Category: Wildlife Trips

Georgetown, Wassu Stone Circles, Hippo’s and Chimpanzee rehabilitation Tour

A tour to Georgetown is a 2 night tour where there is an opportunity to experiencethe diverse culture, tribal traditions and history of the people of the Gambia. We will travel by road towards Banjul where we will cross the river Gambia on a ferry to the north bank of Barra and make our way to Georgetown. Georgetown is a port on Mac Carthy Island on the river Gambia and is the capital of the central Gambia. It is the oldest Town in The Gambia outside Banjul. It was founded in 1823 by Captain Alexander Grant as a settlement for freed slaves. Georgetown’s Wesleyan mission (1883) introduced the peanut crop still exported downstream today. We will also visit the Wassu Stone circles. These are in Wassu in the central river region. These stones are believed to be burial mounds of kings and chiefs in ancient times over 1200 years old. The stones vary in size and are of a circular shape. The average height of the stones is 5 ½ feet. The stones are cut out of laterite which occurs in large quarry outcrops in this region. Excavations have been carried out and they found iron weapons, spear heads, arrows and knives, pottery vessels and an array of bronze ornaments.
There is a museum that was opened in 2000 situated at the stone circles in the Wassu area. Hundreds of stone circles can be found in Gambia and the Senegambia region. This scared site was declared a National Monument in 1995 and in July 2006, 93 monuments in the Senegambian region were declared by UNESCO to be a World Heritage Site.
On this tour we can visit the River Gambia National Park. (This is also known as Baboon Island}. This park is approx. 300km from Banjul. It is a rich forest full of animals and is along the Gambian river. In the middle of the Park is a group of 5 Islands. On one of these is the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation project also known as Badi Mayo camp. The rehabilitation project was started in 1969 for orphaned Chimps.These were reintroduced to the Abuko Nature Reserve. The project is now a working eco camp for visitors. Also in this area it is possible to see the hippos.