Updated
August 29, 2009

GTS and GETS Members accommodation.
Single booking from £50 a week - double ensuite £90
Self contained house with roof garden and 2 double bedrooms £225 a week (lower occupancy reductions)

GTS Home

GTS Home Building
Home
Where to stay
Home

Membership
Home

GTS Kololi has it's own rooftop water tanks meaning there is always water, but guests are advised to drink bottle water and use the tank water for cooking & toiletry purposes.

Booking should be made with a deposit

** Deposit Terms**
When availability is agreed, your full bookings will ONLY be confirmed when the 50% deposit is paid to the GTS membership secretary in the UK
Cheque to ' Gambia Tourist Support Fund'
- until that time the accommodation remains available for booking.

Should a booking need to be changed or cancelled a % of the deposit will be retained depending on the notice you give.

Retained

10% before 90 days
20% 89 to 60 days
30% 59 to 30 days
40% 29 to 15days
100% within 14 days

Paying for your stay

On your arrival you should pay the FULL cost of your accommodation in £'s £20 or £50 notes NOT TRAVELLERS CHEQUES.

Returning your UK deposit

During your holiday an account of expenditure on trips, shopping extras will be kept in Gambia and when you leave, any damage or breakages will added to this account, the total will be deducted from the UK Deposit you made to confirm your booking and the balance agreed with you in Gambia will be refunded to you on your return.

Typical or what

'GTS Kololi' is a fairly typical urban compound, surrounded by a mix of housing, but within the local community, local corner shops etc, our maid Ifam you will see hand washing or pounding and preparing food in the typical local way - but GTS Kololi is not the sort of compound that most Gambians live in.

If you would like to spend a day of part of a day in a typical local Gambian compound, GTS has 'Family Visit' trips to the families of our Staff, where you can get a much better idea of how the larger extended Gambian families live.

Please read the IMPORTANT NOTICE in the main body of this page.

From time to time over our 10 years of operating, there have been allegations made that I am using Gambia as a way of benefitting financially.

From day one the principal behind GTS and now GETS is that charity is charity - all UK volunteers pay their own way and received no wages while we are working in Gambia.

In 2005 GETS became a UK registered charity and now runs and administers all our educationally based projects and sponsorships - GTS is still a charitable organisation supporting GETS with FREE office space cheap accommodation for volunteers as well as 50% of all profits from the accommodation at GTS Kololi.

The money earned from food and drink and services provided in the members zone provides the income for me to live and provide my services to the charity FREE of charge.

Comments to GTS

GTS was set up by Francis Glynn (myself) back in 1997. GTS has always been a charitable organisation and all the money raised is used in Gambia to provide employment, development or educational support, via GETSUK.

Once in profit, 50% of the profits from GTS accommodation will go to GETSUK educational projects the UK registered charity.

In late 2004 early 2005 - I purchased a compound in Kololi, that we had previously been renting. After spending my own resources to refurbish and rebuild, there are now 3 houses in the compound, where there were just 2, these now provide :-
3 double ensuite rooms,
a two, double bedroomed house (full self catering)
& a two, double bedroomed flat (full self catering)
Single occupancy is £55 a week for an ensuite room - doubles £90 a week
NOTE
DEPOSIT CHEQUES Payable to 'Gambia Tourist Support Fund'
see side margin Deposit Terms

(**For volunteer rates please contact me)

From January 2010 the 'members zone' will open at GTS Kololi, food drink an air conditioned library plenty of covered but open roof top space with entertainment or for quiet sitting. Open to GTS or GETS members - residents at GTS Kololi or non residents.

.
Living Room in the Flat - Double Bedroom Ensuite
.
Ensuite in Double rooms - All tiled exterior

The house provides a self contained unit, it has two double bedrooms, a rooftop sunning or star gazing area and a sitting room with verhanda as well as a galley kitchen with large fridge, full gas cooker etc. The rooms have fans, nets and emergency power for the fans and lights. There is a shower with good pressure from our roof top tanks. Single occupancy ie Just one double Bedroom occupied is £175.

Our Flat has two Double Bedrooms, a sitting room with optional Air Conditioning ( at a charge of £25 per week ) The flat has a good sized & well equipped kitchen a seperate lavatory and wash room and a shower with optional hot water charged per person at D125 a week. The flat has its own private sitting area outside and a netted and covered verhanda area outside the sitting room. Single person £90, one couple £110 two couples £200.

All our double rooms have sprung mattresses, but we can provide single beds instead of the doubles if booked in advance. (Subject to availability). Each bedroom has a powerful fan - each double room is equipped with a fridge, an electric kettle and cups, glasses, plates etc for guests to make light meals.

In the house and flat there are fans in the sitting rooms.

Each of the double rooms has its own separate sitting area, and the compound itself has outside thatched over tables for guests wishing to be outside and a small dip pool for dipping NOT swimming.

All accommodation is cleaned daily during your stay, the house towels, and sheets are changed regulary, and there is a shopping and cooking, service that can be arranged.- at an agreed price depending on what you require.

GTS offers GTS members a FREE on 'arrival transfer service' from the airport, those staying with GTS also get this return service FREE.
Because of UK charity law GETS members must pay for us to meet them at the airport but the return journey is included in the price - 2010 price D500 for single traveller + 100 for each additional non GTS member up to a maximum of 4.

Non GTS members.
The Kololi accommodation is only available to GTS and GETSuk members. GTS Membership is currently £15 p/year p/person, GETSuk membership is £12 per annum - all sponsors are automatically paid up members and are welcome at GTS Kololi.
NOTE
GTS MEMBERSHIP CHEQUES payable to "Gambia Tourist Support Fund"

All guest are requested to provide a copy of their passport with the original as verification before moving into GTS member accommodation.

Your local guests are of course allowed to visit the compound up to 11pm, but cannot stay overnight unless a previous arrangement has been made and agreed in writing. This is for your security and the security of others staying in the Compound

The compound has 24 hour security, day & night watchman service, we have a constant water supply and good electrics, but a back up power supply to run a light and the fan in each room.

The outside of the compound is fully tiled so it is always clean and we have added a very small dip pool, there are three grass topped tables for residents to relax and all residents can use the upper floor Members Zones.

food and Drink at Member prices, a mini local art area and postcard sales, there will be the chance to watch films from our large DVD collection and enjoy local entertainment as well as an air conditioned library and resources area

3 additional single rooms will soon be available for members who do not require the larger double rooms - or for charity volunteers.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

I would like to make it clear that the house in Kololi is owned by me and not by the charity, which have no fixed capital assets in The Gambia.
The money earned by renting the rooms at such a low price to members and volunteers is used to pay the compound staff wages, it also covers service charges (water, electric, sewage and rubbish disposal as well as running expenses, replacement of breakages, refurbishments and repairs to the accommodation, its fixtures and fittings.)

50% of ALL the profits after these expenses are covered are used for the purposes of the charity - for employment and educational support and training.

In August 2006, I retired from my full time employment in the UK and now live in Gambia from September to June, returning at my own expense to the UK on GETSuk charity business and to visit family.

When GTS Kololi accommodation income from earnings in Gambia allows it, I will take a Gambian level of salary, this will be in line with the wages of the staff employed within GTS Kololi.

Adam who has now worked as a self funding volunteer since 2004, will take expenses, from the earnings of the GTS Bar and Restaurant, which he has made so successful since taking over its management.

Expenses incurred in Gambia connected with the running of GTS like government taxes, business transport, business calls etc will be charged against income earned in Gambia.

(At present our highest paid member of GTS staff earns around 5000 D a month, approx £125 a month.

Contact us by phone in Gambia 00220 4462476 (office hours)
or Email: - Francis@GETSuk.org

5 Top or link to the old page that this one now replaces