Kotu Things to Do

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Kotu is in the heart of the tourist area.
The Gambian coast is very short, just 50km so its easy to see the attractions along here.
Going in land is more complicated and we didnt have enough time.

Heres what we did:

-Monkey Park, (Bijilo forest park) Kololi - you can walk along the beach to here from Kotu. Walk all the way, about 30mins to Senegambia hotel, walk through the hotel (not meant to but no one checks) and then off he side road off Seengambia road and eventually you will see the monkey park.
Its 40 dalasis (£1) each to get in and you have to (maybe not if request not to) take a guide. We tipped 25 dalasis for his hours work.
There are 4 routes you can take around the forest, the green being the shortest, about an hour. You will see birds and 2 types of monkey - red and green.
Its ok, quite good fun.
-Crocodile pool, Bakau - get a taxi from Kotu, should be able to for 100 dalasis. It may seem the taxi driver is taking you down some dodgy back street but thats where its located. The pool has 100 crocs in it. You pay 50 dalasis (£1.10) each to go into a museum. As you exit the museum, you walk through some wooded area and suddenly you walking past crocodiles with no barrier keeping you from them! which is a bit of a shock at first, but theyre not that big (largest is 2metres) and they are usually just sun bathing! a guide will evetually come up and ask to take you around and tell you some stuff and you can take pics shaking hands with the crocs! tip the guide 50 dalasis.
-Walking the beach - the beach is pleasant enough for a walk, just expect to be hassled by sellers of fruits, bars, restaurants, the whole walk. Walking to Kololi from Kotu is about 30mins.
-Sunset - being on the west coast, sun sets are pretty decent although we didnt happen to see a mind blowing one. From the palm beach hotel, it disappears behind some trees so you may need to move.
-Go to a local football match if you can. i had a contact from Senegambia and he took us to a semi final (the equivilent of the english FA cup) match which was a great experience - 25 dalasis (50p) to get in, about 3k people there, non stop singing and dancing. They won on penalties and the fans went wild! great experience.
-Serekunda/Serekunda market - Serekunda is the 'big smoke' of the area - a hustle and bustle of a 'city' with a large market. a good place to people watch. Beware of scams (see tourist traps). We sat in a cafe just a 5min walk from the market on the Sukuta road and peopple watched, good fun. We then just walked back towards Fajara. A taxi to Serekunda was 175 dalasi but should probably have got for 100/125.
-Tanji-a fishing village about 15km south - worth a stop to see the fish smoke houses and people bringing in the fish.
-Sanyang-another tiny village with a nice beach and fishing village. Theres a handful of bars on the beach - nice place to chill out, a good quieter alternative to Kotu and the northern part of the coast.
-Jinack island (sometimes spelt Ginack)- See my Ginack Niji page on VT. This place is a 1hour boat ride from Banjul. Its classed as a 'desert island' - mainly as its just got 4 villages on it and a handful of tourist lodges each with just a handful of rooms, and yet the island is about 11km long and 2km wide, separated from the mainland by a creek. The island is owed by the village elders - there are no vehicles here and police/government do not venture here.
The attraction is the tranquility, its so quiet - perfect for getting away from it all, and all those Kotu husslers. It not paradise as in turquoise waters, the beach is similar to Kotu except you will have 11km of beach all to yourself! (maybe a few cows too).
The island is 2/3 in Gambia, 1/3 in Senegal, there is no border crossing, you can just walk across an invisible border.
The lodge staff can organise a pick up from Kotu/the coast but they charge alot and you could do it yourself much easier/cheaper, although the lodge will likely need to send a boat out to get you from Banjul.
For me, it was a perfect getaway on the island, the lodge could do with some more work, but after the bustle of Kotu, this was well worth the effort.