The Gambia on the west coast of Africa is a popular winter destination for many European birders looking to escape the northern winter and to see sub-Saharan species that cannot be observed at home. More birds are around during the wet summer months, but the excellent weather and availability of cheap holiday packages in the winter make this the season of choice for many birders.
We visited for one week in February 2013, flying direct from London Gatwick Airport with Monarch Airlines and staying at the Kairaba Beach Hotel. Both the Kairaba and the Senegambia Hotel next door have extensive grounds that allow you to see many of the common birds by simply walking out of your room. We therefore spent quite a bit of time during our trip in the gardens of the two hotels.
We spent the first couple of days birding locally in the hotel grounds and in the Bijilo Forest, which was just a few hundred metres down the beach. Some of the birds that we saw close to the hotel were Common Bulbul, Western Plantain-eater, Yellow-crowned Gonolek, Northern Red-billed Hornbill, Abyssinian Roller, Broad-billed Roller, Senegal Coucal, African Palm-swift, Laughing Dove, Blue-breasted Kingfisher and Red-eyed Dove.
The third day of our trip was spent up the Gambia River around Tendaba camp and led by our guide Ibrima Barry. Once we’d reached the camp and had breakfast we set off on a river cruise, which gave a great opportunity to photograph the many birds perched along the river bank. There were plenty of Malachite Kingfishers, along with Darters, Hornbills, Hamerkop, Pelicans, Herons, Ruddy Turnstones, Senegal Thick-knee and Rose-ringed Parakeet.
On the fourth day we explored the Kotu area, which was fairly close to our hotel. Here there is the Kotu stream, along with the Fajara Golf Course and the not too smelly sewerage ponds. It yielded a good number of birds, including Long-tailed Glossy-starling, White-faced Whistling Ducks, Great White Egret, White-billed Buffalo-weaver, Laughing Dove and the frequently seen Little Bee-eater.
A few kilometres down the coast from our hotel was the Tanji Bird Reserve (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanji_Bird_Reserve), which provided another excellent birding location fairly close to the town. There weren’t any facilities, but it was an undisturbed area that yielded a number of very good birds. We visited with our guide ‘Aladin’, who gave birding tours of our hotel grounds several times a week. One of the first birds we saw after leaving our vehicle was the colourful Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, which posed on a branch very close to us. Tanji was a good place for sunbirds and we saw the Variable and Beautiful Sunbirds.
A little further down the coast was the lively fishing village of Tanji where the landing and selling of fish was fully underway. Not surprisingly, many seabirds were drawn to the beach and a short walk along the water’s edge let us photograph a good range of gulls and terns.
We next visited the inland village of Brufut for a completely different habitat and range of birds. A highlight was seeing Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, which has striking pink eyebrows, roosting close to the village. Ground-feeding birds that we saw included the colourful Red-cheeked Cordon-Blue and the Pin-tailed Whydah. The young local guide we had in the village also knew where a Long-tailed Nightjar roosted during the day. Without his help we would certainly have missed this well-camouflaged bird.
A final birding session back at the hotel gave up a couple of interesting birds in the Bearded Barbet and Northern Black Flycatcher as well as the usual common species seen around the gardens.
