New Year - Gambia or Kenya
Discussion
Me and Mrs Torque are taking our 7 year old grandson away for New Year. We want somewhere beachy and have narrowed it down to Kenya or Gambia (as we've left it late all other options seem horribly expensive). Whilst Kenka looks better we'd have to fly on the 30th December meaning Jnr Torque would miss two days off school, so Gambia is looking more likely. Do any of you have experience of the beach hotels in both countries and is there anything we should know?
DO NOT GO TO GAMBIA. it is a s
thole.
Having spent a lot of time in both, Kenya wins hands down. Try to get to Diani, south of Mombassa. It is stunning there. An acquaintance of mine has some guest houses on a private plot, right on the beach. He also runs a beach restaurant and a restaurant in a cave. Consider a safari - Mara Intrepids is a great camp. Book it locally and save a fortune.
I repeat, do not go to Gambia. Banjul is utterly disgusting. The tourist area with a few hotels (I forget its name now) is horrid and filled with looky looky men that will NEVER you alone. The beach has vicious rip tides and is not patrolled. Just avoid the place like the plague.
ETA. Re The Gambia. Serekunda is the touristy bit, where most hotels are located. The Kairaba Beach hotel is just about OK if you do not leave the grounds under any circumstances. The looky looky men (colloquially known as "bumsters") will mob you from dawn to dusk and will persist no matter how forcefully you tell them "no".
As I said previously, the beach at Serekunda has a vicious offshore rip and is (certainly when we were there a few years ago) un-patrolled. Both my wife and I are very strong swimmers (PADI qualified, with the swimming requirements that come with that) and we were pulled offshore in a rip within a few minutes of bathing in the sea. It was a hell of a swim to get back to my depth to enable me to secure us both. I would strongly advise against children swimming in the sea there due to this.
Another thing to bear in mind is the female sex tourism that happens in The Gambia. Typically those who extoll its virtues are divorced Middle England ladies looking for a bit of indigenous. Yes, sex tourism happens all over the world, but it is quite obvious there.
I am pretty well travelled across all continents and have been to and seen some pretty alternative and / or unpleasant places through either work or pleasure and, hand on heart, The Gambia is somewhere that I will absolutely not return to. It has no redeeming features whatsoever.
thole. Having spent a lot of time in both, Kenya wins hands down. Try to get to Diani, south of Mombassa. It is stunning there. An acquaintance of mine has some guest houses on a private plot, right on the beach. He also runs a beach restaurant and a restaurant in a cave. Consider a safari - Mara Intrepids is a great camp. Book it locally and save a fortune.
I repeat, do not go to Gambia. Banjul is utterly disgusting. The tourist area with a few hotels (I forget its name now) is horrid and filled with looky looky men that will NEVER you alone. The beach has vicious rip tides and is not patrolled. Just avoid the place like the plague.
ETA. Re The Gambia. Serekunda is the touristy bit, where most hotels are located. The Kairaba Beach hotel is just about OK if you do not leave the grounds under any circumstances. The looky looky men (colloquially known as "bumsters") will mob you from dawn to dusk and will persist no matter how forcefully you tell them "no".
As I said previously, the beach at Serekunda has a vicious offshore rip and is (certainly when we were there a few years ago) un-patrolled. Both my wife and I are very strong swimmers (PADI qualified, with the swimming requirements that come with that) and we were pulled offshore in a rip within a few minutes of bathing in the sea. It was a hell of a swim to get back to my depth to enable me to secure us both. I would strongly advise against children swimming in the sea there due to this.
Another thing to bear in mind is the female sex tourism that happens in The Gambia. Typically those who extoll its virtues are divorced Middle England ladies looking for a bit of indigenous. Yes, sex tourism happens all over the world, but it is quite obvious there.
I am pretty well travelled across all continents and have been to and seen some pretty alternative and / or unpleasant places through either work or pleasure and, hand on heart, The Gambia is somewhere that I will absolutely not return to. It has no redeeming features whatsoever.
Edited by schmalex on Monday 26th August 22:33
Spent a few days in Gambia a couple of months back. Didn't seem quite as bad as made out in the earlier post, but definitely a bit manky. Certainly wouldn't take the kids there. Nothing to do outwith the resort, the beach was pretty dirty and badly eroded so I can believe that the currents are pretty strong. And the sex tourism was very apparent. Once it had been pointed out, you could see it in every bar and restaurant - middle aged women fawning over their young studs. Grim.
Been problems there recently too apparently - folk started noticing that the exchange rate was dropping and food & fuel prices increasing. After the muttering started, the beloved president made it illegal to criticise the state with up to five years in prison. What else would you expect from a man who stripped the wild animals from the Banjul national park (one of the few tourist attractions) because he thought they would look better in his palace garden...
Been problems there recently too apparently - folk started noticing that the exchange rate was dropping and food & fuel prices increasing. After the muttering started, the beloved president made it illegal to criticise the state with up to five years in prison. What else would you expect from a man who stripped the wild animals from the Banjul national park (one of the few tourist attractions) because he thought they would look better in his palace garden...
schmalex said:
DO NOT GO TO GAMBIA. it is a sthole.
I repeat, do not go to Gambia. filled with looky looky men that will NEVER you alone.
The looky looky men (colloquially known as "bumsters") will mob you from dawn to dusk and will persist no matter how forcefully you tell them "no".
I agree, it's a place I would never return to, but on the hassle thing: You're doing it wrong. thole. I repeat, do not go to Gambia. filled with looky looky men that will NEVER you alone.
The looky looky men (colloquially known as "bumsters") will mob you from dawn to dusk and will persist no matter how forcefully you tell them "no".
In any country wherever you get approached repeatedly by undesirables just act like you don't speak any language they would understand. The cleverer ones usually start with "Where have you come from?" Simply say "Iceland" and watch them melt away.
If they don't ask, just tell them in badly broken English you're from 'Sveden' or somewhere like that, make some gibberish up or even take some genuine quotes with you.
Hours of fun, lots of peace and quiet.
I doubt it, people don't change that quick.
While we were there:
In our compound
Someones room was burgled.
Outside it someone was mugged.
If you left the prison camp you had to pay and take security with you to stop you being hassled/attacked.
The beggars even inside the compound were unappreciative of any gifts or money.
A day out sea fishing turned out to be a small motorised dingy with 4 couples on it, of course, no toilet, most of us had some kind of stomach upset by then from dirty food.
The er 'captain' in charge had no patience with the non-fishermen/women then demanded I paid him for the Barracuda I caught! I said I'd return the next day to pay him, took the fish back to the prison camp and asked them to simply roast it for everyone to share - it was the only decent meal we were going to get. Everyone who wanted to tucked in, even the staff, they charged me afterwards....
The room had wires hanging out of fittings and switches, broken sharp tiles and rusting leaking fittings in the shower, dirty towels on day one.
The rep advised how many cigs and tobacco we could buy and take home, we followed her advise closely.
The Gambians put our luggage on the wrong plane, it went to a different airport, customs opened our luggage, took the undeclared excessive cigs and tobacco.
I think there was more, that's all I can remember, I blocked out the rest.
While we were there:
In our compound
Someones room was burgled.
Outside it someone was mugged.
If you left the prison camp you had to pay and take security with you to stop you being hassled/attacked.
The beggars even inside the compound were unappreciative of any gifts or money.
A day out sea fishing turned out to be a small motorised dingy with 4 couples on it, of course, no toilet, most of us had some kind of stomach upset by then from dirty food.
The er 'captain' in charge had no patience with the non-fishermen/women then demanded I paid him for the Barracuda I caught! I said I'd return the next day to pay him, took the fish back to the prison camp and asked them to simply roast it for everyone to share - it was the only decent meal we were going to get. Everyone who wanted to tucked in, even the staff, they charged me afterwards....
The room had wires hanging out of fittings and switches, broken sharp tiles and rusting leaking fittings in the shower, dirty towels on day one.
The rep advised how many cigs and tobacco we could buy and take home, we followed her advise closely.
The Gambians put our luggage on the wrong plane, it went to a different airport, customs opened our luggage, took the undeclared excessive cigs and tobacco.
I think there was more, that's all I can remember, I blocked out the rest.
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