herbs, clothes, shoes, wood carvings etc are sold.

Dinner and overnight at Djemba Beach Resort.
Day 3 Day 3
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 3

Depart after breakfasts to Kartong snake farm and from there proceed to our overnight nature camp for lunch. After lunch, we drive to the fishing village of Tanji, a very colorful and one of the longest fish landing sites in The Gambia, situated on the fringes of the Atlantic coast. You will see the fishermen bringing in the catch of the day. It’s very interesting to see the ladies unloading fish from the fishing boats, and how fish is dried on the tables or smoked in the smoke room. Once fish is dried or smoked, it can stay longer and can be transported to the interior of the country of even exported to land locked countries like Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Some of the fresh fish is transported straight to the markets where it’s sold for local consumption. Fishing is one of the economic earners in the country. After this visit we drive back to the camp for dinner and overnight. This area of The Gambia is the Kombo West District.
Day 4 Day 4
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 4

After breakfast, we drive on to Brikama, the administrative Head Quarter of the Western Division. In Brikama, we first stop at the Brikama craft market where you barter for wood carvings. Then we take a walk inside the Brikama daily market where you see the daily activities, how it’s carried out and because of the tropical climate, it’s very difficult to preserve a lot of things like fresh fish and vegetables. Due to this, the majority of the Gambians have to go to the market daily. Then we continue out drive on the South Bank of the River Gambia into the area called Foni. First we visit Bwaim and its hospital, then to Kalagie village for lunch and check in, we relax for few hours and take a boat trip in the mangroves to the traditional forest which has been preserve for many years, you will be welcome by a donkey cart will return you back to the camp through the village. Dinner and overnight.

Before the arrival of Islam, all the natives of the area were Animist, which is the oldest religion. Jola’s are permanent settlers, they mostly settle around paddy or swampy area’s where they can cultivate rice which is the stable food. Villagers along the river provide good fishermen and women, who use the dugout canoes, to collect oysters from the roots of the mangrove or cockles form the mud banks or the river. Both oysters and cockles is work done by women and collection is done when the river is on low tide. In the evening we have dinner and village entertainment and overnight in Sindola.
Day 5 Day 5
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 5

From Foni-Kalagie we depart after breakfast to Kiang Tendaba Camp. Kiang has the biggest National Park in the Gambia with animals like hyenas, baboons, mongoose, monkeys and different species of birds. The main settlers of Kiang are the Mandinka tribe, which is the biggest ethnic group in The Gambia. The Mandinkas are believed to be originated from Mali; the land lock country, east of Senegal. The region of Mali in the early days had very strong empires. Examples are the Mali Empire, The Ghana Empire, and The Shonhai Empire. Mandinkas were trying to expand their empires, and spread the Muslim religion. Concerning small ethnic groups, they would settle down, rule and teach Islam which formed 90% of the Gambian population.

Arriving at Tendaba Camp, we join our jeeps to venture the Kiang West National park, passing through small villages, and hopefully see some of the above mentioned animals and birds. After lunch we will join a pirogue for a trip into the mangroves.

Dinner and over night in Tendaba Camp.
Day 6 Day 6
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 6

After breakfast we continue our journey to Soma, where you will experience the local market. After this visit we will drive passing villages to Sapu, where you find the biggest rice fields in The Gambia.

From Sapu you will join a boat for a 3 to 4 hour boat trip to Georgetown. With the possibilities to see hippo’s crocodiles, baboons, monkeys, lots of different birds, monitor lizards and turtles. (Lunch on board). Dinner and overnight at a camp in Georgetown.
Day 7 Day 7
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 7

After breakfast, you will go for a tour through Georgetown. Then we will drive to Wassu to visit the famous stone circles of which we believe it was a burial place for our Kings and Chiefs in the early century.

From Wassu we will drive to a small Fula village, where a Fula tribes lives. You will have your own mud house stay. We will see how the local cous cous will prepared by the women. after this we will go to see the cattles. Fulanis main income is from their cattles. we will witness how to get the milk and we will help them to untie them and thrive them to the wet land area.

After this we will go to local market to buy all ingredients to cook lunch. We can either helpcooking, join farming or we can relax under the mango tree.

Later in the afternoon we will watch the cattles coming back from grazing and we will see the calves welcoming their mothers coming back to them for feeding. We can help to tie them or milk them. Dinner and overnight at the village in your mud hut (be aware this is 100% local living: toilet is a hole in the ground, shower is a bucket filled with water from the well, bed matress is made from dried grass put into empty rice bags).

If you think this is too basic we can also divert for dinner and overnight at a tourist camp not far, named Kairo Garden. This is basic with shared bathrooms/toilets.
Day 8 Day 8
12:00 am - 11:59 pm

Day 8

After an early breakfast, local bread Tapalapa, with butter and tea/coffee we will start our drive back toward our starting point in the kombo’s. We will drive via farafenni where we stretch our legs by walking through the local market. At kerewan we will stop at the bridge to spot beautiful birds. In the early afternoon we will reach Barra from where we join the freey to Banjul. Youn might have the opportunity to see Dolphins. Before we say goodbye we will have lunch together and from here on we proceed to either the airport for your flight back home or if you have extended your holiday, we book you a hotel.

8 days tour

8 Day Round Trip Gambia Explorer

This tour includes:

Not included:

Start planning your experience

Itinerary of your trip 8 Day Round Trip Gambia Explorer

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

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