Bijilo Forest Park, better known as the 'Monkey Park', is the most convenient and charming nature escape on the Gambian coast: a small protected forest by the sea, a stone's throw from the Kololi hotels, where in barely fifty hectares you can wander among monkeys, colobus and birds along shady boardwalk trails. It's proof that in The Gambia you don't need to go far to immerse yourself in African wildlife.
The real star is the green vervet monkey, curious and cheeky, which comes up to visitors along the paths; with luck and a little patience you'll also spot the shyer red colobus climbing through the treetops, and patas monkeys. Plenty of birds flit between the trees, and monitor lizards and squirrels cross your path. All of it in a pleasant coastal forest setting, with the Atlantic breeze and the sound of the sea in the background.
This guide takes a practical look at Bijilo: how much admission costs, what the trails are like, what wildlife you'll see and when, why you should (or shouldn't) feed the monkeys, how to hire a guide and how to combine the visit with the beach and other trips along the coast. An hour or two at the Monkey Park is the perfect nature complement to a sun-and-beach holiday in The Gambia.
Bijilo Forest Park is a coastal forest in the Kombo region that was declared a protected forest area in the mid-20th century, during the colonial period, to conserve the coastal vegetation and its wildlife. As tourism grew in neighbouring Kololi, it was fitted with boardwalk trails and opened to visitors, becoming the popular 'Monkey Park', one of the most visited natural attractions on the coast. It mainly protects its primates (green monkeys, red colobus and patas) and a rich birdlife. Its story is told on our history page.
Read the full history ↓'The smiling coast of Africa': the strip of golden beaches and hotels along the Senegambia Strip, with fishing villages and coastal forests full of monkeys and birds.
Read the history of The Atlantic coast (Senegambia) →They depart from Banjul, 15 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
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Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Bijilo Forest Park is, above all, a survivor: a small remnant of the coastal forest that once covered much of the Kombo coast, in south-western Gambia. Its fifty-odd hectares preserve a sample of the native vegetation of this Atlantic strip — rônier palms, kapok trees, native trees and scrub adapted to sand and sea breeze — which elsewhere has been steadily disappearing under pressure from farming, urban growth and tourism.
This coastal vegetation supports a surprisingly rich wildlife for such a small space so close to the city. Its primates stand out: the green vervet, plentiful and bold; the western red colobus, a tree-dweller and more elusive; and the patas monkey. Add to them monitor lizards, squirrels, butterflies and a remarkable variety of forest birds, and the park becomes a small oasis of biodiversity right by the sea.
Protecting these last fragments of coastal forest matters not only for the wildlife, but also for their role as a buffer against erosion and as a green refuge in an increasingly built-up area. In that sense, Bijilo is an example of how a modest natural space can have enormous ecological and tourism value.
The Bijilo forest was declared a protected forest area in the mid-20th century, during British colonial rule, as part of the forest conservation policies the administration applied in various parts of the colony. The aim was to preserve the coastal vegetation and its wildlife, and to stop the spread of crops and settlements from wiping out this type of forest. For decades it was mainly a forestry management area rather than a tourist destination.
Things changed with the tourism boom on the Kombo coast from the 1970s and 1980s onwards. As the big hotels of neighbouring Kololi and Bijilo went up, the forest ended up right next to one of the country's most important tourist areas. Its monkeys, easy to spot and very photogenic, became a natural attraction, and the authorities decided to fit out the park for visitors, with trails, information boards and local guides.
That is how the popular 'Monkey Park' was born — the name tourists know Bijilo by. Boardwalks made it possible to explore the forest without damaging the ground or the vegetation, and visitor admissions began to help maintain the site and to provide jobs for guides from the community. The park became part of the coastal tourist circuit as the most accessible nature outing from the hotels.
Wildlife and visitors don't always coexist without friction. The green monkeys, having grown used to people and to the food some tourists give them, have become more confident but also bolder: it's not unusual for them to come up looking for food, try to open bags or even bite if they feel threatened or if their food is taken away. That's why the park's managers advise against feeding them and recommend watching them without interfering.
This dilemma — how to make the most of the wildlife's appeal without taming it or putting it at risk — is common to many natural areas near tourist zones. At Bijilo, management tries to balance the visitor experience with conservation: maintaining the trails, informing people about appropriate behaviour, protecting the colobus monkeys and the more sensitive birds, and preserving the integrity of the forest against the urban pressure that surrounds it on almost every side.
The park also plays an educational role: for many European tourists, and for Gambian schoolchildren too, Bijilo is a first encounter with African wildlife and with the importance of protecting it. The local guides, who know the flora, the fauna and the traditional uses of plants well, turn the visit into more than a walk among monkeys: a small lesson in ecology and in respect for nature.
Today Bijilo Forest Park is one of the most visited natural attractions on the Gambian coast, precisely because of its unbeatable mix of accessibility and charm: in an hour or two, just a few minutes from the Kololi hotels, travellers can immerse themselves in a coastal forest full of monkeys, colobus and birds, with the Atlantic breeze in the background. It's the ideal nature outing for anyone without the time or inclination to head deeper into the country.
The park fits squarely into Gambia's push to diversify its tourism beyond sun and beach, towards ecotourism and wildlife and bird watching. Together with Abuko, Kotu Creek, Tanji and other sites, Bijilo is part of a network of accessible natural destinations that showcase the extraordinary biodiversity of a tiny country, one able to surprise visitors with primates and hundreds of bird species right on the doorstep of its resorts.
The story of Bijilo — from protected forest to tourist 'Monkey Park' — is that of a small natural space that has managed to become an ambassador for conservation. On its boardwalks, between the leaps of the green monkeys and the fleeting red of the colobus, lies an idea Gambia is trying to nurture: that protecting nature can also be a path to development and a source of national pride.
