1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

Being integrated into nature and see the wildlife and natural surroundings in all their beauty. Sat outside our lodge with our feet in the water watching pelicans coming in to land on the river-cannot be put into words.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Be prepared to share your holiday with nature and don't expect anything other than basic amenities. Part of the beauty is no shops, hotel style facilities etc. Be open minded about trying new things and visiting places off the beaten track and you will love it.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

Very much so. All the people employed at the lodge were local people and the lodge was perfectly set into the mangroves without causing any damage to the environment. The local school children are benefiting still as we are doing a fundraiser to pay for a new rope net for their climbing frame!

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

Truly perfect. The manager Solo was an excellent host and our trip along the coast with him to the Senegal border was an unbelievable experience. We saw so much wildlife and took a walk with a local bird guide who was simply brilliant at identifying everything from vultures and eagles to parrots and hornbills. This is a place truly within nature and will leave a lasting impression forever. We can't wait to go back and take Solo up on his 'tour of Senegal offer!'

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

The beauty of the nature, the tranquillity and the outstanding hospitality of the people made my visit very special. I even extended my stay to more than one week. We had boat trips on the Gambia River, saw pelicans, dolphins, mungos, huge lizards, monkeys, crocodiles, ..., joined fishermen during their work, watched dance and drum performances of the local community and enjoyed wonderful and fresh food.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Leave the busy tourist centers at the coast and visit this lodge with its unspoiled environment.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

The lodge is built, run and managed exclusively by inhabitants of Bintang and surrounding villages, the food is bought from the villagers and the local community sells handicraft at the shop and arranges dance performances in the night. The lodge provides water and electricty to the village and sponsors the local kindergarten and school. All buildings are nicely integrated into the mangrove forest. In my opinion, each spent Dalasi directly benefits the local community.

4. Any other comments?

Next year I will travel to this nice lodge again. Greetings from the cold south of Germany!

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

Was made very welcome by the staff and have since kept in contact with some of them. Was very comfortable wandering around the lodge alone. Genuinely sad to say goodbye.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Take mosquito wipes with you so that you can just keep wiping all the time - the little buggers don't miss an opportunity to get you!

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

Not sure about the environment but I would like to think it benefited the locals. We used the same 2 lads from the village to take us out in the boat each time and as we gave them a small tip the first time they went out of the way to show us as many different things as possible from then on. Also donated a football strip to the local village and they seemed really happy with that.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

Lovely weather, great scenery, very friendly people. If the swimming pool were up and running I would
not hesitate in coming back regularly, just lacks something like that to do when you don't have a trip out.
Having done the trips I would only be able to go back to see the people for a couple of days, 7 would be
too many with no pool or anything to fill in the time.

In general we found it no problem to get about and the Gambian people are most hospitable and friendly. On no occasion did we feel uncomfortable and we were never intimidated by anybody. We did not meet any bumsters but that may have been due to the locations we chose to stay where the activities of bumsters was frowned upon by the Gambians we met there. It would be well to point out to people who are considering a holiday in The Gambia, that one of its main products is peanuts and hence it would be dangerous for people with a peanut allergy to visit the country.

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

The position of the lodge is idyllic and is worth the 2 hour journey by taxi to get there: that in itself is a great opportunity to see unspoiled Gambia but be prepared to end the journey covered in orange red dust from the un-metalled road. It is a great opportunity to see and experience life in a Gambian village. Our visit coincided with an election and we did see the reception for the MP visiting his constituents. It was all a spontaneous real event and the dancing was certainly not staged to entertain us. Later the same day a rival political grouping visited and free political expression was evident with no animosity.

We were given a conducted tour of the village of Bintang by one of the staff, Kawsu, which enabled us to see places we would not have entered unaccompanied: at least not without invitation. We saw real village life and met some of the lodge staff doing their normal domestic work. It amazed us how a woman lifted and carried a 20 litre bowl of water, filled from a well, on her head without spilling any. A visit to the school proved to be most interesting and it is amazing what those teachers achieve with few resources. All education is in the official language, English, but most children speak only Gambian languages, mainly Mandinka, when they arrive and it was sad to note that no attention is paid to their natural languages in school. It must be a tough job for the teachers.

The staff at the lodge were extremely friendly and because we were the only visitors at the time we enjoyed our evening conversations with them and learned a lot about their lives and The Gambia. The position of the lodge enabled us to see a great number of birds as well as the marsh mongoose which we saw at dawn and dusk. The huts leave much to be desired but they do not deserve the very negative account in the 2003 edition of the Rough Guide.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

Be prepared to share your lodge with other creatures. Lizards and mice (possibly bush rats) could be heard between the thatch layers throughout the night and mouse/rat droppings were evident throughout the lodge in the morning as was mouse gnawed soap and candle. All foods should be placed securely in closed hard backed cases if you do not want them to be attacked by vermin.

Be prepared for a monotonous diet. We were asked what we would like for dinner on the first night with the option of Ladyfish or shrimps with boiled rice and a tomato/fried onion sauce. That was preceded by a small salad and followed by half a banana and some orange. We had the same choice for lunch and dinner for the rest of the stay and that was a contributing factor in our early departure. Be prepared to be asked to pay an extortionate price for 1.5 litre bottle of water. We were charged 100 Dalasies (£2) for a bottle and some of that water was necessary to clean teeth. The price was even higher than the airport and in another lodge we were charged a much more reasonable 30 Dalasies for the same brand of bottled water. Be prepared for the "running water" not to run. Fortunately a jerry can of water and a bucket was supplied so it was possible to wash the dust out of your hair but don't expect more than a trickle to come out of the shower head.

Be prepared to pay very high prices for doing anything. A bush walk with a guide costs 100 Dalasies per hour per person. At Footsteps we had a superb guide for the whole day for 200 Dalasies. A 2 hour paddle boat ride costs 600 dalasies which is quite high for 2 people. These prices should be viewed in the Gambian context where a newly qualified teacher is paid 800 Dalasies a month. We did not take the boat trip to James Island because that cost 4000 Dalasies for just 2 of us --5 months pay for a teacher! Admittedly the boat would take 10 people but when there are no other guests you have to pay the cost for 10. We did without the trip but made a substantial donation to the school instead where we thought it would be put to fairer use.

Be careful how you tip people. 10 or 25 dalasies is very acceptable but we only had high denomination notes and consequently over-tipped substantially.
Unless you are part of a larger group and can spread costs or you are prepared to pay silly prices for trips you will run out of things to do. Although the setting is superb it does get repetitive and we left after 3 full days having booked for 7.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

It is hard to say how our staying at the lodge benefited local people. Certainly there were local people working at the lodge and they got paid but that is the case with all tourism. We do not know what happened to the surplus gained from over-priced water and expensive trips which all seemed to be in the control of the lodge and as far as we could see it was all properly accounted. It was not possible to organise things without the involvement of the lodge management. A good feature is that the tips were for all the staff which means that those staff who do not interface with the visitors also get a share because they are an important part of the team. We hope our 1000 dalasies tip was shared fairly. There was little evidence that surplus income was being ploughed back into the lodge because the level of maintenance was not high. The owner has a potential gem of a place here but he must take it seriously and make proper investment to improve the place. He has some delightful people on the staff which is one of the greatest assets he has but the whole venture lacks generalship. It is unrealistic to expect a manager to search out new business opportunities: he is paid to run the place and it is not fair to expect him to develop a business strategy. That is the owner's duty and he should either take the place seriously or give somebody else the opportunity to run it.

As regards the environment little negative impact was obvious but good investment into other energy options could avoid the noise of the generator between 7 and 11pm and the expensive diesel.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

We have travelled in Africa and already have stories, though these can be added. Parts of the stay at this lodge were very enjoyable and are memorable but there are too many negatives to give us any confidence to recommend it to others and these resulted in some disappointment.

Read the operator's response here:

1.) Animals in the rooms: we are aware of this problem, which affects only one room. This room has a small gap between the wall and the roof, through which animals can come in. Should be already solved.

2.) A bottle of water is 50GMD and not 100GMD. This is written in the menu card and I don't know why Ruth claims such a high price.

3.) Prices: Mrs. Roberts forgot to mention that we charge only 11,50 per person per night including breakfast, which is a factor of 5 less than the other accommodation she stayed. Canoe trip: I don't think, that 4 Euro per person per hour is too much for a boat trip (the sculler is a very hard working man).
Motor boat trip: Fuel is in Gambia almost as expensive as in Europe and 116 Euro for a 6 hour trip covers the cost for fuel and the maintenance of the machine. All our prices are absolutely fair.

4.) Benefit to the local people: The lodge is run and managed by local people exclusively. All income remains in the community (wages, donations, reinvestments). Mrs. Roberts should have discussed this topic with people from the community.