Bird Watchers' Special

The following can be a day trip for guests already staying with us (bookable when you arrive at £100 per couple / £70 single concession) or a 2 night package (with dinner, bed and breakfast) for couples staying in different accommodation but who want to come and enjoy a short countryside break specifically to see birds. 

You will be taken (in time for sunrise) to a bush area outside Kartong village in South Gambia to see a wide variety of Gambian birds as they are trapped briefly in fixed nets, removed to be identified, weighed, measured, ringed and catalogued for specific data sent back to the UK. We can offer a unique experience with a British resident bird ringer (Colin Cross) working for the British Trust for Ornithology.

Please note that at certain times of year, if ringing is not possible, Colin will take guests on a longer 2 hour+ tour of the surrounding wetlands and observatory. In which case, an early breakfast before leaving the lodges is available instead of the bush breakfast.

You will be able to photograph the birds at very close quarters, and talk with our expert for this fascinating 2 hour walk in the wild.

A picnic breakfast is served in the bush before being driven down to the River Allehein for an hour and half bird watching along the mangrove-lined river banks.

From here you are taken to a small riverside lodge and restaurant for a buffet lunch and a chance to relax before returning to our lodges by mid- afternoon (or ask to stop at one of the beaches on the way back and have a swim before returning ...the choice is yours.)

Two night package £245 for 2 people, £186 for single

Using your own transport arrangements, you should aim to arrive by 6pm the evening before, to eat dinner in our restaurant and enjoy our overnight lodge accommodation before the 6am departure for Kartong. On your return here in the afternoon, please relax and enjoy our pool and grounds where many birds come to drink from our water bowls.You may want to take a stroll and go bird spotting on your own in the surrounding area before sunset. Then enjoy another evening meal here and wake to bird song and a buffet breakfast before your departure. You could then go on to visit the Tanji Bird Reserve (not included in our package) on the way back to the Senegambia area and your hotel.

Farakunku Lodges features in this book and DVD available from the easybirder.co.uk website