Just got back and thought I would give you my review.

We had a week at The Mansea. The hotel is as it always is although they have started to refurb the rooms. As we only use the rooms for sleeping in, we weren't bothered and had one of the rooms in F Block, down by the Mangoe tree. Hotel in our opinion is good value for money with a reasonable hot breakfast included.
The "strip" is very quiet although the hotels seem busy. There seems to be a lot of elderly people visiting now so mybe they weren't venturing out at night hence the quietness.
Most places were shutting up shop at midnight and the late night venues hardly had anyone in.The bumster/girlie situation is as ever a bit of a problem. Less tourists on the street means more hassle and it got a bit heavy a few times but we managed it ok.
And, may of the beachbars have been closed by the GTA/police which means you have to walk a fair distance before you can sit and have a beer. The upside of this is that you get little hassle on the beach...in fact we were never stopped by anyone trying to sell us anything at all!
As you can imagine, prices have risen coupled with the weak pound. You only get around 35-36 D to the pound now. A bottle of Julbrew varies between 25 (day) to 50 (night) dalassi. ( did hear it was 85 D in the Senegambia/Sheraton Hotels!
But, bearing in mind the cost in any other tourist destination it still represents good value for money and is still a brilliant place to visit.
The place is also going through commercial changes....
Banks are springing up all over and new petrol stations are being built which is a bit strange as fuel is more expensive than the UK!
So much for our petrol stations closing because there is no profit in it.
Also there seems to be avery psoitive change in small enterprises. There are lots of stalls on the main roads starting to sell locally produced honey and there is evidence of small growing areas producing veg and fruit.
There also sems to be a more "affluent" edge to the place. Most people now carry mobiles, and like the UK, kids seem obsessed with texting, and chatting away unconcerned about charges.
We sat outside a cafe on Independence Street in Banjul and there were dozens of youngsters each with mobiles in their hands sporting the latest trainers.
The roads seem to be improving too..we travelled down to Kartung and surprised at the road standard.
Overall, a very good holiday, marred slightly by one of our party who had a bad fall and wouldn't go to hospital. It now transpires that he has broken two bones and has to have an operation this afternoon! Silly Boy!

Hey Bill, great review- sorry to hear about ure friend- hope it didnt too big a damper on things.
Im looking forward to going and seeing the changes myself.

Hi Bill, I hope you enjoyed Kartung. Gunjur Fish market is also a fav.
The road has been like that for many years, just a shame no one uses it and stay in hassle town.

Well I am still here, One thing you forgot to mention was the blimmin cold weather we have been having here. That's why it is so quiet in the evenings. And lo and behold yesterday it even rained!!! Apart from that it is great. Hot during the day which is what matters.
Saw Youssou N'Dour in concert at the Senegambia Hotel last Friday which was brill.

4 weeks to go ...........

Just checked BBC weather.........Gambia 30-32 degrees and 17 degrees at night ( defo not cold, in Scotland we would call that a heat wave)!!!!!!!!!! Heaven!!!! Cant wait!!!!!!!

Hi Fiona, yes it looks warm but believe it or not when we were there it was really chilly. And, of course going out at night with next to nothing on didn't help! The wind was blowing too which made it feel even colder. I did hear that it warmed up after we left.