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Gambia's Kololi Resort & Senegambia
Strip |
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Back in the 1970's the Kololi
holiday resort area began as a quiet Gambian village
located several kilometres from the coast and of no great tourist
importance. Today it, along with
Kotu, is at the very heart of
the countries tourism industry. During the tourist season from October
to April the area comes to life and is buzzing with tourists, night
life and bumsters! Kololi Village has now grown right up to the
coastal road and can expand no further. After years of darkness along
the coastal highway new street lights were installed in 2006 which
start all the way in Fajara and go all the way to the airport as well
as Brufut making it a little more secure for tourists to venture out on
foot at night.
The Senegambia strip
(see
photos) is
the road leading from the Senegambia hotel which is packed with
restaurants, night clubs, bars, bureau de change etc, and is the
liveliest area during the high season. The strip was named after the
first major tourist hotel in Kololi which was the
Senegambia which is
next to the Kairaba Hotel.
Beach Area
The beach is very wide filled with soft, golden
sand after a project had managed to replenish it through "beach
nourishment" after it had suffered from years of coastal erosion. There are plenty of beach
bars and fruit stalls which dot the coastline and who are inspected
and regulated by the Tourism Authority. These are convenient places to
chat with some of the locals. In 2004 the resort's beach was nourished
(replenished)
with 1 million cubic meters of sand over 1.5km of its length with a
width of 120 meters. This was done to reverse previous coastal erosion
that had seriously compromised the Senegambia resort area's ability to continue
to attract large numbers of tourists.
Dining Out
The area is dotted with numerous
restaurants offering a wide
variety of menus. The restaurant types include
 food such as
Thai, Chinese, Indian Gambian, Lebanese, Italian and French. If you
want to try some real local cuisine then you might be better off
trying the village just a stones throw from the strip in some of the
private local restaurants or along the Palma Rima road heading away
from the beach.
Craft
Market
 This is located on the strip and has over 120 stalls
selling tourist souvenirs such as batiks and tie-dye, wood carvings (djembe drums & masks),
African jewellery, and leather accessories.
Tel: 993
2147
Kololi Village Art Gallery
 This is a privately run operation
which displays and sells Gambian sculptures, paintings and photographs
for local artists. Special lectures are also organised as it is
intended to be also used as a focal point for established and aspiring
local craft professionals. There is a local bar & restaurant on the
site.
Tel: 446 3646
Women's Skills Centre
The project was the brainchild of two
German visitors who set it up back in 1997 and its goals are to help
young women from the village acquire skills in sewing and design, Batik and
tie dye, embroidery and other handicrafts as well as teaching them how
to speak English.
Other Activities
The area within the Senegambia Hotels is in
fact quite a good birdwatching area as the managers have maintained
the large garden area with one of the aims to attract local birds. The
other area that is very close to the hotel is Bijilo Forest Park is
only a 5 minute walk and is teaming with many bird species and various
types of Vervet monkeys
Other Travel Information
To get to
Kololi from the airport you drive east until the roundabout then
continue north past Bijilo along the coastal road for a further 4 km.
Kololi's
geographical coordinates: 13° 25' 38" North, 16° 40' 58" West.
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