8 days from £2,295
(Inc flights)
Land only price from £
Of all the tropical destinations for European birdwatchers, The Gambia has arguably the most allure for drawing birders of all skill levels back year after year, from complete beginners to the highly experienced. Many of its 570+ species are extremely easy to see and many wonderful birds can be seen without even leaving your resort. We will be based for the week at the superb Mandina Lodges, a delightful riverside resort which is surrounded by the 1,000-acre Makasutu Forest in south-west Gambia. Exotics are found here in abundance as well as more familiar wintering European migrants. Our friendly local guides will take us on morning and afternoon tours, often by boat, into the surrounding area in search of herons, egrets, ibises, jacanas, kingfishers, sunbirds, raptors, rollers and glossy starlings. Other wildlife of interest includes Nile Monitor Lizards and a variety of primates, and back at the resort you may choose to unwind each day with a swim in the pool, or simply enjoy birdwatching from the beautiful grounds!
- A leisurely 8-day, single-centre, birdwatching holiday
- Easy, yet exciting & varied, birding from a luxurious base
- Stay at the picturesque riverside Mandina Lodge in The Gambia’s Makasutu Forest
- Lodge & Makasutu Forest listed in the book ‘1001 Escapes Before You Die’
- Rollers, kingfishers & bee-eaters plus sunbirds & orioles galore
- Excellent photographic opportunities
- Led by expert naturalist guides
We also offer a specialist Photographic departure to Mandina Lodges.
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Highlights
Kerrie Porteous
Outline Itinerary
Day 1
Fly Banjul and transfer Mandina Lodges
Day 2/7
Natural history excursions from Mandina Lodges
Day 8
Fly London
We stayed at an Ecolodge on a tributary of the River Gambia, and could see the wildlife from our upgraded floating lodge on the river. We had safaris on foot or by canoe most days around the lodge, and on two days we went further afield. It was a birding tour, however we also saw various monkeys, reptiles and the resident baboon troupe who we liked! The food was delicious!
M.N. Kent
Food & Accommodation
Breakfast and dinner are included throughout the holiday, lunches are not. We recommend allowing around £10-15 per lunch.
Mandina Lodges consists of nine comfortable and discreetly positioned individual lodges. All the lodges are en-suite, and all have one king-sized bed, with the exception of one Jungle Lodge which has two king-sized beds and can therefore be used for twin occupancy. Mangrove and Jungle Lodges are included in the standard tour price; Floating Lodges are available for an additional £195 per person. Please refer to the detailed tour itinerary for more information on the different lodge types.
Tour leaders
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Nick Acheson Tour leader -
Richard Bashford Tour leader -
Rob Mileto Tour leader -
Philip Thompson Tour leader -
Ed Drewitt Tour leader -
Keith Buchanan Tour leader
Nick Acheson
Nick Acheson grew up watching Bitterns and Bog Bush-Crickets in North Norfolk. A year spent in the Camargue and Crau during his French literature degree inspired him to seek bigger, wilder landscapes and, on completing his MSc, he moved to Bolivia. Here he spent ten glorious years ringing James' Flamingos and austral migrant flycatchers, lamping for Maned Wolves and Giant Armadillos, working with Aymar , Quechua and Chiquitano indigenous people on sustainable development projects, teaching yoga, and whistling sweet nothings to Golden-headed Quetzals. Yoga then took him to India, where he has spent almost three years tracking Tigers and Snow Leopards, cruising on the Brahmaputra, and speaking clumsy Hindi. On return to the UK he worked for two years for Norfolk Wildlife Trust and he continues to work freelance for NWT, RSWT and the Hawk and Owl Trust. When not shedding tears to the sound of Indris in Madagascar or watching Walruses and Belugas from zodiacs in the arctic, he thinks, writes and listens to Bach in a flint cottage by a duckpond and swims in the sea off North Norfolk.
Richard Bashford
Richard was born in Sandy, which played no small part in his early interest in birds. After leaving school, he began working for the RSPB on a variety of contracts until undertaking an environmental degree. In 1995 he worked for the British Trust for Ornithology, running the Breeding Bird Survey, but has worked back at the RSPB in Sandy since 2001 running projects such as the world's biggest wildlife survey - Big Garden Birdwatch. Richard has travelled widely in search of wildlife and has taken part in ornithological projects in Kenya, Botswana, Jordan and Albania and China (the latter searching for Spoon-billed Sandpipers). He has been leading tours since the 1980s and has led Naturetrek holidays throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, North and Central America. He is very active in his home county of Bedfordshire, supporting survey work and spending much of his free time searching for birds, butterflies and moths.
Rob Mileto
Rob puts his interest in wildlife and nature conservation down to being brought up in a 'new town' where fields, ponds and hedgerows were constantly being turned into houses and roads. After graduating in Ecology and Nature Conservation he worked for the Shropshire Wildlife Trust and RSPB, and spent two years wardening Aride Island Nature Reserve in the Seychelles. He has also travelled extensively in east and southern Africa and undertaken voluntary conservation work and research in Tanzania, Namibia and Zimbabwe. He now runs a wildlife consultancy in Shropshire but disappears off on long holidays and advisory projects abroad whenever he can.
Philip Thompson
Philip was born in Nigeria and feels sure that at a subconscious level this has instilled in him his lifelong passion and interest in the natural world and the wildlife of Africa in particular. He was born of a generation who, as kids, would think nothing of disappearing of into the surrounding woods and countryside only to return at the end of the day hungry and tired. This enjoyment in the open country and experiencing at first hand the natural world has remained with him to this day and it is now his great pleasure to show and share with others the natural delights that drew him to tour leading. His main interest is in wild flowers but he remains a keen and able birder with an interest in all other forms of the natural environment. He is also interested in music, fashion and film, with European cinema a particular favourite.
Ed Drewitt
Ed's been a naturalist for over 25 years with a special interest in birds and marine mammals. He studied Zoology at the University of Bristol and worked for seven years as a museum learning officer at Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives, and then four years on the Bristol Dinosaur Project at the University of Bristol, enabling people to learn more about the city's own dinosaur! Ed is now a full time freelance naturalist, broadcaster and wildlife detective. He leads bird song and bird identification courses, gives various wildlife presentations, provides wildlife commentary on boat trips, writes for BBC magazines and gets involved with bird ringing studies, with his own bird ringing site on the Severn Estuary. He also runs a project that puts colour rings on Peregrine chicks so they can be tracked later in life. Ed has previously worked for the RSPB in Bristol and still does the commentary on their Avocet Cruises on the Exe Estuary. Ed leads on researching the diet of urban-dwelling peregrines in the UK and his findings have been published in British Birds, BBC Wildlife magazine and across the national media. He has just had a book published, the first of its kind, titled 'Urban Peregrines'. Ed is often involved with broadcasting on TV and radio, ranging from appearances on the BBC's One Show, Springwatch and Autumnwatch, Radio 4 Natural History radio, and BBC Radio Bristol. Ed loves watching wildlife around the Severn Estuary, Somerset Levels, Forest of Dean, Ashtead Common and the Chew Valley, while his adventures have taken him all around Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Azores, the Caribbean, Madagascar, the Arctic, and the Gambia. Ed is a regular tour leader for Naturetrek throughout the year, leading exciting holidays both in the UK and abroad.
Keith Buchanan
Keith Buchanan has more than 30 years' experience of working on biodiversity and landscape issues in the UK and internationally. Until August 2008 Keith was designing and leading a major project for Natural England to understand the impact of climate change on wildlife and landscapes. Prior to that he was a Programme Director within the Countryside Agency, and responsible for that Agency's work in relation to National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, climate change and land management. Since 2008 he has been freelance, and has led wildlife watching groups to many parts of Europe, and worked on biological expeditions in Indonesia, Central America, South America, Madagascar and South Africa.
