Abuko Nature Reserve and other The Gambia Off The Beaten Path Tips

The reserve lies on the main Banjul - Basse highway, just before the village of Lamin and about 7 kms from Serekunda. The entrance to the reserve, which is clearly signposted, is just after the abuko weightbridge.
This is a Nature reserve established in 1967. The area enclosed, altough relativly small, includes a fine example of mature gallery or riverine forest through which runs the Lamin Stream. Such primary forest is now very rare in The Gambia due to clearnace for agriculture, and Abuko provides the most easily accesible example in the country, not far from the hotel area (a 20 minutes drive by taxi). It has remained undisturbed as a water catchment area for many years, and ground water is still extracted by the pumping station near the main road. Surrounding the central forest is more open svannah woodland, and the trail through the reserve passes through both types of habitat.
In the reserve several benches are places on the trail, and a small Animal Orphange is here with some Spotted Hyena's (the lion has escaped in november and was shot)!

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This location is situated south and west of the Yundum Agricultural College which is on the main Najul - Basse Road, 1 km beyond the turn off to the airport.
This is an intresthing site where behind and south of the Yundum Agricultural College. A huge variation of tracks is running thru a variation of habitats. It concist of low scrub with scattered Acacia's. In december a large part of the vegetation is in flower and this location looks by then superb.

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The village of Tendaba lies just about on the border between the Lower and Middle River regions. The village is about 135 kms from Serekunda. Tendaba is about 6 kms at the end of a laterite road from the junction with the main highway at Kwinella.
From here some good patches of Savannah Woodland can be visited south of Tendaba.
Also from the bush camp several creeks on the opposite bank of the river can be visited. Good chances for birdwatching and seeing crocodiles. We even found fresh tracks of Spotted Hyena.

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It is often said that The river Gambia is the Gambia and the Gambia is the river Gambia. No wonder the country is named after this majestic river. The river Gambia is the major attraction and the dominant feature of the country. The funny thing about the river is that upstream untill Tendaba (bit further) the river has high and low tide and the water is partial salt. Very unusual for and European Tourist to see a tide river, with no obstakels in it!
This great river rises in the Futa Jallon highlands in the Republic of Guinea to it's mouth in the Atlantic Ocean. And crosses several countrie's!

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Isoptera termites ocuur widely around The Gambia, and build large termite mounts. You find the scattered around the landscape, sometimes build around a tree but mostly alone.
They can be up to 2 metres as we recorded them!
It is a real welcome snack for many birdspecies, and they clean up the scrub!

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Yundum is close by the hotel area and just a small ride with a taxicab to there. You can expierence here as at Abuko the real Gambian Landscape. Many scattered trees with some small scrub under it! Good to visit in the early morning!

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I basiccaly have no clue what kind of flower this is, as with most flowers the case is. A good reference should be Jones, M. 1994. Flowering plants of the Gambia. photographic guide to wild flowers, info on geography, geology, climatem botanical exploration, vegetation types. 160 color photos of species and 173 species not depicted in the text, descriptions.
But I don't have it!
We encountered while driving many flowers in the landscape, from pretty fresh to stonedead looking!

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One of the most fascinating things about The Gambia was that the landscape all around is looking green. Many trees around and hardly large open spaces with slashed down trees.
Between Boabtrees loads of other vegetation, but on average the trees are not very high!

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Standing tall on the sunburnt Gambian plains, baobab trees tower over the landscape like great living monuments. The colossal form of these trees is matched by their usefulness, for they provide shade, shelter, water and food for a wide variety of creatures.

Baobabs may be the oldest life forms on the African continent, and many of the specimens still standing today have certainly been around since the birth of Christ; others for far longer. Carbon-dating experiments in the Zambezi Valley have calculated that trees with a trunk diameter of five metres were over 1000 years of age, and similar experiments elsewhere have dated trees at over 3000 years. Girth measurements themselves are not reliable estimates of a particular tree's age, as the conditions under which it has grown - and the climatic fluctuations of the centuries - strongly affect this.

In Gambia you can find them across the whole country. And also many in village's for shelter they let them stay there.

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A new project has been set up at at Bansang Quarry where the local community have agreed to help protect the Red-throated Bee-eater colony. Half the area has been fenced off to protect the birds, with access to the rest of the quarry continuing for building materials. The area is staffed by a members of a local youth group; the entry fees go directly to the local community. The Gambia Birding Group UK has funded the cost of the fencing and a shelter, Birdfinders having funded the signs.
This is the only Red-throated Bea-eater colony in The Gambia and is between Tendaba and Basse!

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