1. A Photo Journal Copyright of photographs: Riitta Leinonen
The Gambia
A Photo Journal
Copyright of photographs: Riitta Leinonen

2. The arrival
After a 10-hour-flight from Helsinki via Las Palmas, we finally arrived at Banjul international airport. We were quite exhausted, but the sunny and warm weather welcomed us.
Carrier boys surrounded us immediately outside the terminal, and unsuspectingly we let them carry our luggage. We shouldn’t have done that, because they insisted for a vast amount of money for their services. This was actually the one and only bad experience during our one week stay in the country.
Check how much you know about the Gambia in advance! Please use the following link: The Gambia quiz

3. The main facts about the Gambia
1,6 million inhabitants
Area: square kilometres
Capital: Banjul (about citizens)
Biggest town: Serrekunda (about citizens)
The only neighbouring country: Senegal.
Time zone: Greenwich Zone (- 2 hrs from Finland)

4. People
About 90% of Gambians are Muslims. The remaining 10% are Christians and followers of tribal religions.
The most important ethnic groups and simultaneously local languages are Mandinka (42 %), Fula, Wolof, Jola and Serahuli.
The official language, English, is spoken widely as a second language, as well as French.
The average life expectancy is 56 years for women and 52 for men.
Women at Albert Market in Banjul

5. Geography , climate, plants
The Gambia is characterized by the Atlantic ocean, and the 1200-kilometre-long River Gambia, 487 kilometres of which are inside the the area of the Gambia.
The climate is sub-tropical. Dry, sunny season extends from November till May.
The landscape is fairly flat. The vegetation cover of The Gambia is savanna on the uplands, various kinds of inland swamp in the low-lying areas, and mangrove swamp along the brackish lower Gambia River (
The Banjul harbour

6. Economy
The main sources of income are agriculture (peanuts, cotton), fishing, and tourism.
The river has been an important trade route between the interior of the country and the coast for centuries.
The currency is Gambian Dalasi.
GNP per capita: 290 USD in 2004 (
Fishermen on Sanuyang Beach
Our tourist guide in the “brand jungle”

7. Education
Schoolsystem: total 12 years of education. However, school attendance is not compulsory.
Annual fee is 50 Dalasis (appr. 2 euros), but even this sum is too high for many families; they may allow only one or two of their children to go to school.
Illiteracy rate is still high in the Gambia: 63% for women and 42% for men.
Travel agents arrange visits to local schools, during which tourists can sponsor the schools.
All the children wanted to have a Finnish penfriend!

8. History
This part of West Africa has been inhabited since around 2000 BC.
The Portuguese, French, Dutch and British started to trade slaves and gold from the River Gambia area from the 16th century onwards. There were constant fights over trading rights and territory.
In 1765 the Gambia became the colony of the British Empire. Still after that the fights continued between British and French forces.
In 1965 the Gambia became independent, and President Kairaba was finally able to hoise the Gambian flag.
The colours of the Gambian flag:
red = sun
white = freedom
blue = the River Gambia
green = nature and agriculture

9. Slave trade
Fort James on James Island that was built in 1651 was a British trading post for over a century. Slaves stayed there in captivity before they were loaded to ships heading for British colonies in the American continents and in Jamaica.
Estimated 12 million Africans were taken as slaves between Circumstances in the slaveships were horrendous. Even 9 out of 10 slaves died before entering their new ”home-countries”.
The ancestral village of Kunta Kinteh (Alex Haley – Roots) is situated nearby the James Island, on the bank of the River Gambia.
There are still some ruins left on James Island.

10. Animals
African long-tailed monkeys love peanuts!
Few wild animals are native to the region, and those that survive are under pressure from the human and domestic animal populations. In the middle and upper river areas there are warthogs, monkeys, baboons, antelopes, pygmy hippopotamuses, and crocodiles. (
A warthog
A monitor in the hotel garden

11. Birdlife
We saw several wonderful birds during the week, most of them in our hotel garden. Birds (as well as monkeys) love these well-kept gardens where they have enough water and plenty of food available .
In Abuko Nature Reserve there are more than 200 bird species, and if you are lucky, you can see some of them when walking along the footpaths.
A Barbary Shrike
A Red-beaked Hornbill
A vulture having a sip of tap water.

12. References Gambia. A tourist brochure. Tjäreborg.
The Gambia Traveller’s map. Macmillan.