Gambia Birdwatching Extended Tour - 14 Days

We begin with an airport transfer to your hotel, Lemon Creek Hotel, located on the coast of Bijilo just 10 kilometers away and about a 25-minute drive from the airport. Along the way, you will be introduced to local and common species, and more importantly, the area surrounding your hotel will provide you with more wonderful species such as Blue Breasted, Kingfisher, Piapiac, Starlings, Lizard Buzzards, Hornbills, and many more; the list can go up to 30 to 40.

We'll start early in the morning at 7 am with breakfast. Following, we'll drive 10 kilometres from your accommodation to Brufut Woods for a half-day tour.

It will take us less than 25 minutes to get to Wood Land, a community forest, where we will walk through the most interesting areas within the forest and its surroundings, birding around the woods, and later converge at a woodland bar area for cold drinks and coffees while watching some of the most exotic species, such as Green and Violet Turacos, Grey Headed Bristlebills, Pygmy Kingfishers, Yellow Throated Leafloves, and Yellow Throated Leaflove Long-tailed Nightjars, Klaas' Cuckoo, Diederick Cuckoo, Shikra, Red-necked Falcon, Black-shouldered Kites, White-faced Scoops Owl, and more species are expected in the area. At 12:30 pm, we'll continue on to Tanji Eco Lodge, only a 15 minute drive away, for a lunch break by the drinking pool, great for photographing birds such as Sulphur Breasted Bushrike, African Silverbills, Western Blue Bills, Yellow Crowned Gonolek, and others. We will then continue to the lagoons by the sea via the exterior of the forest, seeking for Four Banded Sandgrouse, Swallow Tailed Bee Eater, Osprey, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Pied Hornbill, and various waders, mostly migratory, until late evening, when we will return to the hotel for dinner.

After breakfast, we depart at 7 am with a 25-minute drive to Abuko Nature Reserve, which consists of gallery forest with canopies and semi-wooded scrubby areas with some undergrowth forages, as well as streams crossing some points, ideal for species such as Black Crake, Western Blue Bill, Common Wattled Eye, African Goshawk, Violet, Green Turacos, Palmnutt Vulture, and Giant Kingfisher.  Later, we will leave the reserve and travel to Tambi Wetland, which is located directly across from the Nature Reserve, to spend a couple of hours among the rice fields and women's vegetable gardens, where we will see spectacular species such as Dwarf and Little Bitterns, Black Crake, African Crake, Lizard Buzzard, Pearl Spotted Owlet, Squacco Heron, and others.

We'll return to the seaside at 1 pm for a lunch break at Kotu, one of the greatest restaurants along the beach; following lunch, we'll spend the remainder of the day in the Kotu area, visiting the famous Kotu Bridge, the Nature Trail, the Kotu Ponds, the Golf Course, and the rice fields. A boat trip through the creek is ideal for viewing Kingfishers such as Giant, Blue Breasted, Malachite, and Pied Kingfishers, Sacred Ibis, African Spoonbill, Yellow Billed and Black Kites, Yellow Billed Stork, Greater Paint Snipe, Black Egret, Little Bee Eater, Blue Bellied Roller, and Broad billed Roller, as well as many other species. We'll return to your hotel for dinner later that evening.

We'll leave the hotel at 7 a.m. for a long day of hiking up river to Morgan Kunda Lodge, where we'll spend the night for our Northern tours. The journey will take us the majority of the day until the afternoon; we will drive 170 kilometres in about 7 hours, stopping frequently along the route as we pass via the South Bank and cross to the Northern Bank. First, a couple of hours at Mandinaba Woods, followed by stops at Kampanti rice fields, Bullock Woods, Kanlagi wetlands and woods, Kwinala Bateling Tracks, Nema Woods along the Soma section, and Yelli Tenda Farafenyi Woods and wetlands, among others. Between Farafenyi and Illiassa, more stops will be made to see more Northern species such as Northern Ant Eater Chat, Seville's, White Bellied and Black Bellied Bustards, Speckle Fronted Weaver, Chesnutt Crowned Sparrow Weaver, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Rufus Scrub Robin, Sahel and exclamatory Paradise Whydah, Green and Red Winged Pyt. 

We'll proceed to the Lodge to check in when we get there. More resident species such as White Rumped See Eaters, Black Rumped Waxbills, Lavender Waxbills, Scarlet Chested, Beautiful, Splendid, and Pygmy Sun Birds, as well as others, will be found out and about within the grounds and, of course, only in the immediate surrounds. The habitats and areas we'll visit along the way include rice fields, Savannah woodland, Gallery forest with autumn trees, creeks, and wetlands, which provide a diverse range of species to spot throughout the day.

For our second day, we'll stay at Morgan Kunda Lodge on the North Bank. After breakfast at 7.30 am, we'll head to Jimmansar Katchan Woods, which is entirely a vast wood land area consisting of savanna woodland, farm lands bordered with rice fields and Wetlands, as well as some hilly rocky areas with some big trees.

The distance is 15 kilometre which 15 minutes' drive along the Baobolong Wetland reserve, which is home to Bateleur, Bedouin's Snake Eagle, Brown-Rumped Bunting, Senegal Batis, and many others.

We'll return to the Lodge for lunch before heading to the opposite side of the border into Senegal, where we'll spend the remainder of the day looking for similar species in the Jajari and Tallia woods. We'll spend the second night at the Lodge.

After breakfast, we'll head to the Senegalese border at 7:00 am to finalise a quick visa process, then drive for 140 kilometres into Senegal, taking about 3 hours, and birding along the way to Kaolac and Kousemar before 10:30 am. 

We should be there to cross a small stream into the island where thousands of Swallow Tailed Kites roost. We'll spend some time there before moving on to the neighbouring areas in search of Sudan Golden Sparrows, Chesnutt Bellied Starlings, Bronze Winged Courser Lesser Kestrels, and other species. At some point during the day, we'll have a traditional picnic lunch under a large tree.

We'll travel back to the Gambia border, go through the same passport stamping process, and then return to Morgan Kunda Lodge for our third and final night here. Along the length from the border to Kousemar, the ecosystems include a semi-desert area with large grasslands, a wetland with dry savannah woodlands, and a wetland with dry savannah woodlands.

Still in the northern part of The Gambia, we depart from the Lodge at 7:30 am after breakfast for another spectacular birding trip along the way stretching about 170 kilometres and taking 6 to 7 hours with frequent birding stops allowing us to visit a variety of important birding sites such as Kaur Wetland, a few more waterholes, Wassu Sand Pitch, and Kuntaur rice fields, amongst others.

We will see more mountainous sites with rocky sections along the road, savannah forest, and more wetland with fresh water ponds and rice fields along The Gambia river, which is noted for its comparable ecosystem descriptions. We'll stop for lunch on the way before taking the ferry to Georgetown Island and staying at Sitabakoto Lodge just outside of town for the night.

We'll start early after breakfast and head back to the Gambia border via Basse to Wassadu Camp in Senegal's south eastern region, a distance of up to 350 kilometres. We'll be driving for almost 7 to 8 hours, birding along the way. After a brief visa processing period, we will pass into Southern Senegal via the Wellingera border crossing point. This will take us the entire day to bird within these constraints, with stops along the way for our picnic lunch, till we arrive at Wassadu later that evening for a couple of nights stay. Because of its advantageous location along the riverbank, the Camp must be reserved in advance due to great demand.

We'll be driving along the main road, stopping at various locations such as grasslands, savanna woods, scrublands, farmlands, and gallery forests, with some tall trees, hilly landscapes, and rocky areas, with species such as the Little Green Bee Eater, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Bateleur White Headed Vultures, Little Button Quells, White Throated Francolin, White Shouldered Black Tits, Great Sparrow Hawk, Ovambo Sparrow Hawk and more.

Still in Wassadu on our second day, after breakfast, a boat trip on the River Gambia will be conducted in the morning for a maximum of three hours, followed by a lunch break before embarking on a safari tour of the Niokolokoba Park for the remainder of the day.

This park is the region's largest and wildest park, consisting of a mix of forest from rain forest to thick and savanna wood lands Gallery forest with very tall trees over the river bank house the most exotic species of birds and wild animals, like Leopards, Lions, Warthogs Antelopes and many more, some rarities like White throated Francolins, Fairy Blue Flycatcher, Saddled Billed Stork, White Headed Plovers, Egyptian Plovers, Hadada Ibis, Colony of Red Throated Bee Eaters, African Finfoots, African Fish Eagles Pell’s Fishing Owl, White Backed Night Herons and Shinning Blue Kingfishers and many more. After that, we'll return to the Camp for our second night's stay.

After an early breakfast, we will drive back through the same path to the border at Wellingera passport stamp, then back to The Gambia, where we will spend the night at Maggie's Lodge in Bansang. We'll be birding all the way from Wassadu to Gambia, stopping at significant birding locations along the way for a picnic lunch under a huge tree. Ahanta Francolin, Garber Goshawk, African Goshawk, Chesnutt Backed Sparrow Lark, African Hobby, Splendid Glossy Starling, and more species are expected along this route. On our way back to The Gambia, we'll pass through the same landscapes we passed through before.

The adventure will begin in the south of The Gambia, where we will check out at the Bansang Quarry and quickly see the nesting holes of the Red Throated Bee Eater's breeding colony before continuing on to the shore. The distance is 315 kilometres, which will take us another 7 hours to travel. This stretch of landscape features wide woodlands with large trees on both sides of the road, farmlands with water holes and valleys, hills and wetlands, and rice fields along the way, allowing us to observe a variety of species in their natural habitats.

On the trip to the hotel on the shore, we will stop at Jahally Rice Fields in Sapu, Sambang Wetland, Dalaba Waterhole, Tonyataba Woods, Wurrokang/Bateling Tracks, and many other destinations. Lunch will be taken under the huge tree at a convenient time during the day. Black Crown Crane, Spur Wing Goose, Martial Eagle, White Headed Vulture, European Griffon Vulture, African Hawk Eagle, Yellow Crown Bishops, African Pygmy Goose, Red and Green Winged Pytilias, African Cuckoo, Brubru Shrike, Bearded Barbet, and others are among the species expected to arrive.

We'll return to the hotel late in the evening for an overnight stay at Marakissa River Camp, where we'll eat dinner.

Early breakfast at the Lodge, then off to the surrounding woods of the area at 7 am for a half-day trip to Darslame and Seffoe Wetland, which is only a 10-minute drive away, then back to the Camp for lunch break while we take advantage of water jars organised by the Lodge within the premises, where different species of birds visit, including Violet Turacos, Yellow Throated Leafloves, Lesser, Spotted and Later in the day, we'll return to the Penyem woods, about 10 kilometres from the Camp, for the remainder of the day.

These ecosystems include semi-savanna woodlands with some large trees, as well as Gallery forest with farmlands, rice fields, and gardens. White Breasted Cuckoo Shrike, Red Shouldered Cuckoo Shrike, African Scoops Owl, African Gold Oriole, Shinning Blue Kingfisher, Grey Headed Kingfisher, Lizard Buzzard, White Crested Helmet Shrike, White Throated Bee Eater, and other species are among those predicted to be seen. We'll return to the camp for a another night's stay.

After breakfast, we'll drive to Farasutu Forest for a day trip and lunch at Sitajoyeh Lodge on the island. We'll visit the community Forest, which is about a 30-kilometer drive away, and consists of wood land with Gallery forest and farm lands, as well as riverine stretches along the forest edges, making it a popular stop for migratory birds.

Expected species to be seen inlude  African Wood Owl, Greyish Eagle Owl, Grey Headed Bristle Bill, Vieillot's Barbet, Yellow Bellied Hyliota, Black Wood Hoopoe, Stripe Kingfisher, Bruce's Green Pigeon, Yellow Penduline Tit, Cardinal Wood Pecker, Brown Backed Wood Pecker, Fine-spotted Wood Pecker, Buff- Spotted Wood Pecker, Cardinal Wood Pecker, Cardinal Wood Pecker, Brown Backed Wood Pecker, and Cardinal Wood. 

We'll finish the day by sitting in a hide at one of the area's local photo hides, where we'll get up close and personal with species such as the Green-headed Sunbird, Purple Glossy Starling, Splendid Glossy Starling, Klaas' Cuckoo, Black-faced Fire Finch, Brown Naked Parrot, and many others. For the final night, we'll return to the camp.

After the usual morning breakfast, if time permits, we will spend a few hours at the camp's outskate before departing, or else we will drive straight to the airport, which is only a 20-minute drive away, for your return home with indelible memories of the wonderful birding and a large number of good bird records of The Gambia, which will entice you to return for more and more!