It is enough to look at a map of Gambia to realise that the country was ‘tailor-made’ at the drawing board, geo-politically carved out by the European powers to incorporate its life vein, its source of life, the natural sanctuary that irrigates a generous land, and the main link between the coast and the hinterland, the Gambia River.
Going upstream on a boat takes you to the real essence of the country, to its history, its traditions and the muffled atmosphere of its small villages, where time seems to have stopped. But above all, it is in the heart of uncontaminated natural scenery, among intricate labyrinths of bolongs (river channels), expanses of mangroves and green tunnels, small islands inhabited by colonies of birds and monkeys, where ghostly colonial legacies suddenly appear among the small thatched huts, reminding us of a sad past that hovers over these lands, which are today hospitable and welcoming.
Among the first havens to be encountered not far from the southern shore are the Abuko Nature Reserve and the Makasutu Culture Forest with its Ballabu Conservation Project. Here an extraordinary biodiversity welcomes, between aquatic environments and surrounding savannahs, about 250 species of birds, nilotic crocodiles, porcupines, striped tragelaphids, warthogs, duikers and different monkeys, such as the endangered red colobus. In the area, traditional villages are now involved in the preservation of these nature sanctuaries, through the creation and management of small eco-lodges, discovery circuits and an economy based on the sustainable production of artisanal products, such as palm wine or oyster cultivation.
On the northern bank, the small villages of Albreda and Jufureh, home to Kunta Kinteh, and the historic colonial islet of James Island, herald the river’s increasing inland flow, progressively narrowing its bed but branching out into tributaries, small canals and bolongs towards the lusher parts of its course. Not far from the small village of Tendaba are the marshlands of the Baobolong Wetland Reserve and Kiang West National Park, a veritable ornithological paradise, also home to otters, warthogs and sitalunga antelopes on the other side of the mangrove barrier.
Further east, in a strategic position on an island in the middle of the river, is the historic British trading outpost, founded in 1823, which took the name Georgetown (now renamed Janjangbureh) and served as a storage base for raw materials coming from the eastern region to the coast. Today, a few colonial warehouses remain, but its real attraction is the surrounding landscape, covered with rice paddies and peanut plantations, as well as a privileged point for bird watching and for reaching the naturalistic pearl of the Gambia River, the Gambia River National Park. The area encompasses an archipelago of five islands, of which Baboon Island is the heart, and is home to numerous primates, including chimpanzees, which are rehabilitated and protected by the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Trust programme, which began in 1976.
Free to finally repopulate their natural habitat, they make their final stop amidst the lush nature, mingling with red colobuses, guenons, myriad birds, aquatic vegetation and monumental tall trees, while not far away the local population continues its daily activities in a bustle of horse-drawn carts.
