The benefits of the river Gambia

The Gambia is a small country located inside Senegal which is in West Africa.  In my blogs, I will talk mainly about the river Gambia, and a little bit about the people of The Gambia.

Aerial view of the river Gambia

The Gambia river is divided into two parts - one has salt water and the other has fresh water.  Part of the river is covered by mangroves, which makes it so colourful and you can find oysters on the mangrove roots. You can also find some interesting bird species along the river.

The river Gambia provides many benefits as well as opportunities for people to earn income, both for the government and for locals.  It also provides another means of transportation, where boats and ferries can travel within the country.  Along with the fishermen, who travel on the river for fishing, you can also find tourists traveling on the river to visit different places.

The reason why the tourists always travel through the fresh water section of the river is to watch the wild animals.  There are many different animals along the river, like the hippopotamus, the crocodiles, the monkeys, and different kinds of lizards.  You also have antelopes and hyenas, but they are very rare to see beside the river.  When it comes to birds, you can also see lots of birds there.  Rollers, kingfishers, storks, herons, vultures, darters, hammerkops, pelicans, and many, many more.  I can't finish counting all of them, both birds and animals, that you can see along that river.  Have a look at this blog to see some of the birds in the Gambia.  Some of the animals are very friendly, and some of them you can tame to become so friendly with people.

The hippopotamus in The Gambia river 

For the monkeys, if you want to become a friend with them, the best thing you can do is make sure you take food or fruit.  They like fruit, such as mangoes or bananas.  If you have that fruit with you and show it to them, you will see them coming closer and closer - and there you are, friendship started!  But when the fruit is finished, that is the end of the friendship.  Though they will still hang around to see whether you still have more fruit for them.  There is a certain area in the Gambia where monkeys are always being fed by people.  Because they are used to this, at times when they see people they will come closer, trying to look at you, doing something that you think may be somehow scary.  But they are not going to bite you or do anything, they are just looking for fruit, because people always give them fruit.

Crocodiles in the River Gambia

For that of crocodiles, if you want you can give them food that they like, for example fish, or any kind of meat.  But they don't behave like monkeys.

We have hyenas but most of them are kept in the park.  We also have antelopes, some are kept in the park, but you will find the majority of them in the forest.  So these are a few animals that I have mentioned so far.  They are not the only animals, but in terms of popularity, these are the main ones I have seen in the Gambia.  If you want to see those kinds of animals, you can join me or pay a visit to the Gambia.  It is a very friendly nation, full of tourists, peaceful, and you will have a warm welcome there.