Places in the Gambia
For such a small country, Gambia has a lot to offer, whether it be long stretches of sandy beaches, exciting birdwatching opportunities or an interior rich in tradition.
Places to visit in the Gambia
Among the most idiosyncratic legacies of the colonial carve-up of Africa, Gambia protrudes finger-like into francophone Senegal (with which it shares all its terrestrial borders) along the course of the Gambia River. Its serpentine borders follow the river inland for a full 300km (180 miles), yet it is nowhere more than 50km (30 miles) wide, making it the smallest country on the African mainland. Small it may be, but Gambia has plenty to offer tourists. The resort-studded Atlantic coastline has emerged as perhaps the most popular African beach destination with English-speaking visitors, thanks to its accessibility from Europe, a long record of political stability, a blissful dry-season climate that coincides with the northern winter, and a justified reputation for offering value for money. And while beach holidays dominate, Gambia is also renowned in ornithological circles as providing a superb (and unusually affordable) introduction to Africa’s rich birdlife, with around 600 species recorded in an area the size of Yorkshire, and plenty of knowledgeable local guides to help first-time visitors track them down. While sun-seekers flock to the coastal resorts, more adventurous travellers succumb to the more down-to-earth allure of the Gambian interior. Here, a quintessentially African landscape of dry savannah is bisected by the life-sustaining waters of the Gambia River, whose mangrove- and forest-lined banks are studded with traditional fishing villages. Although the tropical riverside ambience of upcountry Gambia arguably amounts to more than the sum of its individual attractions, there are highlights aplenty, ranging from the mysterious megaliths of Wassu and brooding colonial ruins of Janjanbureh to the chimps and hippos of the River Gambia National Park and stunning array of colourful birds to be encountered just about anywhere.
Our coverage starts with Banjul, the sleepy capital city, located at the southern mouth of the Gambia River, as well as a selection of north-bank historic sites whose association with the sombre days of the transatlantic slave trade led to their inscription on the Unesco World Heritage List as “Saint James Island and Related Sites” in 2003. Next, the Atlantic Coast focuses on the fabulous string of popular beach resorts running southward from Banjul and the densely populated area immediately inland of this. Finally, the Gambia River Route follows the winding course of the great river inland all the way to where it crosses from Senegal at the country’s easternmost extremity.
