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Golden Beach Hotel - Kololi. If you want peace and quiet this is the hotel for you. Only 24 rooms and there seemed to be more staff than guests. All rooms looked out on the pool and the sea. Quite basic but clean. No fridge or kettle in the room. Had to pay extra for use of safe and air conditioning and the hotel did not take credit cards. Cannot fault the staff or the care they took of the guests. Short taxi ride to the strip where the night life is so you can get the best of both worlds. Food not the best but the Jamma restaraunt just a short walk away was a fine place to eat and one of the more reasonably priced. When we were there we got 38 - 40 Dulasi to the GBP this meant a two course meal with a couple of beers was about £20 a head. Take English pounds, these are easy to change. Very few places take credit cards of any sort (we did not find one) so take enough cash with you. A litre bottle of water cost 50 dulasi - over a pound - we worked out over a fortnight we spent about £50 on water alone!
Loved The Gambia. Found the people helpful, friendly and so pleased we were visiting. Despite warnings about 'bumsters' we had no problems, a polite no thanks usually was enough. It is the Gambian culture to start a conversation with asking your name and after your health so it is only polite to respond approriately. Sometimes this led to sales talk but it was just as likely to lead to a friendly conversation and no more than that.
Do take stuff for schools. Loads of people took pencils, paper etc. I wish I had taken books, posters and basic toys as the classrooms were bare and made me cry to think what we throw away here! Take bags of small sweets so everyone can have a sweet. The school we visited was about 80 pupils ranging from 3 - 11. If you have an old mobile phone + charger you will find someone who is desperate for it!
The money exchange at the airport closes at 5p.m.
Cigarettes were cheap at the airport on the way home so if you smoke buy there! A nice airport with an outside cafe which made waiting for the plane home an extension of the holiday.
I would go back to the same hotel without hesitation.
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