Why Janjanbureh Should Be on Your Itinerary
By Nomadiq Routes Editorial Team
Far from the coastal resorts, MacCarthy Island offers an unparalleled glimpse into colonial history and living traditions.
Most visitors to The Gambia spend their entire trip within a short drive of the Atlantic coast, drawn by the beaches, bird-watching hides, and resort hotels that cluster around Kololi and Kotu. That is entirely understandable — but it means the majority of travellers never see the country's interior, where the River Gambia widens, slows, and wraps around a low island that holds one of West Africa's most quietly remarkable small towns.
MacCarthy Island and the Colonial Imprint
Janjanbureh — formerly Georgetown — sits on MacCarthy Island some 300 kilometres upriver from Banjul. The British established a garrison here in 1823 as a base for intercepting slave ships and repatriating liberated captives. The colonial infrastructure that remains — a crumbling fort, a stone church, low warehouses along the waterfront — tells a layered story of abolition, commerce, and the complicated legacy of empire in this part of Africa.
The town's streets are lined with silk-cotton trees so old and wide-rooted that they have buckled the paths around them. Local guides, many of them descendants of the liberated Africans who were settled here in the nineteenth century, walk visitors through the fort and the old trading posts, connecting the physical remains to broader histories of the transatlantic trade, Mandinka resistance, and Gambian nationhood.
Living Traditions on the River
Beyond the colonial narrative, Janjanbureh is a working community whose rhythms are set by the river. Dugout canoes cross the narrow channels between the island and both banks throughout the day, carrying produce, livestock, and passengers. Early mornings at the riverside market are a sensory experience — grilled fish, pyramids of groundnuts, bolts of batik cloth, and the particular smell of river mud and wood smoke that characterises every settlement along this stretch of water.
The surrounding Central River Division is exceptional for bird-watchers. The river's oxbows and floodplain forests shelter Egyptian plovers, Pel's fishing owls, African skimmers, and dozens of other species that do not venture as far west as the coast. A dawn boat trip on the main channel, with a local ornithologist as guide, is one of the more quietly spectacular experiences The Gambia offers.
Getting There and Staying
The journey upriver is itself part of the experience. The North Bank Road and the South Bank Road both reach Janjanbureh, though the south bank route is generally more straightforward. Alternatively, a multi-day river journey by pirogue or tourist boat follows the water upstream, stopping at villages and wildlife sites along the way — this is how many visitors to the Heritage Series choose to arrive.
Accommodation on the island is modest and atmospheric: small guesthouses and eco-lodges where solar power replaces the grid and meals are cooked on open fires. The absence of wi-fi and the presence of a night sky unpolluted by artificial light make Janjanbureh the kind of place that resets a traveller's sense of scale.