Over the years I have been visiting The Gambia, the pool situated behind the Badala Park hotel has gone from a great birding spot to one that was virtually in accessible and now, back to brilliant!
The main attraction to me is that it's one of two spots in the locality that's excellent for Greater Painted Snipe which is a real favourite of mine.
Painted Snipe are a rather cautious bird so getting good views isn't easy but on my very first visit I managed to spot one.
A female who had just had a bath.
She didn't notice me at first and I was able to get closer
but she must have heard the camera shutter and decided to move!
Still it was a great start!
A large part of the pool is filled with reeds and that's where many of the birds, including the Snipe often hide out. Hundreds of Cattle Egrets choose it as their overnight roost too but on one visit I also spotted a Purple Heron in there, the only one I saw in TG this year too.
There was plenty of open water though and along the muddy margins there were several species of waders including the elegant Black-winged Stilt.
There was a pair that stayed for the duration I was there.
A couple of Wood Sandpipers and a Greenshank appeared to be more or less permanent residents too and both species allowed really close approach despite me sitting out in the open.
You never seem to get this close in the UK, certainly not when in open view anyway.
Fishing further out in the pond was a Little Grebe which didn't get quite as close but presumably because the water was too shallow.
but you could still get those low level shots that are not possible from many of the places I visit at home.
My favourite shots though, well beside the Snipe, were of a pair of Speckled Pigeons that dropped in for a drink.
Not often you get an opportunity like this one!
Another species I was delighted to get close to was Marsh Sandpiper
A rather elegant fine billed bird and one I hadn't been able to photograph as well as I would have liked to in the past.
This one just ignored me!
A Great Egret dropped by on one visit.
The setting sun giving me a problem with exposing the whites but the reflections on the pool were lovely.
It was the Snipe that kept dragging me back though, I was determined I could do better. On several visits I failed to locate them but the one day I got lucky, well sort of!
I had sneaked up on the feeding bird noticed when suddenly a Cattle Egret flew in so low the bird panicked and flew off!
Curses! I stood up and walked back to the open end of the pool and casually walked out to my favoured spot to photograph the waders.
Stupid me hadn't noticed there she was, sat on the edge of the water, right out in the open.
With a quick shake she was off again.
Ah well, can't win 'em all!
I have lost count of the times I have been to The Gambia but for wife Claire and I it ticks all the boxes. Not too far to travel from the UK, low cost packages are available, winter sun and fabulous birding. When we returned from our very expensive but ultimately disappointing trip to the Far East I immediately checked out the internet to see what was available and found a 2 week package tour with Thomas Cook and staying at our new favourite hotel, The Bakutu, for less than £1200 B&B for the two of us, I grabbed it.
Why suffer the miserable British winter if you don't have to?
With one eye on our total budget I set off with little intention of taking a guided trip, I might take a taxi somewhere I knew if I got bored with the local birding, but I wasn't prepared to pay large amounts to see places I have already been to. Having stayed in the Kotu area of The Gambia I know exactly where to go and what to expect,,,, or do I ?!
Dependant on what time of year you visit you will find a different scene. By January the rice crops in the local fields have been gathered and the paddy fields have dried out. One or two might still be holding some water, and as it gets hotter, water is harder to find and as such these pools can be magnets for some species.I was delighted to find one such pool very close to Kotu Bridge which on my first morning gave me excellent views of African Spoonbill
and during the course of the week several other species too!
Cattle Egret
Wood Sandpiper
Squacco Heron
Little Egret
Intermediate Egret.
Some were regulars but others such as the Spoonbill and this Striated Heron were one off opportunities.
When you are staying locally it can get a bit monotonous walking the same paths every day, in fact the same paths you have walked many times before this trip, but you never know what might turn up and sometimes you get lucky.
To find a pool like this, so close to our hotel, where you can get up close and personal with your subject is why I keep on going back.
Great White Egret.
This isn't the only pool though, slightly further to walk but just as productive is the Badala pool.
TBC
After almost a month our journey was coming to an end, our guide in India, well aware that there were a lot of dissatisfied customers amongst the three coaches decided to arrange a night out in Delhi for our final evening. This meant we had to start our journey back from Jaipur fairly early as it was a long drive again, over 6 hours.
A benefit along the way though was a loo break and to my delight there were some good birds in the garden area!
These Red-wattled Lapwings appeared everywhere we'd been in India but not as close as this one!
A hunting White-throated Kingfisher was equally confiding
and the Olive-backed Sunbird was one I hadn't photographed before.
Back on the coach we arrived back at our hotel in Dwarka early afternoon with time to get ready for a 6.00pm departure in to Delhi for our final nights complimentary cultural show and dinner.
The show was OK, in fact I quite enjoyed it but the dinner, an outdoor BBQ under the stars had a sting in the tail. Luckily, it was 48 hours later when "Delhi Belly" struck and I had arrived back home. It must have been the BBQ because quite a few people who were there suffered. I remember remarking to Claire that they didn't seem to be leaving food on the coals for very long before serving them and one kebab I tried eating was cold in the middle. I left the rest but it only takes a mouthful. Had we been at the front of the queue perhaps the food would have been cooked a lot longer than for those of us at the back!
Travelling in and out of Delhi added another 3 hours driving to our day and by the time we got to bed it was late. Still, unlike the majority on the tour, we had opted for regional airports in the UK and our flight didn't leave until 9.00pm whereas most had to be on their way to the airport by around 7.00am!
The hotel's breakfast area was a lot less crowded by 9.00am but it still took forever to order an omelette, they want £40 to extend the checkout by 4 hours and around £12 for a day's WiFi.
There is no way I'd recommend anyone to stay there, they are in my opinion, manipulating their Trip Advisor reports too. Strange that all those 5 star reviews, over 50 for december, were written by first time posters and the handful written by others gave poor reviews.
Ah well, we were stuck there for the day. Having experienced the travel in to Delhi we decided it wasn't worth the risk of arriving back late and missing the collection for the airport or indeed our flight.
I spent the morning wandering in a small local park whilst Claire sat by the pool. A low key end to this mammoth trip.
Would we recommend it to anyone else?
No, I'm afraid not.
We felt that we were deceived by the brochure and that the travel company didn't deliver what was promised.
With hindsight trying to take in so many countries in one trip is probably not a good idea either. It's a better idea to stay longer and split it in to two holidays. You get better value for your VISA and the you spend less time on travelling from A to B. Less travel also means cost saving too.
We ended up sending a letter of complaint to our tour company who responded with an offer of compensation amounting to 4% of the cost. It was rejected by nearly all those who complained and in fairness the company came back with an enhanced offer of almost 7% which was deemed acceptable. However, what was done was done and we'd have preferred to have had a properly organised tour, we didn't embark on it seeking a refund but we did expect value for money.
That said we do have some special memories. The Great Wall of China with no crowds, the incredible Bullet Train and the Taj Mahal were all exceptional. We also met some lovely people too.
