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 cooking up some European
cuisine and traditional Gambian food and drink. The museum sometimes
puts on live music and cultural dance performances in their garden
Bantaba (shaded area). There is also guest accommodation provided,
a shop selling selling DVDs, fabrics, jewellery and paintings,
a conference room with a capacity of about 40 people, and a traditional
Mandinka family hamlet on display.
• 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 birdwatching,
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 +220 4414021
Village Museum +220 992 6618
Kairoh Garden +220 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.
Hotels
& Lodges
Map
Photos Resorts
[Geographical coordinates 13.3500° N, 16.7833° W / Kombo
South, Western Region]
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Attractions
Nature
Reserves
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Bakau
Banjul
Bijilo
Brufut
Cape
Point
Fajara
Gunjur
Jinack
Island
Kartong
Kololi
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Sanyang
Serrekunda
Tanji Village
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