Birding tours in The Gambia and Senegal
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I offer tailor made bird, photography and wildlife tours throughout The Gambia and Senegal, visiting numerous high quality birding sites to suit your needs, the species you'd like to see, and the habitats you'd like to experience.
Tours can be split into three main catagories; single day tours at Kotu, day trips out to birding sites in easy reach of Kotu, and longer travelling tours to pick up many of the specialities of the region.
Although tours can be completely tailor-made, a number of popular itineraries of differing lengths are displayed below on maps to help you to visualise the routes.
Note: There is an option available to be led by a Female Bird Guide on all tours across The Gambia and Senegal.
Single day birding at Kotu
Kotu creek is situated within walking distance of the hotels on Kotu strip. The creek, marshland and ponds act like magnets to birds, especially in the dry season (winter months), when many birds move towards the coast. Birding here makes for an excellent first introduction to West African birding. For those who would like to experience the African way of life and wonderful local food, I also offer village walks, cultural trips and cooking lessons at home. The perfect way to end a hot day's birding!
Day trips from Kotu
There are several high quality birding destinations within easy reach of the hotels at Kotu, from which you can be picked up early in the morning for daily trips. These include Tanji and Kartong which are great for coastal birds, Lamin rice field, Abuko, Brufut, Bonto and Farasuto which have an interesting assortment of woodland birds, and Sotokoi and Kampanti, which host birds more accustomed to open country.
Travelling tour
To experience some of the main Senegal/Gambia specialities, a travelling tour is required to reach some of the more remote inland locations. Depending on your length of visit and target species, these tours can last from between three days to three weeks. See the various itineraries below to give you an idea of what to expect and what locations are on offer. The examples here can be adjusted to suit your needs, so please get in contact to plan a custom trip together.
Popular itineraries
Coastal tour of Gambia
3 nights / 4 days birding
We will visit a variety of birding sites within close reach of Kotu, taking in all the coastal species. This tour can either be undertaken via day trips from your hotel in Kotu, or staying over at our destinations.
Day 1: An introduction to the bird life around the famous Kotu creek (1).
Day 2: Travel to Bonto and Farasuto to enjoy some woodland birding (2).
Day 3: Travel to Marakissa river camp to bird in the surrounding habitats and relax at the camp's wetland (3).
Day 4: Birding at Kartong, Gambia's only bird observatory, before slowly making our way back to Kotu, stopping off at the coastal sites of Brufut and Tanji (4).
West Gambia tour
4 nights / 5 days birding
As well as visiting the popular coastal birding destinations, this tour adds in two nights inland exploring the mangrove swamps of Tendaba and the open bush at Morgan Kunda.
Day 1: Spend the early morning birding at Kotu creek before hopping along the coast to Kartong Bird Observatory via Tanji and Brufut (1).
Day 2: Travel to Bonto and Farasuto to enjoy some woodland birding (2).
Day 3: Travel to Tendaba, stopping off enroute at some profitable road-site birding sites, for a boat trip through the mangrove swamps (3).
Day 4: Enjoy the morning walking the open bush habitats at Morgan Kunda to search for inland specialities (4).
Day 5: More birding at some sites surrounding Morgan Kunda before heading back to Kotu via some other road-side birding sites (4).
Complete tour of Gambia
6 nights / 7 days birding
Add in a trip to Georgetown and its surrounding birding sites in the east of Gambia to complete the full Gambian birding experience.
Day 1: Spend the early morning birding at Kotu creek before hopping along the coast to Kartong Bird Observatory via Tanji and Brufut (1).
Day 2: Enjoy the whole day birding at Kartong Bird Observatory and surrounding sites (2).
Day 3: Having overnighted at Marakissa river camp, we'll make our way to Bonto and Farasuto for various specialities before making our way to Tendaba for an evening boat trip (3-4).
Day 4: Relax as we spend a morning exploring the swamps at and surrounding Tendaba before travelling to Georgetown (4).
Day 5: Go in search for the African finfoot in the creeks around Georgetown (5).
Day 6: Travel to Morgan Kunda, stopping off at some open grasslands to search for bustards (6).
Day 7: Spend the morning birding in the bush and grassland habitats surrounding Morgan Kunda before travelling back to Kotu (6).
Gambia and central Senegal tour
9 nights / 10 days birding
An exciting tour that ties in a complete tour of The Gambia with five days birding in eastern and central Senegal to pick up a number of species that can't be seen in The Gambia.
Day 1: Spend the early morning birding at Kotu creek before visiting Lamin rice fields and other birding sites near Banjul. We'd then travel to Marakissa river camp for the evening (1).
Day 2: Early morning visit to Kartong Bird Observatory before returning to Marakissa for lunch and some local birding. In the afternoon, we will travel to the woodlands of Bonto and Farasuto (2).
Day 3: More birding at Bonto and Farasuto before travelling to Tendaba, stopping off at some roadside birding sites (3).
Day 4: Relax as we spend a morning exploring the swamps at and surrounding Tendaba before travelling to Georgetown (4).
Day 5: Go in search for the African finfoot in the creeks around Georgetown before travelling to Wassadu (5).
Day 6: Spend the day birding around Wassadu (6).
Day 7: Early morning trip into Niokolo-koba National Park to spend the day birding before returning to Wassadu for an evening boat trip (7).
Day 8: Travelling to Koalack, stopping off at several birding sites throughout the journey (7-8).
Day 9: Spending the day at Koalack birding at various sites before viewing the sectacular roost of scissor-tailed kite (8).
Day 10: Travelling back to Kotu, stopping again to visit some other sites around Tendaba (4).
Full Gambia and Sengal tour
13 nights / 14 days birding
Get the full Gambia and Senegal birding experience, with a chance to see all of the target species of this West African hotspot.
Day 1: From Kotu Creek, we will head to Lamin rice fields and Abuko for the first day's bring, before travelling to Kartong Bird Observatory (1).
Day 2: Enjoy the whole day birding at Kartong Bird Observatory and surrounding sites (2).
Day 3: Spend the morning searching for the specialities of Bonto and Farasuto before heading into Sengal and the riverside location of Toubakuta (3-4).
Day 4: Spend the morning birding at Toubakuta before heading to Kaolack and the evening spectacle of the scissor-tailed kite roost (4-5).
Day 5: After a bit of local birding around Kaolack, we will make the journey up to St Louis, stopping off at some well planned rest sites for some gental birding (5-6).
Day 6: Spend the morning birding around the coastal wetland site of St Louis before travelling up to Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (6-7).
Day 7: Take in the incredible bird diversity of Djoudj before a late afternoon trip inland to Richard Toll (7-8).
Day 8: A full days birding in the magical lands around Richard Toll, overnighting here for a second night (8).
Day 9: We will start the long journey back down to Kaolack , stopping off enroute for some regular breaks at some good roadside birding locations (8-5).
Day 10: We'll continue our journey eastwards to Wassadu, again stopping for regular birding breaks. Evening boat trip if time allows (9).
Day 11: Early morning trip into Niokolo-koba National Park to spend the day birding before returning to Wassadu for an evening boat trip (9-10).
Day 12: Birding locally in the habitat around Wassadu before travelling to Georgetown (9-11).
Day 13: Explore the channels and creeks near Georgetown for some specialities (11).
Day 14: Undertake some more boat trips at Tendaba searching the mangrove swamp for some additional targets before returning to Kotu to finish the tour (12).
Specialities
Pel's Fishing Owl
Visit my newly discovered reliable site for this iconic species in Gambia. We will hire local fishermen to take us to the secluded mangrove channels where this species lives. No one else knows of this site, ensuring no disturbance from other birding groups.
Timing: All year; best January to March
Scissor-tailed Kite
View the spectacle of 1000s of scissor-tailed kite flying in to roost at a site in Kaolack.
Timing: September to March
Egytian Plover
I know several reliable spots where egytian plover can be found. As this species undertakes seasonal movements, I keep up to date with it's location with my extensive birding contacts to ensure the best chance of seeing this beautiful species.
Timing: September to January
Savile's Bustard
I have my own reliable site for this species in Gambia where there is a good breeding population of this species. Away from this area, Savile's bustard is very hard to find.
Timing: All year
Golden Nightjar
This incredible species can be seen roosting during the day at some local sites near Kaolack in Senegal. It's golden plumage is an adaptation to help it blend in with the desert sand!
Timing: December to April
African Finfoot
This species is best looked for at Georgetown where I spent a lot of time in my younger years. I know the channels like the back of my hand, and so I can almost guarantee seeing this elusive species.
Timing: November to July
White-spotted flufftail
Flufftails are often heard and rarely seen. I know a number of spots favoured by males of this species and can ensure close views with excellent photographic opportunities.
Timing: November to January
White-backed Night-heron
I have good links with the local fishermen who can take us to see this very hard to see species. I know the exact spots where this species can be seen roosting and have a knack of being able to find it in dense cover!
Timing: November to February
Quail-plover
As the name implies, this species is a strange mix between a quail and a plover. It's most often flushed from ground in grassland, although I know of a spot in Senegal where it's easy to get good views of it on the ground.
Timing: January to April
Saddle-billed Stork
One of the iconic large African stork species, it is very rare to see in the Gambia, and will usually require a trip east into Senegal to see. I know of some regular spots where this species can be approached closely.
Timing: November to April
Arabian Bustard
I know of some reliable locations for this near threatened species. It is incredibly rare in West Africa, but these sites offer the best chance to see this species, as it's other sites in East Africa are mostly inaccessible to tourists due to the political situations in these countries.
Timing: January to April
White-throated Francolin
A very hard species so see, Eastern Senegal offeres the best chance to see this species for birders from Europe. I have a good hit rate with this species when visiting Niokolo-koba National Park.
Timing: January to April
Other wildlife
There's plenty other wildlife to see other than birds, whether its a troop of Guinea baboons crossing open countyside, a family of hippos at Georgetown, wild western chimpanzees in the Dindefelo Natural Community Reserve, or perhaps a solitary leopard or a pride of lions in Niokolo-Koba National Park. See below for a list of some of the mammals on offer to know what to look out for:
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Guinea baboon
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Patas monkey
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Western red colobus
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Callithrix monkey
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Green monkey
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Western chimpanzee
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Bushbuck
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Giant eland
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Korrigum
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Roan antelope
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Hippopotamus
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Red-flanked duiker
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Gambian sun squirrel
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African white-bellied hedgehog
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Tiny white-toothed shrew
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Pardine genet
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Serval
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White-tailed mongoose
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Marsh mongoose
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Banded mongoose
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Aardvark
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Giant pangolin
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Spotted hyena
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Common warthog
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Scrub hare
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Dwarf epauletted fruit bat
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African leopard
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Western African lion
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Caracal
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Side-striped jackal
Let me know if there are any particular mammals you would like to see and we can try and make it happen!
Logistics
Accommodation
We will stay in a variety of lodges and camps which have been carefully selected to provide the easiest access to birding locations as well as offering great comfort and hospitality.
Food and drink
The lodges that we will stay at all provide exeptionally tasty and well prepared local food. Travel days are carefully planned to allow for lunch stops at resturants with good reputations. Water is stored in cool boxes in my air-conditioned vehicle.
Transport and group size
Travel in comfort in my air-conditioned 7-seater vehicle. For larger group sizes, a small bus can be rented to provide ample space for all luggage and equipment.