Lamin Lodge

Whilst in The Gambia we visited Lamin Lodge a number of times and each time offered a slightly different experience. Lamin Lodge is a unique and wonderful place to visit – highly recommended!

To get to Lamin Lodge you need to leave the main streets of Lamin village and head towards the mangroves by small winding roads. The way is bumpy and sometimes tricky to navigate because the roads are more like dried up river beds! During rainy season torrents of water flow down the dusty roads and erode them away. A 4x4 would certainly have been helpful, but we managed to drive there safely in a Peugot 207!

The scenery is amazing! We passed through lots of green grassland and saw Baobab trees which grow to amazing heights and widths, and look like gnarly giants! The fruit from the trees is used to make Baobab juice – a refreshing white coloured drink which I can only compare to coconut milk, which, in fairness, is not a very good comparison as it has its very own unique taste. Definitely something to try if you visit The Gambia!

The drive to Lamin Lodge took roughly 20 minutes. The site was predominantly used as an oyster farm and we were met by a number of friendly fishermen who greeted us and offered their services including tours, bird watching and fishing trips.

Lamin Lodge is a wooden lodge built out of Mangrove wood. Do not be misled by the name ‘lodge’ though – this is no log cabin! Lamin Lodge is an impressive 3 stories high and reminded me of the Swiss Family Robinson’s tree house! It stands in the midst of the mangroves, on the edge of the winding river, and offers fantastic views across the mangrove canopies. The sunsets from the top of the Lodge were breathtaking and so romantic.

The path to the lodge runs through the swampy mangroves. When the water level was low we could see lots of funny looking loach things – brown, slippery looking fishy things with googly eyes! If you’ve seen the Guinness advert when the blokes at the bar devolve into cavemen and eventually become little fishy things that go “bleurk” at the end of the ad, well, that’s what these things were! I digress…
When the water level was high the areas surrounding the path were alive with huge shoals of fish (probably feasting on the little brown loach things!).

As we got closer to the lodge, a group of monkeys appeared from the mangroves and found my 2 year old son highly amusing. He had a dummy in his mouth which caused great curiosity in 1 little monkey who tried to steal it! Poor Eli didn’t really know what to make of it and burst into tears! Because Lamin Lodge is such a popular tourist attraction, the monkeys are used to people and are a tad cheeky but offer great entertainment.

At Lamin Lodge you can eat, drink and enjoy the glorious scenes across the mangrove canopy. Staff are friendly and helpful, the food is simple but good and photo opportunities plentiful.

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask! I’m happy to provide answers to most questions and would be happy to provide contact details of a few locals who would be happy to help you on your travels.