Wildlife to see in The Gambia in January
7 spectacles at their peak in The Gambia in January, and 1 more still going on. Wild animals only: no zoos, no wildlife parks, no hunting. Open The Gambia in January in the interactive calendar for listening times on the day you pick.
At their peak in January
Hippos and the chimpanzee islands of the River Gambia National ParkHippo pods grunting and blowing on the river bends below Janjanbureh, chimpanzee pant-hoots carrying across the water from the Baboon Islands, baboon troops on the banks and fish eagles at every bend.
Nightjars and owls of the coastal woodland — Brufut and KotuThe long-tailed nightjar's engine-like churr from every clearing, standard-winged nightjar's insect-like trill as males circle with their pennants, the deep grunts of Verreaux's eagle-owl in the big trees and white-faced scops owl's bubbling call.
Tanji beach and the Bijol Islands — terns, gulls and the fish-landing roostA gull-and-tern roost of thousands screaming over the fish-landing beach as pirogues come in, the market crowd, the smokehouses, and across the water the Bijol colonies — The Gambia's only breeding seabirds.
Tendaba — Bao Bolong mangrove creeks and Kiang West savannaFish eagles duetting across the Gambia river, the mangrove's clicks and splashes at low water, kingfishers and bee-eaters in the creeks, and Pel's fishing owl's deep hoot from the camp at night.
Kartong — wetland pools, Allahein river mouth and turtle beachCrakes and pygmy geese in the sand-mine pools, a wader roost at the Allahein mouth, and on rainy-season nights the beach with the surf and, if you are lucky, a nesting green turtle's breathing.
Tanbi wetlands and the Bund Road lagoons — Banjul's wader, gull and egret roostsA roost at the city's edge: the squabble of two or three hundred grey-headed gulls on the sand island, royal tern screams, whimbrel and godwit calls off the mud, and at dusk the wing-rush and grunting of thousands of cattle egrets dropping into the Cape Creek mangroves — all under Banjul's traffic, the ferry horn and the Friday mosque.
Hooded vultures of the Kombo coast — Africa's densest population at the fish beaches and abattoirsMostly silent birds in enormous numbers: the hiss and thin squealing at a carcass or fish-gut pile, the clatter of 200 pairs of wings lifting at once when a dog runs through, the thud of landings in the kapok roost at dusk. The real soundscape is the fish beach itself — pirogue crews, drying racks, gulls, kites and the vultures' shuffle. A phenomenon that no longer exists anywhere else in the species' range.
Also going on in January
Abuko gallery forest — dawn chorus and monkeysRed colobus barks and crashing through the canopy, turacos' rolling calls, the hornbill pairs, and a full gallery-forest dawn 15 minutes from the coast hotels — the easiest West African forest chorus to reach.