In the wider regional surroundings of North Bank Division, Bao Bolon lies on the north bank of the Gambia River, opposite Kiang West National Park. “Bolon” is the Mandinka word for a tributary. The name connects a geographical feature with the Mandinka term for it. For travellers interested in landscape and language, this offers a distinctive insight into the wider area.

Juffureh and its historical heritage

Juffureh, in the North Bank Region, is home to a national satellite museum about the slave trade and Senegambia. In the wider regional surroundings, the World Heritage site “Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites” recalls the significant and painful era of the slave trade, its expansion and its end. The Gambia River played a special role, as it was the first trade route into the interior of Africa.

The World Heritage site comprises seven separate locations:

• the entire island of Kunta Kinteh;
• the remains of a Portuguese chapel in the village of Albreda;
• the CFAO Building, a colonial trading post in the village of Albreda;
• the Maurel Frères Building in the village of Juffureh;
• the remains of the small Portuguese settlement of San Domingo;
• Fort Bullen;
• the Six-Gun Battery.

More perspectives in the wider destination of The Gambia

In the wider destination of The Gambia, the Gambia National Museum offers another perspective on history and culture. It opened in 1985, 15 years after the Friends of the National Museum Association was founded, and is housed in an old colonial building in Banjul. In the 1920s, the building served as the Bathurst Club for European residents; later, it housed the British Council and, in the 1960s, the Legislative Assembly. From 1970 to 1985, the building was used as the Gambia National Library. The museum’s primary aims include collecting, preserving and presenting objects relating to Gambia’s material culture, as well as sharing Gambian history and culture with visitors to the country and residents.

Another focus of cultural heritage is the Stone Circles of Senegambia. The Gambian sites included in this World Heritage property are Wassu and Kerbatch; the site was inscribed in 2006 under criteria I and iii. Stone circles made of laterite pillars and their associated burial mounds form a sacred landscape that developed over more than 1,500 years. The four large groups comprise more than 1,000 monuments in a 100-km-wide strip along approximately 350 km of the Gambia River. While Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites recalls the history of the slave trade, the Stone Circles focus on the stone circles, burial mounds and sacred landscape.

Nature experiences are also part of the wider destination of The Gambia. Birdwatching tours are offered there daily; key areas include Abuko Nature Reserve, Tanji and Kiang West. The total number of bird species in Gambia’s protected areas is estimated at 560. Check current tour offerings and whether the areas are open in advance, as availability and operations may change.

Discover more destinations: Lower Niumi, Lower River, Banjul, West Coast Region, North Bank Region.

Return to the main travel overview: The Gambia.