Sadly, Bird Safari Camp is no more...
Bird Safari Camp once was a beautiful tented lodge on the meandering river banks of MacCarthy Island in The Gambia. It is now a decaying wreck, squatted by thieves.
On 10th July 2012 Mr. Alhagie Bithaye of Bansang (who should own 3% of the shares in the company, not 100% as he would like people to believe) turned up at the lodge and claimed that - because of the fraudulent way he and his 'uncle' solicitor had set up the company - he was the sole owner of the company. This, despite his own written admission that he has never invested any money!
He dismissed all the staff and immediately set to work on stripping the company's assets. Several tens of thousands of £'s worth of equipment (solar panels, batteries, building materials etc.) has either been stolen or destroyed. The swimming pool is empty; the buildings are disintegrating and the safari tents are torn and wasting away.
Here are some photos to show what the lodge used to look like and what it looks like since Bithaye's 'take over'. Click on the photos to cycle through:
We understand that Bithaye has been telling people that he has won the court case which the rightful owners of Bird Safari Camp brought against him and that he has been encouraging other investors to give him money.
If you are that investor, or know who they are, please contact Mark Thompson (via WhatsApp) on +220 3304400 who will be happy to advise you further. You may also read more information on the Hidden Gambia web site, the UK-registered tour operator which terminated its operations in 2013 as a direct result of the demise of Bird Safari Camp.
Copyright © 1998 - 2024
Fax sent by Bithaye on 7th September 1998 in which he admits that he has not invested any money in Bird Safari Camp and begs for mercy 'for the final time' following the discovery that he has stolen a number of items of company property. The treatment he refers to is for a 'mental disorder' which was just another con trick by which he extracted money from well-meaning, foreign investors.
Oh - and his mother never did sell her house; of course there was never any intention of that!!
