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our responsible tourism projects

Ndemban community restaurant & homestays

Ndemban is a traditional Gambian village beautifully located in the mangrove creeks off The River Gambia. In recent years the community has been working hard with the Gambian Tourism Board (GTB) to develop community-based tourism (CBT) as an alternative livelihood for local families and an opportunity for visitors to learn about their culture, nature and way of life. The plan is for Ndemban to be a key stop off on the new Ninki Nanka Trail being developed along The River Gambia to give visitors the opportunity to meet local people and experience authentic natural and cultural heritage, as well as learn about the famous legends of the Ninki Nanka dragon.

Lots of progress has been made - with the training of local guides and women’s groups to deliver village tours and cultural activities, and the construction of tourist home stay accommodation in three family compounds, a community ‘restaurant’ and an office. However, further product development and community capacity building support is needed.

In 2019, Ninki Nanka Enounters supported the village by raising over £2,000 and providing the support of an amazing sustainable architect and interior designer (Carolyn Ingle) to get it more market ready. Funds were used towards the training and salary of a local person to be a CBT Coordinator to manage the village’s tourism activities and to work with the village to improve the interior design of their community restaurant and family home stays to give them more local Ndemban character and make them more comfortable. Below you find before and after images of the community restaurant, lodge and kitchen area of Ndemdan.

Enjoy the photos here to show the work that the village did and, even better, come and see it for yourself! More information available on our GoFundMe campaign site.

Lodge / restaurant before reconstruction

Ndemban cultural guidelines

In 2019 Ninki Nanka Encounters worked together with the local community and Tourism Committee in Ndemban to develop a set of cultural guidelines designed to raise awareness of local people and tourists about each other, and to help facilitate mutually beneficial, cultural encounters.

The Guest Way guidelines were developed to help villagers understand their guests and make them feel as comfortable as possible while they are staying with you.

The Ndemban Way provides detailed, locally-specific cultural guidelines for visitors staying in the village to help them and the people that they meet during their homestay experience have a meaningful and enjoyable encounter. The hope is that understanding a little more about your hosts’ way of life will make you feel more comfortable during your stay and help to avoid cultural misunderstandings, mishaps and awkwardness.

The Gambian Way provides more general information and advice for visitors during their stay in The Gambia to help equip them for their travels in a new country with a different culture to theirs.

**Faroolu meŋ be naaneeriŋ, woolu le jiyoo ka bori ñoo kaŋ**
Rice fields with the same borders share the same waters - Or, “we’re all in this together”

— Mandinka Proverb

ndemban tapalapa bakery

Ndemban Tenda Alkalo Y Jiba talking about his role and tourism in the village.

What: Ninki Nanka Encounters is currently working with members of “Nyodema Kafo” women’s group based in Ndemban Tenda to plan, fundraise and construct a new Tapalapa bakery as a means to empower and help generate income for local women, as well as enhance the visitor experience.

Tapalapa is the name of the local bread in The Gambia. Tapalapa from the Fulla tribal language means “hit it hard” referring to “hitting” the dough mixture “hard” to produce good tasting Tapalapa bread. Given the original division of labour between the various tribes in the Gambia, the Fullas are known to be the experts in making Tapalapa bread. Further details of the plan for this bakery project are provided below:

Why: Ndemban Tenda’s traditional “tapalapa” bakery made from mud-blocks with a roof of very thin corrugated iron sheets collapsed after heavy rains last year. Since then the community gets very irregular supplies of bread from nearby villages, and sometimes due to high demand the bread gets finished before it reaches the people of Ndemban Tenda. Bread is an important component of the daily meal of people in Ndemban, used both for breakfast and sometimes for dinner. Children going to school are mostly given bread sandwiches as their lunch break. In addition, visiting this bakery was a very interesting part of the village walking tour for visitors.

Where: The “Tapalapa” bakery project will be located at Ndemban Tenda. Ndemban Tenda is part of three JOLA settlements which includes Ndemban Jola and Ndemban Japachun. Ndemban Tenda is the oldest settlement near the creeks of the river Gambia. With the construction of a new road many years ago, some of the inhabitants of Ndemban Tenda moved on the other side of the road to establish their own settlements. As the original settlement Ndemban Tenda is still the main village, where the government schools, tourism facilities and some NGO livelihood interventions (poultry and garden for the women) are located.

When: 1-year project from January 2021 to December 2021.

How: The project involves the construction of a bakery, an oven and the training of women in bread production and the management of the project which includes book-keeping and issues of administration. It will also include developing a number of responsible tourism baking-related activities to maximise the potential of the bakery to add to visitor’s experience and activities whilst staying at the village.

Who: The project targets 200 local women who are members of “Nyodema Kafo” which is a self-help association based in Ndemban Tenda.

How much: We are aiming to raise £2,500 to cover the cost of constructing the bakery, training the women’s group and funding the salary of a village CBT Co-ordinator to help get this project set up.

Ninki Nanka Trail Responsible Product Development

In 2019, founders of NNE, Adama Bah and Lucy McCombes, were both appointed as independent consultants for the International Trade Centre’s (ITC) Gambia Youth and Empowerment project to support key stakeholders to engage in a responsible product development process for the Ninki Nanka Trail (NNT). Working in particular with the Gambia Tourism Board and local communities, they delivered responsible tourism and interpretation training for local tour operators and tourist guides, facilitated the NNT implementation plan, developed the NNT responsible tour operators code of conduct, supported a local NNT product FAM trip, produced content for the NNT product manual and attended the London World Travel Market and ITB (Berlin) trade fairs to promote the trail to international tour operators.

Ndemban CBT Governance, Management and Capacity Building Recommendations

In 2019, Adama Bah and Lucy McCombes were also requested by the Gambia Tourism Board (GTB) to produce recommendations for governance, management and capacity building for Ndemban’s community-based tourism product. The aspiration is for GTB to maximise the potential and local benefit from community-based tourism here and demonstrate a responsible tourism model that can be applied to other CBT destinations in The Gambia.