Quite simply this is one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. It is essentially a tourist complex containing a couple of day-visitor centres (with restaurant) and a separate area holding luxury lodges. What makes it special is that it is sited in a Guinea savanna woodland/Mangrove forest mosaic, it very successfully conserves this habitat (which would otherwise have been lost), employs a LARGE number of local people (ALL the staff including the key positions such as Manager & Senior Chef are Gambians), protects & encourages local culture and finally offers an amazingly beautiful & relaxing place to stay. Admittedly staying at Mandina Lodges at Makasutu is expensive but having visited the very humble accommodation in which James & Lawrence (the owners) stay it is quite clear that the profits are ploughed back into protecting the extended area & supporting the local communities.
Makasutu is a great place for a relaxing & luxurious chillout but also offers fantastic wildlife viewing opportunities with a fantastic range of birds in and around the camp.
We have watched Martial Eagles (adult + immature) share a thermal with a Wahlberg's & a Long Crested Eagle from the swimming pool, have watched an African Finfoot from our floating lodge balcony, have watched Goliath Heron, Pied, Blue-bellied, Malachite & Giant Kingfishers form our lodge and even had a rare & skulking White-backed Night Heron fly in to roost only 10 metres from our lodge. The surrounding savanna woodland is also of high quality holding species such as Violet & Green Turaco, various woodpeckers, Rollers, owls, raptors & some otherwise scarce (in Gambian terms) birds such as Green-headed Sunbird. The staff put out wooden bowls decorated with cut flowers & containing fresh water -this draws in thirsty passerines including "highly prized" & otherwise difficult to see birds such as Mouse-brown Sunbird, Little Greenbul,etc.


The official Makasutu website is here: http://www.makasutu.com/

If ever the opportunity arises you should treat yourself & visit this wonderful place where the chances are you will bump into James & Lawrence -both of whom have interesting stories to tell. They are both clearly passionate about protecting & conserving the threatened natural areas of The Gambia and have recently created a new & very ambitious Grand Plan which sets out to protect a much greater area of Mangrove wetlands/Guinea forest/Savannah woodland (whilst simultaneously encouraging sustained economic development in the local communities with provision of health clinics, schools,etc) through their Ballabu Conservation Project: http://www.accessgambia.com/information/ballabu-conservation-area.html

This gallery contains assorted images of Makasutu including some bird images taken around the lodges (many of which are not of great quality but do give an idea of what is around).