Trip Reports

Gambia November 2010 Tour 1

Everything went fine at Gatwick, all of the 11 strong group arrived on time and the Monarch flight went 
smoothly. Six hours later we arrived in the Gambia, in bright sunshine, the temperature was around 30C
and as we descended over Banjul the river looked huge and imposing. As soon as we disembarked from the 
plane we quickly made our first sightings......distant Hooded Vultures circling over the airfield. But it wasn’t 
until an hour later, after we had cleared the airport, that we met our local guide Modou Colley and boarded 
our private bus to the hotel, driven by Noah.
The birds came thick and fast and we stopped many times en-route to the district of Kololi. A group of 
Piapiacs was found at the roadside whilst many doves (Laughing, Vinaceous & Red-eyed Doves) littered the 
telephone wires, we also found 3 different Rollers in the first 10 minutes! Abyssinian, Blue-bellied and 
Rufous-crowned Roller were all seen well and in good numbers, Pied Crows were common as were Hooded 
Vultures. A couple of Lizard Buzzards sat on the wires waiting to pounce on unsuspecting prey and we also 
had good views of both Red-billed and African Grey Hornbills. Several other species were seen that included 
Beautiful Sunbird, White-billed Buffalo Weaver, Village Weaver, Yellow-billed Black Kite, Double-spurred 
Francolin, more Hooded Vultures and lots more doves.