Serenity Holidays Traveller Reviews

This was a two-centre holiday, split between beach and jungle. We chose The Gambia to escape the worst of the British weather, but also to experience the diversity of birdlife the country has to offer.

The Gambia Experience provided us with everything we needed - excellent office support and local representation, good quality accommodation at a reasonable price - so that we could enjoy our holiday to the full without worry. We would certainly recommend them to others.

We have just taken our fifth winter sun holiday in the Gambia. The weather and value for money can not be beaten.

The Gambia Experience (serenity Holidays) have very experienced and mature local reps which is very reassuring. Everything always runs smoothly and we are ell looked after by the hotel staff also

A week of rest on the beach, reading and being well looked after by friendly staff, followed by three days at a delightful game reserve

Gambia Experience. We found them after Thomas Cook folded

We thoroughly enjoyed our week in Cape Verde at the Morabeza Hotel. Lovely hotel, great location and fab weather

Fantastic service from start to finish

Loved the quality of the lodges. Friendliness of the staff. Knowledgeable guides. Wonderful weather. The bird life is amazing! Second time there.... we will be back! First time at Mandina Lodge. SO pleased we went! Relaxing sleeping over the water in our fantastic lodge, waking up to bird sounds, and watching 200 baboons scurrying by!

So efficient and helpful

We stayed at the Bakotu hotel for the second time. It is quiet, tranquil and a perfect location for birding trips with guides from the Gambia Birding Association, a few paces from the hotel. At Mandina Lodge, we loved watching the sunrise over the creek and the sounds of the first birdsong. Also our early morning birding walks in the forest before breakfast.

It is our second trip to The Gambia with Gambia Experience. Again, we felt incredibly safe and well cared for at every stage of our holiday from arrival to departure. All our transfers in The Gambia were trouble free and enjoyable and, as before, we benefitted from the expert advice and knowledge of our representative. We had the most wonderful experience again, under the competent and professional umbrella of Gambia Experience.

Cape Verde Experience: staff - best in Sal (Tracy) & San Vicente (Edmon) . Not met at Santiago so missed chance of one excursion! Main trouble is that excursions can be very expensive if you are the only ones going on that trip! Otherwise CVE voucher system worked very well indeed. Sal: Hotel Morabeza. Splendid hotel by nice little town of San Maria at the one end of an island which is very flat and just like the Egyptian or Jordon desert, with just a couple of small hills to be seen! Morabeza Hotel rooms very good with plenty of shelf space, kettle, large shower room, air conditioning, more TV channels, right on beach on the edge of town. Food fair. The restaurant service can be terribly slow at night!! Soya milk & Gluten free bread is available. On the whole staff very helpful with mainly good English. Could do with information book about hotel in each room. Santiago: Quinta da Monthana. Splendid position in the mountains 20 min from very busy capital Paia. Ideal for walkers. Would give the owner 5 stars: a splendid fellow who occasionally plays guitar in the evening. Food quite good: probably best of all three hotels but no soya milk or GF bread available. Old city of Cidade Velha was very interesting on half day trip. Our room was clean but very small and simple with no air conditioning, and only a simple wardrobe & one bedside lamp! Many steps in hotel and Scottish lady slipped & pulled ligaments on wet steps! No swimming pools but great mountain outlook. San Vicente: Foya Branca. Splendid position by a large beach. A big hotel but were were there in low season, or so they said, so few guests but that was no trouble for us. Our room on ground floor very good with a terrace area. Nice furniture but no shelf storage for clothes and no kettle, but air conditioning good. Few TV channels. African News was best and only English! Again no English hotel guide book! Nearby airport not a problem because very few jets. Nearby island of San Antao is well worth a visit. Free shuttle bus to main city of Mindela. We enjoyed three hours visit there see fish and general markets and a museum. Reception & restaurant staff mostly rather poor, though room maid was most helpful. Main restaurant food rather poor - but we had been warned. Soya milk available but no

See note above

Excellent flight, fast transfer, beautiful hotel, good food and beach side location away from all the hussle and bustle

Gambia Experience excellent customer service, hotel as described, good rep. Highly recommended this tour operator.

I spent a week on a three island tour of Cape Verde with Cape Verde experience.

The company provided accurate and full information for me to travel. The hotels were of an excellent standard and all transfers etc worked smoothly.

We travel twice a year with Gambia Experience and as always love our holiday stay at Kombo Beach Hotel. It is one of the best hotels in the Gambia with an amazingly beautiful sandy beach. The Kombo gardens I would say are the best in the Gambia and lovingly maintained by very proud gardeners nothing compares. Rooms are fine and cleaned everyday., lovely breakfast and the Barracuda bistro bar is very nice for lunch or dinner, Badoit and Ibrahim are always on hand to greet you with a friendly smile and professional service. All the staff at Kombo are great, always super polite, efficient and friendly from check in to check out nothing is too much trouble indeed a very well run hotel. Animation and beach team headed by Hady are brilliant. Great tennis. I cannot fault the Gambia Experience Agents they are better than all the rest for me personally. We always choose Kombo. It is well run and all the staff are so friendly and our rep LT is always on hand. Quite simply Kombo and Gambia Experience are the best for us. All I can say, is a huge thank you once again for an incredibly relaxing holiday. We will be back later in the year!!!

We like Gambia Experience very, very much, we have used them for well over 20 years and hope to continue using them especially when they have some good deals!! I know Tui is taking over from Thomas Cook and hope that Gambia do not outprice them selves as we really, really love travelling with The Gambia Experience. See you later in the year Gambia Experience xxx