The number of tourists has steadily fallen during April and slowly the Kololi strip provides less trade as the tourist numbers plummet. The problems with bumsters also seems to increase as the ratio of tourists to bumsters changes. This has the added affect of trapping the tourists in their hotels.

GTS members still enjoy the freedom of The Gambia, but there is a point where the restaurant's monthly expenditure, will overtake the income and difficult decisions over remaining open will be necessary.

Partly the lack of income is directly due to less tourists but it is also because our plans to complete the extension at the back of Dardeema before the end of april became impossible ironically because money GTS has in Gambia could not be paid to us because the mother of the Gambian concerned has been ill since January. Incredible to the western business approach but all too true in Gambia.

Sadly we fear we will have to reduce the operation this rainy season to little more than tick over, but the decision of what we will do has still to be made.

The Restaurant has never looked so good, the shelled area at the front is now complete, the patio and restaurant inside have a new tiled floor, the place is looking very smart and we hope will be fully completed at the back by November this year.

What ever happens - we will not close totally, the GTS office presence will ensure that, but where we hoped to have our stage running for rainey season events and an Afra bar open till early each morning - we are having to do the familiar shuffle to rearrange the order of events and it looks as if the full restaurant may be a casualty

The changes have been incredible and GTS will be fully open in one form or another during 2003.