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All Real Africa

Welcome to the Garden Guest House. Here we will explain as much as possible about our holidays in The Gambia, on the smiling coast of west Africa. We offer you an ecologically sound alternative to the usual hotel or 'luxury safari' rip-offs. We are first and foremost about 'reality' and are not stuffy, nor pretentious. We believe in giving you real value for money and a genuine experience of this country, it's culture and it's wonderful people. The 'Real Gambia' experience.

Unlike the hotels, we do not try to pass off on you any psuedo culture. We always offer you access to the real thing.
Here you will easily make new friends with local people. Our manager, Haruna will be your best friend and advise you about other people you meet. Even if you happen to be here on your own you'll never feel lonely, neighbours and friends of ours will look after you and keep you company.

We offer you the opportunity to live in a normal house, much like any others in the area. Living in with the local community, amongst the people; you will not be divorced from them, as you would be enclosed in an hotel that could be anywhere on the planet. But you still have a very secure and happy environment.

The Gambians still live in the extended family and call their home a kunda or compound. Our neighbours the Ceesay family live in the Ceesay kunda. We live in the Garden Guesthouse, and all the people staying with us here, mirror the extended families around us, we live like them, in our own kunda.

We have been in business connected to West Africa since the late 80's and have been running holidays here since 1994. We have a wealth of experience and have all the right contacts to make sure you have an excellent holiday here.
We are offering you a package that allows you to have your own unique experience, exploring this country and it's culture, whilst being quietly and expertly looked after in the background.

Our website is geared to what most people want, most of the time; a 2 week half board holiday. However, we can be very flexible about lengths of stay and other details as is explained on the rates page.

But first of all, take some time to explore our website. You'll find lots of information about the guest house and Real Africa holidays, about Bakau our town, about The Gambia and the West African peoples. The site features photo galleries, live music recordings and video clips as well as a link to The Gambia Echo for the latest Gambian news, plus links to other information of interest. And if you still want to know more, just email or call us.

Rooms face on to our bahama-grass lawns which have both shady and sunny areas for you to relax in. Windows have mosqito nets and curtains; doors have curtains and individual padlocks. Rooms have mosquito-netted double beds, pillows, sheets, blanket, built-in wardrobe and shower area. You can always boil water, for the occassional hot wash, but most of the time you will prefer a cooler shower at tap temperature, which is never cold.

Cultural insights:
Whilst here you will be part of the local community. As such you will gain insights into culture and tribal customs that would not be open to you if you were at one of the hotels. We get invited to naming and 'right of passage' ceremonies, weddings and to other compounds as friends, rather than as tourists. The natural friendliness of the people may overwhelm you at first. Europeans are not used to this open-hearted warmth and generousity of spirit. You will also meet genuine 'griots' [Jalis: the Bards or minstrels, who carry the histories of the tribes. See 'Jalis' tab & links page for more info..] at their homes or at our place.

Food:
Our kitchen is fully equipped with fridge, cooker, juicer, electric kettle, cutlery, cooking pots, crockery, double sink and built in cupboards. We keep it stocked with tea, coffee, local herb teas, fruit, jam and marmite, margarine and bread. You can help yourself at any time. Nyima, our chef and good friend, arrives around 5pm daily to clean the kitchen. Whilst she cooks for us, our guests may choose to learn from her about African cuisine. Nyima will invite you to both her husband's compound and her mother's, where you could learn more about cooking in West Africa.

After dinner Nyima recleans the kitchen and washes up. Nyima makes traditional Gambian dishes, as well as a few western ones, but we speciaise in vegetarian versions, which are very hard to find in West Africa. If you look at the state of the meat in the market, with the sun beating down on it and clouds of flies all over it, you would have to agree that it is safer to be vegetarian while here. We have guests who come specifically for our famous veggie / vegan food, but if no vegetarians are staying while you are here and you are an uncompromising carnivore, we will do our best to serve you.

Nyima always listens to our guests feedback about her meals. If they are too spicy, or whatever, you have to let her know, so she can adapt to your tastes. If this means getting meat and/or fish she will be happy to do so, but if you get Banjul belly it's entirely your own fault! She may also ask you to cover the small extra expense involved. Just chat with her about it and you'll soon sort things out to suit you.

Our dinners always have a choice of sauces: spicy, plain tasty or both. Our neighbour Moro, sometimes brings us a very nice fish, straight from the sea to our fridge before flies get on it, so it's safe to eat. Fish is the best non veg compromise as it's easier for Nyima to ensure it is fresh and clean. If you are here on your own, you will notice that the meals are rather substantial.

Nyima is a woman of Africa, which means she is used to cooking for large numbers i.e. whole extended families. It's not so easy for her to cook for only one person. By all means tell her to cook less if you have too much. We don't want to waste food. The other option is to ask the friends you are bound to make to join you for the evening meal.

Drinking water:
In most of the Greater Banjul Area, the water supply system is fed from deep bore holes; it is adequately chlorinated and considered safe for drinking, just as in UK . However, if you are already used to drinking only bottled water, it is available from supermarkets and some local corner shops. 'Naturelle' is The Gambia's own mineral water bottled by Gamwater in Kanifing. All our guests have been drinking the local tap water, none of them have been ill, most prefer it to UK tap water.

Our Beach:
Arguably the best beach in the country, it is 'right on our door step,' only10 minutes walk from your room and that is not exaggerated estate agent talk! The walk is a pleasant one through the countryside just on the edge of town. You come out on to the end of Kofi Annan Road, near the Italian restaurant opposite a small mosque, at Cape point, also known as Cape St Mary.

There is also a supermarket in this road called St Mary's. The beach has miles of sand bordered by mangrove and nothing else. From 'our beach' you can walk around the headland, exploring th

Contact Details

Address:	The Garden Guest House, 2a Tuman Street, Katchically, Bakau, The Gambia, West Africa.
Telephone	+44(0)1234 270373
Website:	www.realafrica.net