Along the southern coast away from the holiday area you come first to Ghana Town & Brufut.

All along this coast there are villages where the beach has road access and fishing boats go in and out of the Atlantic catching fish commercially.

Bongo fish are caught in their millions and either sun dried or smoked.

Each place has it's own interests and as these are not on the mass tourist route (coaches don't have reliable access) they are much more the real Gambia than you will see elsewhere. Each has a covered market area with cold stores etc. most have a beach bar and small restaurant. It goes without saying that the fish dishes are excellent.

Tanji is one of our favourites, as well as the fishing village, there is the Camel Safari base and the large smoke houses where Bongo is '5 smoked' and crated for shipping, mainly to Ghana but all over the world.

Do not be put off the idea - smoked Bongo is like delicate chicken breast and the locals say if it wasn't for the bones Bongo would be the most popular fish in the world.

This is a visual day out, a beach experience to break up the sun bathing and if you fancy a camel ride you can have short 1 hour trips and if you fancy a bit more culture DON'T MISS TANJI's village museum.

All in all a brilliant day seeing the local people busy with a local industry that is not tourist centred.