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References from Satisfied Customers
I've been to Gambia with my family twice now, the climate is great especially in the winter when its cold in the UK, a reasonably short flight and you arrive in a climate thats not humid and hot (about 30 C), the summer out there is humid though.
The first time I went all of my trips were arranged through the company we booked with, they were great and we saw many interesting things but we still felt like a tourists and wanted to see more of the real Gambia.
On our second visit got chatting to Moses at his Juice bar on the beach, after a while he told us about the excursions and trips he organised, also he went on to explain that he'd studied for qualifications in Travel & Tourism and that ultimately that was what he wanted to do full time. After explaining what we'd seen and what we'd like to see he put a few days out together for us, when I asked him how much it would cost, he was that confident that we'd have a good time, he said "if you enjoy yourselves pay me whatever you want to, if not then don't" or something like that, obviously taxi costs and any entrance fees we paid for as we went along.
We had some great days out;
We fed the monkeys during our walk around the jungle in Monkey Park during the walk we saw some amazing jungle, wildlife and birds.
We went to the Crocodile Pool at Bakau where they you can stroke the fish eating crocodiles.
We walked around the Abuko Nature Reserve looking at the different birds and trees, also there's a small zoo there with Hyena and baboons.
Lamin Lodge was a real treat, right on the edge of the mangroves and really picturesque, when we arrived one of his many friends showed us how the Gambians use the oysters that their women collect in small canoes, the oysters are cooked and the shells are used for everything from making paint dye's for their walls to road surfaces. At the logde there's a very quaint restaurant, the monkeys come in when the diners leave and you can watch them drinking out of the bottles and eating any leftovers, highly comical.
Also there was the great tour of the shops and Market at Banjul. We saw lots of other things and went to other places but the one that stuck in our minds the most was visiting Moses's girlfriends home and meeting her family.
So if you want to see the real Gambia or just the best bits I'd have no hesitation in recommending Moses, its not just the places he takes you either, everywhere you go he tells you about the trees, the habitat, the history, the people, the culture and numerous other things.
If you don't want to venture too far he's happy just to take you into town and show you the best places to buy souveneers, beer, water, snacks or whatever there is to offer, failing that just visit him at his juice bar for a chat, he's an honest bloke and won't rip you off, one of the reasons that I built this site for him, Moses wrote all of it (apart from this reference) and I just put it together for him.
Steve Montague - Portchester - Oct 2006
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