Bijilo Forest Park

A forest park in the Gambia called Bijilo Forest Park also referred to as Monkey Park, is located in the coastal region about 11 kilometers west of Banjul in the Kombo Saint Mary District. A walled woodland with a variety of species, the 51.3-hectare Bijilo Forest Park was gazetted in 1952 and is located on the seashore just south of Kololi in Senegambia. With a substantial concentration of Borassus aethiopum palms, the park is primarily made up of closed canopy forests. Since the park's public opening in 1991, it has seen an increase in annual attendance to over 23,000 people. During the development of the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Center in 2018, the park lost some of its reserve designations.

There are many different types of insects, reptiles, and mammals in Bijilo Forest Park. There are groups of green monkeys, patas, Campbell's mona monkeys, Temminck's red colobus monkeys, and green monkeys. Visitors have fed the monkeys, which has produced problems. The park is ostensibly trying to halt this practice, but employees continue to frequently sell visitors peanuts to feed the monkeys. There is also a colony of Senegal bushbabies, which are nocturnal. The Gambian sun squirrel, African civet, genets, mongooses, and brush-tailed porcupine, among other smaller, less obvious species, are other mammal species that can be seen. A variety of colorful insects and invertebrates, such as fire ants, dragonflies, termites, butterflies, and the golden silk orb-weaver, as well as a rich reptile fauna, including agama, rainbow, and monitor lizards, call the forest home.

Location: C7H9+CCX, Serrekunda, Gambia

Tripadvisor Rating: 4.0/5.0