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.

Abuko Nature Reserve

Me and my family love nature and the outdoors, so we organised a day trip to the Abuko Nature Reserve. Abuko was officially declared a Nature Reserve in 1968, and is situated outside the village of Lamin in the Kombo North District, approximately 25km from Banjul. 




At the reserve we met with our guide, Musa Manneh, who had a vast knowledge of the nature reserve and its wildlife, and specialised in ornithology (birds).

We began our walk into the dense greenery. The vegetation was amazing – the massive trees and stunning green canopy were breathtaking. They also provided a wonderful shield from the midday sun which glimmered through the leaves.




We walked through the forest along dusty paths lined with giant termite hills over 7 ft tall, which I personally found pretty amazing! As we walked Musa pointed out the various types of plant life and gave us an interesting run down of some of the plants medicinal and everyday uses.

We arrived at the education centre which overlooked the crocodile pool, and took a moment to appreciate the wonderful views of the pool and its surroundings from the raised balcony area. Whilst we stood, many exotic looking birds flew over the pool which was a real thrill, and we even spotted a sleeping crocodile skulking in the shadows at the pool’s edge.

We continued our wanderings through the forest, catching occasional glimpses of monkeys running through the undergrowth.

We came to an opening and found an assortment of caged animals, a refreshment bar and lots of rather cheeky monkeys! Some of the caged animals were apparently part of an orphanage - a temporary home for animals and birds that had once been held in captivity illegally. The wildlife authorities have an ongoing programme of confiscating captive wild animals, and reintroducing them into the wild. We saw a few monkeys and parrots.





There were also caged areas housing baboons and hyenas – truly amazing animals! We were able to see them up close and were completely astonished at the size of these creatures! The animals were obviously well cared for and seemed very happy in their enclosures.





We were able to buy bags of peanuts for about 50p from the refreshment stall. We fed these to the monkeys and parrots – an activity greatly enjoyed by my 2 year old son! Some of the monkeys were a little timid, but others would quite confidently sit on your knee and gently prize your fingers open to get to the nuts hidden inside! It was a great experience! Not only did I get to touch the monkeys, but I also got to smell them – it reminded me of barnyard and soggy dog smell!



There were also a great many vultures loitering around – again a thrill for the bird enthusiast in me! To see them just flying around free and so close was spectacular! I have to say they aren’t my favourite bird, as they aren’t very pretty, but the size and presence of the birds was certainly worth some respect.

After some welcome liquid refreshment we continued on our travels through the forest. Musa took us to a photo hide which looked out across a pool. He gave my family a wonderful explanation of the wildlife and birds in the vicinity. Unfortunately I had spotted a rather large spider and a few other creepy crawlies on the ceiling of the hide and fled in a bit of a blind panic (doing the typical girlie thing). Musa told me they were harmless, but in fairness the spider did look a tad menacing (mind you anything with more than 4 legs tends to set me on edge).

As we strolled down the path once-more, Musa signalled for us all to slowdown and be quiet. He pointed to a gorgeous orange coloured monkey sat in a bush right beside the path. We had not seen a monkey like this throughout our travels and it was adorable!

So, after an afternoon of wildlife filled wandering, we came to the end of our travels. We took a look around the little craft market at the end of the nature reserve – I bought the cutest little hippo family – they looked so wrinkly and kinda grumpy! My sisters bought some cute wooden carvings and pretty necklaces, then we hopped into a taxi bus and headed back to Lamin for some top nosh and a lie down!



The guided tour was fantastic – I couldn’t recommend it enough! If you are planning on visiting The Gambia, please look up Musa Manneh – he will offer a fair price for his services and really knows his stuff!

MUSA MANNEH can be contacted by the following means:


Address: c/o Talibo Bojang
Banjul International Airport
Departures Hall
Sky Bar
The Gambia
West Africa

Email: musaamanneh56@yahoo.com

Telephone: 00220 7834098

General Info:

Musa tour is a free-lands bird watching tour operation taking customers to all the prescribed places for bird watching in The Gambia. Musa provides a service based upon your individual interest and your budget, but is definitely good value for money.

He trained at Abuko Nature Reserve where he became a certified tour guide, and he caters for both small and large groups.

If you would like further information please drop him an email – he’d be delighted to hear from you!