Halcyon - Birding Holidays in the Gambia Six days birding with our own locally qualified guides, seeing up to 250 species, en-suite bedrooms in traditional style luxury accommodation, all rooms are air-conditioned and include tea and coffee making facilities and a fridge, swimming pool and bar area, air conditioned vehicles, English owned and operated, info@halcyongambia.com - Tel: 0845 500 2025

Gambia Dec - 2005, 284 Bird Species recorded Walking inland, the resident Sulphur-breasted Bush Shrike played its usual game of `hard to see', whilst Common Nightingale, Garden Warbler, Variable Sunbird, and several Yellow-crowned Gonoleks proved much more visible....Nick Bray reports for Birdseekers

Gambia (with Halcyon) February 2007

• We resumed our search for new birds, with any movement catching the eye, and saw a Zitting Cisticola and a Tawny-flanked Prinia as well as a Fork-tailed Drongo perched on a low palm, the unmistakeable tail backlit against the palm leaf. A Lizard Buzzard was high in an Oil Palm...Polly Mair reports.

Gambia 11-18th Dec 07

• The highlight of Abuko for me was seeing a Malachite Kingfisher near to the main pond, two Hammerkops and Green and Violet Turaco’s. Ebrima seemed more excited by a sighting of a Western Bluebill...Jan Foulkes reports.

Gambia October-November 2007

• The thing that struck about Kau-ur was the shear number of birds, mainly waders. Wattled and Spur-winged Plovers in profusion, hundreds of Collared Pratincoles and a single Little Stint. Although I’d had very little contact with Pratincoles in the past, they might as well have been Dunlins. It was the little steel grey and peach jobs running between them that got my attention; Egyptian Plover, about a dozen of them....John Armstrong reports.

Visiting Gambia Nov 07

• An late afternoon walk around the camp produced Abyssinian roller, several yellow-billed shrikes, black flycatcher, Senegal coucal, fruit doves and fork-tailed drongo...Phil Stidwill reports

The Gambia 6-13th February 2007

• First bird Palm-nut vulture seen from plane! From runway lots of hooded vultures, a few black kites and several flocks of speckled pigeons. A few cattle egrets feeding on the grassy verges..Ian Higginson reports

The Gambia 27th Nov - 4th Dec 2006

• I made my first visit to The Gambia in February 2003 with Steve Scott [report on Birdtours website] and really enjoyed my first experience of an African country. Since that time, I have been to South Africa and Kenya but retain a soft spot for The Gambia...Bob Biggs reports

The Gambia August 22nd - September 3rd 2006

• Birding the hard way: rainy season, public transport, no bird guides....Sander Bot reports.

Gambia 28th February - 14th March 2006

• As a whole, I found the Gambia and its birds an experience I will never forget, from the excellent Senegambia Beach Hotel down to the smiling, happy children who followed us everywhere. It is an experience I hope to repeat next year....Graham Masters reports

Gambia (with Halcyon) February 2007

• We resumed our search for new birds, with any movement catching the eye, and saw a Zitting Cisticola and a Tawny-flanked Prinia as well as a Fork-tailed Drongo perched on a low palm, the unmistakeable tail backlit against the palm leaf. A Lizard Buzzard was high in an Oil Palm

Gambia 20 Dec 05-03 Jan 06

• This was my second visit to the Gambia following an “up-river” trip on a boat in March 2003 with the Army Ornithological Society (AOS).  This had proved to be an excellent trip and introduction to African birding...Mark Easterbrook reports

The Gambia 28th January to 11th February 2005 We drove to Lamin Lodge for lunch and relaxed in the shade, enjoying our first Western Reef Heron and close views of Pied Kingfisher, Gull-billed and CaspianTerns and Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters as we waited for our meal...Peter Dedicoat reports for Avian Adventures

Gambia:1st - 15th; December 2005

• Although we stayed at the Atlantic Hotel Banjul, which was away from the main birding accommodation i.e. The Senegambia Hotel area, the discovery of Palm Grove Lagoon as a excellent area for watching Terns and Waders was a major advantage. The Atlantic Hotel Grounds held many species and also was a watch point for overflys across the river....Derek & Lynne Lister report
  

Gambia 06 – 20th January 2005 My wife and I spent a wonderfully relaxing fortnight in the Gambia last January, so good we’re going back again...Robin Hadley reports

Gambia 26th Nov ~ 10th Dec 2004 We chose Gambia as our first birding destination to Africa, based mainly on great reports given by others who had visited the area. It was a difficult choice given the range of fantastic birding destinations in Africa from South Africa to Morocco. However we thought that The Gambia offered such a diverse range of species that it would be the ideal place to start...Marcus Ward reports.

The Gambia January 16th – 23rd 2004 

• My wife Maryan and I spent one week in The Gambia in early 2004 for some winter sun and a little bird watching. We were very impressed by the country, its people and the wonderful array of birdlife. We definitely will return....Robin Hadley reports.

The Gambia 28th November – 12th December 2003

• My wife, Sandra, and I spent two weeks in The Gambia in late 2003, our first visit to Africa, so we anticipated seeing a considerable number of species that we had not seen before.  We were not disappointed - lots of good views of wonderful birds, some great people and, by visiting sights away from the coastal strip, an insight into rural Africa....Julian Hughes reports

The Gambia Oct 24 - Nov 4 2003

• My quandary as a keen birder with a non-birding spouse and two non-birding sons, is to arrange family holidays that allow me to indulge my birding passion without impinging too much on the sun, sea and sightseeing pleasures of my ever tolerant family....So where next to follow a destination like Disneyworld? How about somewhere completely different? how about Africa?...Steve Baines reports.

The Gambia 30 January - 6th February 03

• I don't want to start off by boring everyone but if you knew me, you wouldn't believe that I would ever contemplate a trip to Africa.  I've been ill in Spain, Portugal, the Canaries, Torquay.you name it.  However, for a "treat" ahead of my 50^th birthday in March 2003, I allowed myself a moment of madness last March, to the concern of all of my family, and booked a week in the Gambia...Bob Biggs reports

The Gambia  03-17 January 2003

• In two weeks, we saw approximately 260 species, more than 215 of them life birds.  Although we missed a couple of species we had anticipated seeing, we also saw several, such as African Finfoot, that we had scarcely dared dream we might see... Cathy McFadden reports. 

For lots of pre 2003 reports click here

A Field Guide to the Birds of the Gambia and Senegal Clive Barlow, Tony Disley: Buy from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com This field guide covers the area of the Gambia, a country which is very popular with a large number of birders. The Gambia shelters many migrants from the Western Palaearctic, from September to April, as well as having a significant list of resident West African birds. The guide also covers Senegal, which almost entirely surrounds The Gambia...

Birds of Africa Chris Stuart, Tilde Stuart: Buy from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com A comprehensive account of the birds of Africa. The text covers all the avifaunal families that occur in Africa, discusses the species that occur within each family, and provides representative examples of each family in depth. Also included is a general introduction to the major avifaunal regions of Africa.

Where to Watch Birds in Africa Nigel Wheatley: Buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk One of a series of guides devoted to birdwatching, this book contains site accounts, plans, maps, lists of birds in the regions and advice on planning bird-watching trips. It deals with over 200 sites in detail, and mentions many others. Each country is covered alphabetically, including archipelagos and isolated islands off the African mainland, for example, the Azores. Bird lists are included under the headings "Endemics", "Specialities", "Others" and also "Other Wildlife", if relevant. Access details are given, often with detailed site maps. The emphasis of the book is "bird finding", that is, where to go for the "best" species.

Travel books for the Gambia:

The Rough Guide to West Africa Richard Trillo, Jim Hudgens: Buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk This is a marvellous guide to the region, packed with hard-nosed advice and information, streets ahead of any other travel guide.