Not Birding The Gambia Pt 1: Other Critters

And now for something completely different. Not birds at any rate! If you are birding in The Gambia you are bound to come across other major life forms as well as tourists and the locals. Reptiles abound - skinks and lizards frequently - big, poisonous snakes, unfortunately not at all. Although to pinch a line from Wikipedia 'There are 40 snake species, nine of which are venomous, such as cobras, puff adders and Mambas, genus Dendroaspis; the first two are common. The non-venomous species are pythons' OK safe then!
Plenty of these:

Nile Monitor Varanus niloticus

Only a couple of these Yellow-winged Bats found by our bird guide looking for anything that flies!

Yellow-winged Bat Lavia frons

But plenty of these in the evening flying around the pools of every hotel. Big with a two and a half foot wing span - stay alert!

Fruit Bat Eidolon helvum

!!!!!. Just west of McCarthy Island in the river there is this:

Hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius

The most common monkey - especially on the coast. A good place to see these Calithrix monkeys is probably your hotel...whichever one it is.

Green Monkey or Calithrix Chlorocebus sabeus

This Western Red Colobus Procolobus badius in the Abuko Nature Reserve was the only one that we saw. This is the species favoured by hunting packs of Chimpanzees! But that can't account for their scarcity here. No chimps...further east Chimps but no Red Colobus.

Western Red Colobus Procolobus badius

We found a  small group of Red Patas Monkeys down near the beach close to the Footsteps Eco Lodge and they took as much interest in us as we did in them. They didn't have cameras.

Red Patas Monkey Erythrocebus patas

 Long shots of these Baboons from a moving boat - mean looking critters living alongside the Chimpanzees.

Guinea Baboon Papio papio

 Chimpanzee - gregarious and noisy and not at all friendly towards the Red Colobus Monkey. These were on, what was once, a rehabilitation island in the River Gambia. There are, I believe, upwards of 40 individuals now and they don't need no rehabilitatin'!

Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes