Kuntaur is one of those places that are worth it for what lies around them. This port town on the north bank of the Gambia River, about six hours by road from the coast, has no major monuments of its own, but it is the perfect base for heading into deep Gambia: boats leave from its jetty to see the rescued chimpanzees of the Baboon Islands, and a few kilometres away are the enigmatic Wassu stone circles, a World Heritage Site.
A former groundnut trading port, Kuntaur is today a quiet town where life moves to the rhythm of the river and the crops. Its dirt streets, market, low houses and jetty offer a picture very different from the tourist coast: this is rural Gambia, the Gambia of Mandinka, Fula and Wolof villages, of a wild river full of birds and hippos.
This guide explains how to use Kuntaur as a base for visiting the chimpanzees of River Gambia National Park and the Wassu megaliths, how to get there from the coast by road or on a cruise, where to sleep and eat, and what to expect from life in the interior. It is a key stop for anyone who wants to see the other Gambia, the one on the middle river, far from the beaches.
Kuntaur grew as a river port on the Gambia River during the colonial era, when the river was the country's main transport route and the groundnuts that sustained the economy were shipped from its wharves. As river transport declined, the town lost commercial importance, but it kept its role as a hub of the middle river. Today its importance is touristic and logistical: it is the base for visiting the chimpanzees of nearby River Gambia National Park and the Wassu stone circles, two of the great attractions of the Gambian interior.
Read the full history ↓The deep Gambia: rescued chimpanzees on the Baboon Islands, the ancient megaliths of Wassu and old colonial Georgetown on an island in the river.
Read the history of The middle river and the interior →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Kuntaur was born and grew up as what it still essentially is: a port village on the banks of the River Gambia, in the middle stretch of the country, within today's Central River Region. In a territory like The Gambia (a narrow strip of land that hugs the river along its entire course), the river was the great highway for centuries: the route along which people, goods and news travelled between the Atlantic coast and the deep interior.
In that river system, villages with a good landing stage became trading hubs. Kuntaur, on the north bank, was one of them. Its location put it on the map of transport and trade along the middle river, in a savannah region home to Mandinka, Fula and Wolof communities who lived from farming, fishing and herding.
The landscape around Kuntaur defines the character of the place: the very wide, calm river, the gallery forest, the savannah and the villages of low houses. This is rural, deep Gambia, very different from the salty coastal feel of the river mouth, and a world away from the tourist bustle of the beaches.
During the British colonial period, The Gambia's economy revolved largely around a single product: groundnuts (peanuts), grown in the interior and exported in huge quantities. The River Gambia was the backbone of that trade. From ports and landing stages upriver, groundnuts travelled downstream by barge to the coast for export, and goods and supplies came upriver the same way.
Kuntaur thrived as one of the collection and shipping points for groundnuts on the middle river. The produce of a whole region passed over its wharf, and the village benefited from the trade that river transport brought. It was a time of relative economic importance for the town, tied entirely to the rhythm of the river and the harvests.
Over time, better roads and lorry transport took away much of the river's role as a trade route, and river ports like Kuntaur lost importance. Activity slowed down and the village became a quiet upcountry town. It kept its landing stage and its riverside life, but not the commercial bustle of the past.
The decline of river trade was not the end for Kuntaur but the start of a new role. A few kilometres from the village lie two of the great treasures of the Gambian interior. One is the Wassu stone circles, the most monumental megalithic group of the Stone Circles of Senegambia, a World Heritage Site since 2006. The other is River Gambia National Park, with its Baboon Islands and the rescued chimpanzees of the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project.
Being so close to both made Kuntaur the natural base for visiting them. Boats leave from its wharf to see the chimpanzees living in semi-freedom, the hippos and the river's very rich birdlife, and the Wassu megaliths are just a few minutes away by road. So Kuntaur went from groundnut port to gateway for nature and heritage tourism on the middle river.
This new role has brought lodges and eco-camps to the area, many of them linked to local communities, and has put Kuntaur on the circuits and cruises that travel the River Gambia. Today the village offers travellers an authentic experience of the interior, far removed from beach tourism, and a convenient base for discovering wild, ancient Gambia.
Arrive in Kuntaur today and you'll find a quiet village where life is still shaped by the river, fishing and farming. The market, the dirt streets, the low houses and the comings and goings at the landing stage make up an everyday picture of rural Gambia. People here are welcoming and curious about the few travellers who venture so far from the coast. Sunsets over the very wide, calm river are one of the pleasures of the place.
The region keeps a strong cultural identity, with Mandinka, Fula and Wolof communities that hold on to their traditions, music and languages. This is a Gambia less filtered by tourism, where visitors come into direct contact with local life. For many nature and culture travellers, that authentic character is as valuable as the sights they visit from here.
Kuntaur sums up what a trip to the middle river is about. It is not a destination of great monuments or comforts. It is a gateway town, a starting point for the chimpanzees and the megaliths, and a window onto riverside life in the heart of The Gambia. Its history, from groundnut port to ecotourism base, mirrors the country's own transformation and its changing relationship with the river that defines it.
