Chris Packham on The Gambia

Posted on June 2, 2009 by Matt Smith

Chris Packham in The Gambia

Hi all – we’d like to welcome all the new readers to the site and to introduce a very special guest poster: Chris Packham. Chris, who I’m sure you’ll know by now, is the current face of the BBC’s fabulous nature series Springwatch, and has a longstanding relationship with The Gambia going back many years. He has run several birdwatching and nature workshops in the country on behalf of The Gambia Experience and frequently visits the country for holidays. We’d like to thank him for this post and for some fantastic images – and here’s to many more trips to The Gambia! Also, while you’re here please do take a chance to look around the blog and see check out our manifesto – come and get involved!

Over to you, Chris:

It will sound silly given I normally only visit for only two weeks a year but the Gambia has come to feel like a second home. To be fair I don’t actually get home that much, maybe for a total of two or three months out of every twelve, so perhaps its just the annual continuity that underpins this feeling. What seals it are the fabulous cocktail of things the country has to offer. Some are obvious: sunshine, great hotels, good food; and for me – top quality birding and wildlife and for most others marvellous beaches . But this is what you see in the brochure, what you don’t realise until you get there is the wonderful hospitality and friendly nature of the people . We have many friends there now, from all walks of life, and we really look forward to seeing them and catching up on all the news and gossip. They on the other hand are always so pleased to see us, its like we have never been away.

That’s not to say that the place doesn’t change; I made my first trip in 1988 or ‘89 and since then there have been lots of changes, more hotels, roads, a lot more people! But what hasn’t altered is the flavour, the mood, the aura – that’s still the same and it’s great.

A Squacco Heron (image by Chris Packham)

I suppose the main reason that it has become a regular place for us to visit is the accessibility of the wildlife – particularly the birds – and that it’s possible to combine this with a typical family holiday, poolside fun, a bit of culture and music etc. You can still walk out of the back of the Bakotu Hotel, our long term favourite, and enter straight into a bird fest. That’s after you have ticked off a big list of friendly exotics in the beautiful gardens. The famous Kotu stream, the golf course, rice fields and, dare I say it the sewerage works are teeming with a great range of species to excite the British Birder. Further a field there are some really good nature reserves which always yield some totally top birding and photographic opportunities; and for the last couple of years we’ve taken a catamaran trip out into the mouth of the Gambia River where we’ve been double delighted to have plenty of dolphins frolicking around the boat and been treated to the best food afloat – the lady is French and everything is fresh!

Dolphins in The Gambia (image by Chris Packham)

It’s also worth mentioning the local bird guides – always on hand to help out. Some are superb, many competent, but some absolute jokers! It’s best to do some research before you go and to get recommendations; always agree an agenda and a price and book them in advance. I’ve always had the pleasure of working with Malick Suso and his local knowledge of sites and his sight and sound recognition skills are absolutely invaluable. It doesn’t matter how experienced you are, a good local guide will always pay dividends.

This spring we also visited Mandina Lodges for the first time and what can I say . . . the accommodation, the service, and the food is totally amazing – not to mention the beautiful creek side location. It’s all Eco friendly and the owners are really switched on, incredibly helpful; the kind of folks who put the H in hospitality. If you want a break from the hustle and bustle of the coast this is the place to chill and unwind. You’ll never want to leave!

A Senegal Parrot (image by Chris Packham)

Lastly, photography. The simple truth of it is that I’ve got some of my best pictures here in the last few years. The birds are normally approachable, as are the local people, and the light can be lovely too if you get up early – which you should! There’s plenty of colour and lots of details to catch your eye so go well armed with all your usual gear.

Just a few hours from the UK, The Gambia is a brilliant place to get to grips with Africa on a budget and with almost all the comforts of home. I often get asked ‘which is the favourite place you’ve visited?’ and the The Gambia is always on the list.

See more about Chris Packham’s bird tours in The Gambia.

Wildlife in The Gambia

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Matt Smith

Palpopleura portia. Photo by {link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/billsboy/3265697307/}Bathshawk{/link}

Palpopleura portia. Photo by {link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/billsboy/3265697307/}Bathawks{/link}

Despite there being plenty written about The Gambia’s rich birdlife (avifauna, if you will) there is surprisingly little in print about the country’s generally rich and diverse wildlife – all the myriad species that support such biodiversity – the things that generally go unseen or are upstaged by the glamour and dazzle of the bird population. Sure, you wont find big game in The Gambia but there’s so much other stuff to see. And best of all? It’s so damn accessible.

The basic science of it is this: The Gambia lies at the heart of a patchwork of different zones and habitats – from, ahem the forest-savanna of the moister Guinean zone to the drier majesty of the Sudanian woodlands. Add to this the fecundity of the river estuary and of course the drama of the celebrated coastline and you have a platform for one of the most biodiverse regions anywhere in the world. I’ve said it before, but the place positively hums with life (but don’t worry, not in your hotel room!).

All of which is to say we’ve been alerted by Dr. David Penney of a newly published book – The Field Guide to the Wildlife of The Gambia, which is really the first of its kind. So if you’re at all interested in such matters then the book is readily available to order from the Siri Scientific Press. The book looks well worth a read.

Birds at Mandina

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Matt Smith

There is a quiet magic at Mandina, a magic born of the simple pleasure of being amongst abundant nature. It positively teems with life – the very land buzzing with a kind of thrumming undercurrent of existence. It gets into your pores. Any stay there is about seeking new ways of absorbing all that life around you: laying still in a hammock letting the humid air, thick with scents and calls, lay heavily on your body; walking through the ringing forest, feeling the liquid heat rising out of the ground, seeing flashes of colour, the glare of baboons. But it’s out on the water that the information comes through clearest – umoored for a moment, free from the pull of the land…

The River Gambia - Image by {link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/ankehuber/}Anke Huber{/link}

The tide was very low by now and the mangrove roots with their shellfish passengers were almost totally exposed. You could see through the knotty mass to the great mudflats beyond, and hear the odd sucking and slapping of the shifting surface as the land exhaled in great warm sighs. Due to the low tide we had go out in a shallow bottomed boat which we picked up from the deck of the last floating lodge. The sun was already making its steady downturn and our pilot urged us on, saying that the birds were already beginning their journey home. As we made our way along the ever-widening tributary we could make out the high piping call of kingfishers and turn to see the afterglow of blue as one shot into the undergrowth, and we also spotted a sedate sea-eagle perched nonchalantly in the top branches of a mangrove cluster, eyeing up the river for food, or simply resting for the night. After a time we came to a part of the river were two tributaries met and we sat in a great sweep of river with the engine silenced.

A trio of bee eaters in The Gambia

Great massed ranks of white egrets and herons flew across the horizon in front of the glowing disc of the sun, wave after wave, sometimes as many as thirty birds in a flock, the silence broken only by the almost imperceptible beat of wings and the occasional muted croak. This procession continued for what seemed like ages, and the total count must have been well into the thousands – where they went is still a relative secret, but it is rumoured that there is an island somewhere out in the mangroves that sags under the weight of close to five thousand birds. In time this will surely be sought out and become a spectacular attraction but for now the very thought of it in all its spattered feathered glory is a joy to behold. Mangroves have shallow root systems and join together to share nutrients, small islands have been known to become dislodged and float out into the ocean, washing up on foreign shores many thousands of miles away. If one day the birds clasped their talons in unison and took to the skies might they not create a vast forested, flying island? Now there would be a spectacle…

Sunset, The River Gambia

After a time we were jolted from our reveries by our pilot who was exclaiming loudly ‘Goliath Heron! Goliath Heron!’ This massive stilted bird is one of The Gambia’s largest and a rare find. Unlike the other herons we had seen in their regiments and squadrons, this bird was solitary and elusive, preferring to stay deep in the mangroves. The heron, a beautiful mix of velvety purples and greys, was balanced in the top of a mangrove cluster blending almost perfectly into the greying sun-devoid sky; as we approached we again killed the engine and trained the camera on it. As if reading some avian script it rose gracefully from the tree and slowly flapping its massive wings flew low across the water to the opposite bank, where it once more sat atop a bound reef of mangroves. The pilot was laughing to himself, and he told us it was good luck to see a Goliath Heron. He asked did we want to continue on to see more of the river but the sky was darkening and to be frank we were full up, engorged by all this effortless beauty. Instead we turned for home, leaving Goliath in peace.

Sunset, The River Gambia Photo by {link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/helen61/}helen.2006{/link}

Later, as we turned to leave the encampment, the moon was full again but lower now and we could pick it out through the dense branches of the mango trees. Maybe it was just the fatigue but somehow, just beneath the surface of things, it was possible to sense the minute tremors as the insistent tug of gravity returned the massive body of water to the parched mangrove beds.

If you’re interested in bird watching in The Gambia you can find out more on our birding pages on the Gambia website. Alternatively, you can download this PDF which features a checklist of all bird species in The Gambia – 569 of them!