Discover North Bank Division

On the north bank of the Gambia River, in the wider regional area, lies Bao Bolon, opposite Kiang West National Park. “Bolon” is the Mandinka word for a tributary.

River landscape and regional orientation

The river landscape provides a distinctive point of reference for finding your way around this part of Gambia. In the wider regional area, the Gambia River was especially important because it formed the first trade route into the interior of Africa. This connects the river’s geographical setting with its historical role as a transport route.

Cultural history in the wider area

In Juffureh in the North Bank Region, there is a national satellite museum dedicated to the slave trade and Senegambia. The World Heritage site “Kunta Kinteh Island and Related Sites” comprises seven separate locations in the wider regional area: the entire island of Kunta Kinteh, the remains of a Portuguese chapel and a colonial warehouse (CFAO Building) 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, and the Six-Gun Battery.

The individual components range from an island and buildings in villages to settlement remains and fortifications. This helps visitors understand the World Heritage site as a group of separate locations rather than equating it with a single monument. The sites are located at the mouth of the Gambia River and are connected with its development into a major commercial waterway between the interior, the coast, and more distant regions.

Gambia in the wider context

Across the wider destination of Gambia, Kunta Kinteh Island and its Related Sites recall the important and painful era of the slave trade, as well as its expansion and eventual end. This history forms part of the wider context of the sites and is also connected with the historical importance of the Gambia River as a trade route.

The Gambia National Museum in Banjul offers another way to explore the history and culture of Gambia. It opened in 1985, 15 years after the founding of the Friends of the National Museum Association. The museum is housed in an old colonial building that served as the Bathurst Club for European residents in the 1920s. The building later housed the British Council and, in the 1960s, the Legislative Assembly; from 1970 to 1985, it was used as the Gambia National Library. The museum’s main objectives include collecting, preserving, and displaying objects relating to Gambia’s material culture, as well as sharing Gambian history and culture with visitors to the country and its residents.

The Gambian locations included in the World Heritage site “Stone Circles of the Senegambia” are Wassu and Kerbatch. The site was inscribed in 2006 under criteria I and iii. The stone circles made of laterite pillars, together with their associated burial mounds, form a sacred landscape that developed over more than 1,500 years. The four major groups comprise more than 1,000 monuments in a 100-km-wide strip extending along about 350 km of the Gambia River.

Nature and market experiences also add to a countrywide view of Gambia. An estimated 560 bird species occur across the country’s protected areas. Birdwatching tours are offered daily in Gambia; important areas include Abuko Nature Reserve, Tanji, and Kiang West. Before making specific plans, check whether tours are currently available and which areas they include. Arts and crafts markets outside Gambia’s large hotels offer, among other things, carved masks, batik products, handwoven fabrics, leather goods, and jewelry. Conversation and haggling are part of the market experience.

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

View the overview of the wider destination: Gambia.