Gambia Experience

we went to cape point in the gambia with gambia experience they were really good and the hotel was excellent friendly staff and a comfortable room with balcony and sea view However the highlight was our bird watching and river trips. On the beach trained guides have a stand the prices were much better than the organised trips from the hotel the service provided was wonderful just the 2 of us a guide Lamin and driver Dannah had so much knowledge to impart about birds and local life we would never has seen or learnt so much on our own. Its also good to put money into the locals hands and what better way than to do is to book with these friendly people enjoy the days out and finish up with a tasty fruit salad from Fatimah at the women's fruit collective on the beach.

As 2 women traveling on their own we always felt safe and had very little hassle apart from every one expecting a tip even if they had done very little to ask for one I do understand how hard it is to earn a living and to give a small amount is not a big deal to us and will certainly help locals to survive. Schools need pens pencils paper and books so if you are heading out there a few of these items in your luggage would make a huge difference to the children any friend you make out there will be only to willing to take you to a local school to meet up with staff and kids hope you have as good a time as we did HAPPY HOLLIDAYS

Viking Airlines. The 9 hr delay was caused by a technical fault on the aircraft which had according to people we spoke with in Gambia been causing problems on flights the previous week. I am very unhappy about the time it took to source a part and to fix a fairly routine piece of equipment and can not understand why a replacement aircraft could not have been sourced. My feeling is that Viking airlines is a very small operation and does not have the ability to source replacement aircraft. We found the offer of a £6 meal voucher and one free "soft" drink on board the aircraft quite insulting and wholly inadequate given the extreme delay to our service.

The flight itself was very poor. I was amazed that a 737 would be used for a 6.5 hour flight, with just 3 toilets between190 passengers. The fuel margin must be very tight. Initially the forward toilet was full of hand luggage! All of the trolleys had Excel airways marked on them and the whole aircraft appeared old, tired, tatty and unprofessional. My partner placed her coat under the seat in front on the floor and the coat is now covered in dirt, grease and oil. The plane was very dirty with dirt and splash marks on the seat backs and obviously is very dirty underneath the seats. We didn't even receive a tea or coffee with our in-flight meal on the outbound flight. The leg room was probably the tightest I have experienced in any airline.

The delay meant we missed the first afternoon, evening and half board meal at our hotel and caused myself and my partner much frustration and disappointment on what was only a 7 night holiday.

A holiday with the Gambia Experience is not as good value as the brochure price first appears. First you need yellow fever injections costing £75 plus malaria medication and then the prices of everything out there is UK prices or even more. We did not like paying £2 for a beer when the average daily wage in Gambia is £1. Everyone is out to get your money and although they appear friendly all they want is your money.

Please note that they got a 4 for value for money as we got a last minute booking.

The hotel (Corinthian Atlantic) seriously needs to be regraded, it is no where near a 4 star hotel by any means (I have been to other countries such as Kenya and Antigua and stayed in 3 star accommodation so I do have something to compare it with). The manager refused to put on the air con or bring in fans in the dining room in the evening so it was far too warm to eat there. We wasted £100 worth of meal vouchers due to being unable to stand eating in the dining room on an evening. When someone asked for this to be put on they were told to sit near a door, which they did and got eaten by mossies!!! He eventually put on some entertainment one evening after being badgered by some other holiday makers, this was some African dancing for less than an hour, the air con was only on for this hour and then we were told that it had broken!!!!! The air con in the rooms went off every night during the night when the electric was turned off.

DON'T GET A POOL VIEW ROOM - these have connecting doors to the next door room, and you can hear EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! Luckily we had a nice couple next door but still not very nice.

Most of the staff were miserable especially in a morning, my husband even tipped one to see if it would cheer him up, it didn't. They were very slow with the tea and coffees and with bringing out the eggs, we actually had to leave them one morning as we had waited half an hour and was due to go on a trip. I know we went out of season but I really think that they will struggle when it does get busier at the hotel.

We had been told that you get a better exchange over there, we definately didn't and during the week it went down quite a lot, we found out that the rate was different at other hotels so it is worth checking this out.

Every where we went people wanted money for something or other, we were even approached by a member of the hotel's security trying to get money for an alleged nursery he was building, I mentioned this to the rep and others said that he had approached them too. There were people selling things in the hotel every day and night and people were taking detours to get to the dining room to avoid them. Even on the last day someone from the Gambian Experience company took a couple of cases to the coach going to the airport and stood there with their hand out asking for money before putting them in the luggage hold.

It is well worth going to see the crocodiles (only 50D to get in, this is about £1.20 each) and the guides there were very friendly, please accept their offer of tea as it offends them if you refuse. The 4 wheel drive trip was interesting, though no one on the trip enjoyed visiting the village and looking around a house as it felt rather uncomfortable, as I said previously you will be asked for money by someone on each stop that you do, this might be to buy something or just because they have climbed up a tree!!! On the last day we went on the lazy day trip, which does exactly what it says it is going to do, well worth going on just to relax and have some fun. Our tour guide was a one man show and made the trip that little bit more enjoyable, food and service was excellent and the drinks were very cheap (plenty of refreshments are offered during this trip which is included in the price, can especially recommend the brandy coffee!!!!). We also went to where the fishing boats come in, what an amazing experience and also went to Banjul market, would definately recommend that you get a guide to take you there as it can be a bit overwhelming. Chat with other people staying at the hotel, especially those that have been there longer than you, before booking anything with guides and people wanting to take you anywhere, to compare what they have been charged and who they have used as they will try and get as much money out of you as possible and do try it to charge you well over the odds.

Can recommend Michelle's Fish restaurant in Banjul and Ali Babas at Senegambia if you want good value food. Even if you get a green taxi please be aware that they can still try and over charge you, one evening our taxi driver, who was supposed to wait 2 hours for us, told us he had to go as his wife was seriously ill, we said we would wait for him to get back but would only pay for what time we had agreed for (he returned early) and then watched him go over to the Indian restaurant and read the menu. On the way back he pulled into a petrol station and asked for some money to get some petrol to get back, we gave him the whole fare and told him it was up to him what he did with it, he then got a petrol can out of the boot and filled that up!!!!!

Luckily we had a lovely group of people who were there at the same time and we all got on with each other and made the best of things, laughing about things and exchanging experiences!!!! As I said previously I have been to other places and others at the hotel have too, so felt able to give a balanced view and we all agreed we would definately not be going back, even another couple that were staying at a different hotel said that they would not be returning to the Gambia due to being hassled for money all the time.

Also on a positive note we flew with Astraeus and although it might not be the most modern of planes the crew were most helpful and did their best to make sure that the flight was as comfortable and pleasant as possible, Well done them!!!

Wonderful company, excellent excursions, helpful reps. Used them twice to the Gambia and both times wonderful. They could not be more helpful and will do everything to sort out any niggles. Clearly the best we have ever experienced and I would recommend them very highly.