Introduction:
 Tanji
Village (also spelt Tanjeh or Tanje), often called the
Tanji Fishing Village, is close to the Atlantic Ocean
beach, in the northern section of the Kombo South District,
West Coast Region of The Gambia, in West Africa. The
settlement is 30km by road from the capital of Banjul,
and approximately 12km southwest of Kololi
resort, and adjacent to the Kombo Coastal Road. The
main ethnic
groups are Mandinka,
Wolof, Jola, and Serer, the last group are traditionally
the fisherfolk, while the former are generally engaged
in farming, crafts and petty trading. The village
centre is located about 1km from the main fishing bay.
Accommodation:
 There
are just a few places to stay in Tanji. Among them are
the Nyanya's
Beach Lodge, which is located on the shore and the
river estuary, and lies next to the fisheries centre.
It has a small beach and its main entrance is on the
main road. There is also the Kairoh
Garden Guest House, which has 18 modern, Gambian
style rows of rooms, clean and simply furnished, 10
with ensuite shower room, sink and WC.
Beach Area:
 There
are basically two types of beaches
in Tanji. The first is directly in front of the fishing
village and is a fish landing site, so it is not suitable
for swimming
or sunbathing. Because it's a very active, working beach,
you'll find it scattered with old, shredded gillnets,
sea snail shells, malodorous rotting seafood, plastic
bags and bottles, and other flotsam and jetsam, floating
on the water or resting on the shore. The air is filled
with the odour of smoked fish; an unimaginable number
of flies swarm around fresh or discarded seafood, seagulls
hover overhead looking for scraps, fishermen land their
afternoon catch from long African pirogues, passing
buckets of catch onto the heads of local women, who
then ferry it to the shore. Activity is frenzied and
messy, but surprisingly efficient.
To the north of Tanji fishing village, after the bridge,
is the Karinti Bird
Reserve, where the coastline has a few sand bars
and lagoons, where the  beach
is far cleaner and relatively deserted, but access is
often hindered by dense, scrub woodland. About 1km south
of the fishing village, the bay's strand is more of
what you would expect as holiday standard; clean, white
sands, backed by a strip of palms and shoreline scrub.
You will see the occasional passerby or meandering herd
of cows.
General Area:
 To
the north of the main settlement the area is characterised
by riverine mangroves of the Tanji River, sand banks,
salt-flats lagoons, lily pools, dry woodland, and coastal
dune scrub. To the south of the river are residential
compounds, interspersed with trees, farmland, shoreline
fisheries
structures, and strand. The village's main road leads
inland from the main freeway, which itself passes close
to the Atlantic Ocean, just south of the small, mangrove-fringed
river.
Tourist Attractions & Things To Do:
• Camel Riding
 Pepe's
is a long established operation which was started from
the compound of the Spanish Captain of the tour boat,
M/V Joven Antonio. Pepe's Tanji Camel
Safaris offers guided camel rides along the beach
to tourists, with each dromedary carrying up to two
riders for half or one hour, and you finish off with
a beach barbecue and drinks. There are a few restrictions
on those allowed to ride such as children below 8, and
people with bodily complaints.
•
Village Museum
The privately run Tanji
Village Museum is made up of grass thatched mud
huts that hold the exhibits of ethnographic artifacts,
such as traditional musical instruments, and antique
furniture.  The
displays are labelled with helpful accompanying descriptions
of each. There is also a photo gallery section on various
birds, fish, Gambian plant species and their medicinal
properties, as well as local history and culture. Visitors
can also chat and intermingle with the various craftsmen
working at their stations. There is also a nature track
and a handicrafts area, plus a restaurant. The museum
sometimes puts on live music; and there is also guest
accommodation.
• Bird
Watching
Going north, at the start of the bridge is the Karinti
Bird Reserve, whose southern boundary encloses the
tidal, saline reaches of the small Tanji River, and
encompasses the Bald Cape promontory, and the Bijol
Islands (Kajonyi), which itself is situated almost
1 mile from the Atlantic Ocean shoreline. Together,
both areas provide a broad range of superb habitats
for bird watching, such as lagoons, riverine, sandbanks,
salt-flats, mangrove and coastal scrub.
Among the Palearctic migratory and resident bird species
you can find here are waders, raptors and seabirds,
such as White Straight Crested Helmetshrike, Ruddy Turnstone,
Sandwich Terns, Subalpine Warblers, Dominican Gulls,
White-fronted Plovers, Palm-nut Vultures, Whistling
Cisticolas, Common Nightingales, Northern Crombecs,
Pelicans, Yellow-crowned Gonoleks and Four-banded Sand
Grouse. On Bijol Islands you might be able to spot,
among other species, Western Reef Herons, Royal Terns
and Grey-headed Caspian Terns.
• Wildlife
Spotting
Within the locality of Bijol
Islands are reptiles, invertebrates and mammals,
such as minke whales, bottle-nose dolphins, fiddler
crabs, green turtles, birds, upside down jelly fish,
sand crabs, ghost crabs, mud skippers, Atlantic Humpback
Dolphins, bushbuck, Clawless otter, Senegal bushbaby,
and Gambian mongoose. Access to the island itself is
restricted to research purposes only. On the mainland
side of the reserve you might spot Patas Monkeys, Porcupines,
Bushbucks, Western Red Colobus Monkeys and other animals.
• Tanji Community Fisheries
Centre
 The
harbour was upgraded and finally inaugurated in 2001.
The centre is one of the seven major coastal artisanal
fishing communities in the Gambia, and is at the centre
of the local economy. It was developed with grant-in-aid
to the tune of US$ 4.5 million from the Japanese government.
Among the facilities here are an ice-plant, chill room,
refrigerated trucks, smoking houses, fishmongers' sales
area. Three dozen or so people are directly employed
here, with a further 2,000 people engaged in activities
linked to the fishing village. The species which are
most often smoked are Shads, marine Catfish, Barracuda,
Sharks and round and flat Sardinella spp. Eighty percent
of the landings consists of Bonga (shad); 40% of which
are preserved by smoking. The curing with firewood is
done by hired men and a portion of the smoked fish is
exported to neighbouring West African countries like
Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal. In view of the huge quantities
of shad caught here, Tanji has long been called the
'Bonga Capital of The Gambia'.
The most prominent features of the fishing market are
its dim, shad smoking sheds, lines of majestic African
pirogues parked onshore -  decorated
in bright geometric shapes, hired hands and housewives
lining the shore, waiting for the afternoon catch, fishmongers
and customers haggling over prices, wheelbarrow boys
with mounds of fish and women making a living as carriers
of buckets of the fishermen's' catch. You can try and
visit one of the curing sheds, and watch the preservation
process, amid the smoke and pungent kipper like aroma.
There is a small general market incorporated into the
seaside town selling plastic bags, bowls and other small
goods. Bargain hunters regularly visit the site as the
seafood sold here is generally cheaper here than those
in the inland markets of the Kombos.
• Restaurants
& Beach Bars
Nyanya's Beach Lodge 4414021
Village
Museum 992 6618
Kairoh Garden 9903526
Health & Safety:
Tanji is in a rural area of The Gambia, so you need
to take care regarding going alone at night into unfamiliar
territory. All the major health facilities are some
distance from here, so you need to be vigilant with
regards to your health. Don't drink the water straight
from the tap in the village, as it may be contaminated;
instead you can use a water filter, or boil the water
first. Protect yourself against insect bites and stings,
and only wear thick trousers and boots when venturing
into areas of high vegetation; this is to avoid any
nasty surprises from spiders and other harmful creatures.
Travel Information:
 To
get to Tanji fishing village you can take a taxi van
from Serrekunda,
which comes directly to the rural community, with no
getting off in between. From Kololi or Kotu you can
also make your way along the Kombo
Coastal Road to Brusubi, then change for one of
the taxis going southwest to the settlement.
[Geographical coordinates 13.3500° N, 16.7833°
W / Kombo South, Western Region] |
