10-Day Gambia Birding and Photography Tour with Lamin Camara

Transfer from Banjul airport to Mandinari River Lodge, your first base. Arrival time permitting, spend time around the Tanbi Wetlands, the lodge garden or its bird hide.

Overnight: Mandinari River Lodge.

Birds to look for: African scops owl; bearded barbet; black crake; blue-bellied roller; blue-breasted kingfisher; blue-cheeked bee-eater; cattle egret; giant kingfisher; hooded vulture; northern red bishop; pearl-spotted owlet; robin chat; rose-ringed parakeet; Senegal coucal; Senegal thick-knee; shikra; starlings; sunbirds; village weaver; violet turaco; western grey plantain-eater; yellow-billed kite; yellow-billed shrike. Sightings are possible, not guaranteed.

Explore Mandinari on foot in the morning, taking in its wetland, rice-field and mangrove habitats. Later, walk to the petrol station area, where the outing focuses on looking for birds of prey.

Overnight: Mandinari River Lodge.

Birds to look for: African grey hornbill; African harrier hawk; blackcap babbler; brown babbler; common greenshank; common redshank; different kind of doves; green-backed heron; lanner falcon; levaillants cuckoo; long-crested eagle; pied crow; red-cheeked cordon-blue; wahlberg’s eagle; white-throated bee-eater; yellow-fronted canary. Sightings are possible, not guaranteed.

The journey to Tendaba covers 142 km after breakfast and includes a stop at Farasutu Forest. Reach camp around lunchtime and settle into your room. Later, visit one of the two bird hides near the camp.

Overnight: Tendaba Camp.

Birds to look for: common chiffchaff; cut-throat finch; fork-tailed drongo; grey kestrel; greyish eagle owl; indigobird; little green bee-eater; long-tailed nightjar; northern white-faced owl; piacpiac; pied kingfisher; pygmy sunbird; spotted honeyguide; striped kingfisher; verreaux’s eagle owl; vieillot’s barbet; yellow-crowned gonolek. Sightings are possible, not guaranteed.

A 7:30 AM breakfast starts the day before a boat trip to the north-bank mangroves of the River Gambia. After lunch and a break allowing the guide to rest, continue birding along Kwinella bushtrack.

Overnight: Tendaba Camp.

Birds to look for: Abyssinian ground hornbill; Abyssinian roller; African darter; African finfoot; African golden oriole; African paradise flycatcher; African pied hornbill; African sacred ibis; bateleur; beaudouin’s snake eagle; black-headed heron; broad-billed roller; bronze-winged courser; brown snake eagle; bruce’s green pigeon; dideriek cuckoo; dwarf bittern; great cormorant; great white egret; grey-headed kingfisher; hadada ibis; hamerkop; intermediate egret; klaas’s cuckoo; little egret; long-tailed cormorant; malachite kingfisher; Namaqua dove; pink-backed pelican; purple heron; red-bellied flycatcher; red-billed hornbill; Senegal batis; singing cisticola; striated heron; temminck’s courser; western reef egret; western-banded snake eagle; woodland kingfisher; wooly-necked stork; yellow crowned bishop; yellow-billed oxpecker; yellow-billed stork. Sightings are possible, not guaranteed.

Travel 131 km from Tendaba Camp to Marakissa, with a stop at the bird hide in Killy. An afternoon walk introduces the surroundings of Marakissa River Camp, where you spend the night.

Overnight: Marakissa River Camp.

Birds to look for: African thrush; black-faced firefinch; bronze mannikin; cut-throat finch; lavender waxbill; northern crombec; northern grey-headed sparrow; northern yellow white-eye; orange-cheeked waxbill; red-winged pytilia; yellow-crowned gonolek. Sightings are possible, not guaranteed.

Begin with a walk in Marakissa's wetlands. The rest of the day is relaxed time in the lodge garden, watching for birds visiting the small drinking pools around camp.

Overnight: Marakissa River Camp.

Birds to look for: African pygmy kingfisher; African wattled lapwing; black egret; black-headed lapwing; black-shouldered kite; blue-bellied roller; little bee-eater; Ovambo sparrowhawk; spur-winged lapwing; white-backed night heron. Sightings are possible, not guaranteed.

After breakfast, cover the 36 km to the coast and Stala Lodge. The lodge is in Kartong, in southwestern The Gambia close to Senegal. Visit the local wetlands on an evening walk.

Overnight: Stala Lodge.

Birds to look for: African jacana; African palm swift; African sacred ibis; African wattled lapwing; cattle egret; crested lark; grey kestrel; malachite kingfisher; osprey; piacpiac; purple swamphen; red-billed hornbill; shikra; white-faced whistling duck. Sightings are possible, not guaranteed.

Walk to Kartong Bird Watching Observatory and the beach during the morning. Lunch is followed by a boat trip along the Halahin River, with Stala Lodge remaining your overnight base.

Overnight: Stala Lodge.

Birds to look for: African darter; African fish eagle; African spoonbill; blue-cheeked bee-eater; goliath heron; great white pelican; grey-headed gull; hamerkop; little weaver; osprey; oystercatcher; pink-backed pelican; Senegal thick-knee; slender-billed gull. Sightings are possible, not guaranteed.

The 38 km lodge transfer begins after breakfast, with stops in Gunjur and at Tanji's fish market. Following lunch in Tanji, check in at Tanema Creek Lodge. A short walk around the lodge completes the day before your last night.

Overnight: Tanema Creek Lodge.

Birds to look for: Caspian tern; chestnut-bellied starling; different type of gulls; little tern; royal tern; sandwich tern; violet-backed starling. Sightings are possible, not guaranteed.

If the timing of your flight allows, use the morning to bird at Kotu or among the rice fields at Lamin. Continue to the airport for departure.