Upon arrival at The Golden Beach Hotel we were greeted by the friendly reception staff who dealt with his very quickly and assigned us a room that we were taken to immediately. We asked for a safety deposit box which was dropped to our room and a small fee of 100 Dalasi per day was charged (£2 a day). The hotel is basic but VERY clean and the staff are so welcoming and friendly and the service was the best I've ever received! The food at the hotel was also very good. A simple breakfast of cereals, bread, rolls fruit, tea and coffee is complimentary, but you do have the option of ordering a full English or variation of this for a small price. Drinks all reasonably priced, better to drink the local beer (Julbrew) as this is the cheapest.
Our holiday was excellent, we experienced many things and met and made friends with many of the locals and for that we were given "local" prices more often than not. It is VERY important to tip any person that provides a service or helps you out as they get paid very poorly - one thing that I noticed, is that it only seemed like it was my partner and me tipping people, other Brits were less inclined to do this - PLEASE REMEMBER, THESE PEOPLE ONLY GET PAID FOR 6 MONTHS OF THE YEAR!!!!
There was one element of the holiday that made me angry, and this was a particular man from Yorkshire, who obviously has SMALL MAN SYNDROME who felt it necessary to complain about everything possible, typically "I want my food served on a hot plate." "I want ice with my beer" "I want to make a complaint about...." He felt great delight in telling everyone that he had a very short temper, and with that he took pleasure in speaking very loudly about muslims (90% of Gambian population) and how he thought they were being brain washed and it was a terrible religion - if you feel like that DONT GO TO MUSLIM COUNTRIES! There was one night I even had to move tables at dinner as I didn;t want to listen to his narrow minded views - what a silly little man!! Nevermind, he was on his own and clearly very lonely, and we only had to deal with him for the time we were in the hotel which wasnt a lot. Please can British people not expect the same level of time management in Gambia than here in Blighty - they have a lot more relaxed attitude, which if you allow this to rub off on you will have an amazing time. As the Gambian's say "Bufale - means no worries!".
The tour operators warn you about Bumsters and only to get into Green (tourist) taxis, and to not make any trips in Yellow (Locals) taxis as they are not insured - this is rubbish! Always get YELLOW TAXIS, they charge you 7 Dalasi for a trip, whereas the green taxis charge anything they like, normally 300-400 dalasi just to the bank and back! Even if you feel safer getting a green taxi, make sure you bargain a better price for it.
Overall, amazing experience, highly recommended and will be going back!
- Golden Beach Kololi
