About us
Ninki Nanka encounters foundation
Ninki Nanka Encounters is a charitable foundation based in The Gambia (Incorporation no.2021/15273) founded in 2020 by Lucy McCombes and Adama Bah.
For several years prior to this Adama and Lucy have led on exploring the feasibility of the Ninki Nanka Trail through an informal partnership between the Gambia Tourism Board, Leeds Beckett University, the ITTOG (Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia), ASSERT (non-profit Association of Small-Scale Enterprises in Responsible Tourism), Gambia River Excursions and other partners committed to the idea of the trail and responsible tourism. Since early 2019 the development of the trail was more formalised through funding from the International Trade Centre to support communities and other partners to take the development of the Ninki Nanka Trail products/ destination further.
What are our goals?
The primary aim of the Ninki Nanka Encounters Foundation is to benefit Gambian communities through supporting the responsible development of the Ninki Nanka Trail, an exciting new community-based tourism initiative that aims to:
Disperse economic benefit of tourism to rural areas
Diversify Gambia’s tourism product through community-based, natural and cultural heritage experiences
Harness the untapped potential of The River Gambia for the benefit of local people
Our experiential learning and cultural immersion tours and fieldtrips along The River Gambia are designed to create inspiring, cultural interaction between tourists and local people, and offer unique opportunities to learn more about The Gambia. Our programmes aim to demonstrate responsible tourism in practice and all profits are ploughed back into the work of our charity.
In a nutshell, Ninki Nanka Encounters has the following five main goals:
Support the delivery of the Ninki Nanka Trail as a new, responsible, high quality community- based tourism (CBT) product rooted in The Gambia
Work in partnership with key stakeholders to pioneer a responsible management approach to developing new CBT markets and products along the Ninki Nanka Trail
Build capacity of small businesses and communities along the Ninki Nanka Trail to access tourists and develop responsible tourism products which improve local livelihoods
Create extraordinary, mutually beneficial interaction and cultural encounters between tourists, local people and industry stakeholders along the Ninki Nanka Trail
Use tourism activities to protect and raise awareness about The Gambia’s natural and cultural heritage
The Foundation Board Members
The Ninki Nanka Encounters Foundation founding board membership includes some of the pioneers who have been supporting the development of the Ninki Nanka Trail from the start.
Adama
Bah
Chair
Community & stakeholder engagement
Co-founder of Ninki Nanka Encounters, Adama has over 40 years’ experience of working in the tourism industry in The Gambia and other West African countries. He is one of the founders and Chairman of the Association of Small-Scale Enterprises in The Gambia and is Founder of the Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia. He is known internationally as an advocate of responsible tourism and works on a range of projects.
WOlla Bargee
Treasurer
Finance, health & safety
Wolla has a professional background in public health, healthcare, tourism development, and humanitarian aid, and works as a freelance business management consultant. Based in London, he has recently been engaged in several tourism development projects in The Gambia and Senegal and is proud to be a member of the NNE Board.
Fatou
Beyai Raji
Vice Chair
Cultural heritage & product development
Fatou is a responsible tourism development and management expert. After working for The Gambian Tourism Board, she worked as a consultant on the development of the Gambian National Tourism Policy and Strategy. She is a lecturer at the University of the Gambia and Gambia Tourism and Hospitality Institute and supports other projects such as the Global Climate Change Alliance.
Davina Stanford
Ordinary Member
Responsible destination management
Davina is Course Director for the Responsible Tourism Management MSc at Leeds Beckett University. With Lucy McCombes she has led a number of study tours with Responsible Tourism Management students in The Gambia and has worked to develop an interpretation plan for the Ninki Nanka Trail. She has also worked as a consultant and researcher, with a focus on destination management.
Lucy
Mc Combes
Secretary
Responsible management of tourist-host encounters & impact assessment
Co-founder of Ninki Nanka Encounters, Lucy works as a Senior Lecturer for Leeds Beckett University teaching on their MSc Responsible Tourism Management course, as well as delivering consultancy and research in the UK and Africa. Now based in rural Cornwall, she has enjoyed working with local responsible tourism stakeholders in The Gambia on a wide range of activities since 2006.
Momodou
S. Jobe
Ordinary Member
Private sector engagement & construction
Community Interest company
Our Foundation is supported by Ninki Nanka Encounters C.I.C in the UK (Community Interest Company No.13507982) that shares our constitution and supports us to achieve our charitable objectives through fundraising and income generation activities, responsible tourism projects, marketing and market access for communities. The founding board membership for Ninki Nanka Encounters UK also includes those who have been involved in the development of the Ninki Nanka Trail and provide us with a great wealth of expertise and enthusiasm.
Many different stakeholders are involved in The Gambia working towards using community-based tourism and the Ninki Nanka Trail to improve the livelihoods of rural communities. Ninki Nanka Encounters aims to support this bigger picture of responsible tourism development.
Gareth
Jenkins
Vice/Co- Chair
Strategy, innovation & branding
Carolyn
ingle
Ordinary Member
Sustainable architecture & interior design/ water & environmental management
Mariama
Bah
Treasurer
Mariama is a Gambian based in London practising as a Children and Families Social Worker. As well a qualified Social Worker, Mariama also holds a Masters Degree in Responsible Tourism and a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration. Mariama has a keen interest in Responsible Tourism and dedicates some of her time to community development projects like the Ninki Nanka that would bring about positive change to communities in The Gambia.
saskia
ruttkowski
Ordinary Member
Content Management
Being driven by and passionate about people, travel and sustainability, Saskia holds a MSc in Responsible Tourism Management. She finds communication and the exchange of new ideas to be essential. Her goal is to create change towards a more responsible and sustainable future through effective communication and storytelling. Being based in Austria, she currently works in hospitality and hopes to inspire people, communities and industries in the way she has been inspired by others.
Geoff
de Vito
Ordinary Member
River cruises & excursion /
tour packages development
Education and accountable cooperation are the foundations for building bridges between conservation and tourism. His educational background includes University of St. Andrews and SOAS (London) while his twenty-year career in hospitality/tourism has spanned across hotel, cruise and independent consultations. Geoff quickly became certain the NNE approach to product development is a blueprint not only for The Gambia but may influence projects worldwide. Having launched GD Synergy in 2020, Geoff advocates transparent dialogue between the travel industry and destinations while promoting destination-positive programing.
Our team in the Gambia
Bubacarr
Camara
Bookings Officer
Bubacarr is a travel consultant at My Gambia with extensive experience in tourism and well-developed field expertise.
He worked as a creative writer for Afro Tourism and has been a qualified tour guide for six years, crisscrossing the Gambia, Senegal and Guinea Bissau, gaining a wealth of knowledge about tourism in the sub-region. His passion for constant research and responsible tourism development allowed him to be one of the 15 chosen commonwealth scholars from Africa for the master's degree in Responsible Tourism Management at Leeds Beckett University.
Francis
Mendy
Head Guide
Francis is one of the leading guides for the Ninki Nanka Trail and gives training and orientation to local guides along the trail.
After being awarded an Austrian Government scholarship to pursue a Diploma course in Tourism Management, he has since been working in the tourism and hospitality industry of The Gambia in various managerial positions. He has also been lecturing at the ITTOG on tour operations and guiding, holiday reps, Travel Destinations and visitor attractions.
Bakary
Sanyang
CBT Coordinator
Bakary is born and raised in Ndemban Tenda, where he attended primary school. He later went to Greater Banjul Middle School.
Bakery is the Co-Ordinator of the Ndemban Community-Based tourism to Ninki Nanka Encounters. His job is to see that the products and activities that we run on the ground are maintained and to look into new activities for the trail. He is also the main point of contact and informs villagers about the project on a regular basis.