The Gambia - coast of smiles!
The flights were with Titan Airways which I have to say must be the best charter flights I have ever flown in my 30 years in travel, and they are considerably better than many scheduled airlines in economy.
Outbound we flew Star Class which on the A320 with its configuration of 3-3, has the middle seat in each 3 set up as a fixed table. The legroom must be almost as good as premium economy / world traveller plus. Even on our return flight in standard class, the seat pitch was about 34” which is exceptionally good. Leather seats throughout and really good food make this a fantastic product. They don’t offer seat back TV’s but you can download a free app before you travel which then gives you access to the on board entertainment on your own i-pad or similar.
Our first three nights were spent at 9 room boutique hotel Mandina Lodge in the Makasutu Forest. We had booked a jungle lodge which has a main bedroom, separate WC, outside shower and a spiral staircase up to a roof terrace. The meal plan here is half board and the food is very good. The chef comes to see you every day and you choose your evening meal depending on what he was able to buy in the market that day. Winding pathways work their way through the property to each lodge – and they are extremely private. Some are on the river front, some are floating and some like ours are in the jungle. The communal area has an open air lounge, bar area, and restaurant as well as plenty of sunbathing terrace and a free form pool – all in a river front forest setting.
You can do excursions here in to the forest – we did a canoe river trip taking in some bird watching, a cultural centre and local craft market and some time on the high viewing tower to take in the scenery. We also did a short walk of about 20m into the forest behind our lodge when it became over run with about 200 baboons – that was good fun as they were literally all around and above us feeding from a fruit tree. We have some amazing video of this.
Our time came to leave, and we headed off for a 4 night stay at the 3* Kombo Beach hotel. I chose this because it is on the most spectacular beach, instead of perhaps the better 4* Senegambia or 5* Karaiba hotel which are both beach front, but suffering from beach erosion. The Kombo Beach is an okay hotel – the bathrooms are new, the bedroom was very simple but very clean. The gardens are reasonably well maintained and the pool area is also clean and functional. However, like with Mandina, the staff were fantastic – cheerful and smiling at all times. I think the only downside here was the limited menu in all the restaurants, but we had to remind ourselves several times, that this is West Africa, and what we did eat was well prepared and tasty.
All the hotels in this area have resident bird experts and we booked a 2 hour walking tour around the wetlands behind the hotel with Yaya Barry. There are some 650 different species to see. He is an avid birder and he showed us some amazing and colourful birds including Lily’s favourite: the blue bellied roller. We clambered across rough ground, through swampy areas and even across the golf course – seeing many different birds at every turn. Just before we got back, I saw some rustling in a bush just 5ft from where we were standing, and lo and behold there appeared two velvet green monkeys – observing us as they ate from the bush. Wow!!
During this 4 night beach stay, I also did a few site inspections with the help of the local Gambian Experience office – and I have visited the Senegambia, Kairaba and Ngala hotels – all of which I have booked clients into before, so that has also been very useful too on this trip.
So what are our thoughts? Lily’s comment was: “I can see why this is the smiling coast” as everyone smiles all of the time. She is right! We had an amazing time – we saw some amazing sights – and we met some amazing people. With a flight time of less than 6 hours each way, and stunning weather, we will be back!!