I recently spent two months in Senegal, during that time I travelled south to the Cassamance area staying in Ziguinchor. From Ziguinchor I travelled north to spend a couple of weeks in The Gambia. I spent a couple of weeks living in the Serekunda area some 11 km's west of Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. This set of black and white photographs were taken outside a traditional Gambian home. Click through the slideshow below for some black and white portraits I took of the local Gambian children there:

A beautiful black and white portrait of a young girl in Gambia.

Gambian children in the Capital.

A cheeky Gambian child smiles for the camera.

A Gambian family in the capital of Banjul.

Black and white African portrait.

African children playing in the street.

African street portrait.

All of the above photos were taken with a Canon 5D2 and a 50mm 1.4 prime lens. Some of the images were taken candidly whilst others were obviously posed. I converted the images to black and white using Lightroom as I preferred the overall mood of the resulting series.

The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa that is completely surrounded by Senegal except for it's coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. Despite a third of Gambians living under the poverty line, the people there are extremely friendly and welcoming. In fact The Gambia is often referred to as the 'Smiling Coast of West Africa'. I hope to return soon to explore more of the country and take more photos.

More of my travel photography from West Africa can be found on my website, my Facebook and my Flickr account. If you are interested in purchasing any prints, using an image online or would like further information please send me an email at: geraintrowlandphotography@gmail.com.

I recently spent two months in West Africa visiting Senegal. I have a Senegal album on my Flickr account with photos from Dakar, Lompoul, and Ziguinchor. Whilst visiting the Casamance area in the south of the country I decided to take a trip to The Gambia. The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa and is completely surrounded by Senegal except for its coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. It is home to the Bijilo Forest Park (aka Monkey Forest). Click through the slideshow below for some images I took of the monkeys there:

Four monkeys line up for a group shot in the Gambia.

Monkey Mother & Baby, Africa.

Monkey Love, Bijilo Forest Park, The Gambia

Wildlife in Gambia.

A yawning monkey in West Africa.

Photography in Gambia by Geraint Rowland.

Visit Gambia.

Travel photography in Africa by Geraint Rowland.

Bijilo Forest Park, The Gambia.

Monkeys at the Bijilo Forest Park, The Gambia

The Bijilo Forest Park, or Monkey Forest is situated next to the coast in the Serekunda area some 11 km's west of Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. There are various trails through the park that take you through the forest and coastal scrubland. Many local people told me that there are no longer any monkeys left in the park but there were plenty on the day I visited. I think the diversity of the monkey population has diminished over recent years with the Western Red Colobus monkey being pushed out of the area. This has been blamed upon deforestation of the area as well as the practices of the park itself: By encouraging tourists to buy nuts and feed the green monkeys, their numbers have risen massively pushing out the red monkeys. I didn't see any red monkeys in the park whilst I was there but did see some along the main road in the mornings. The green monkeys however are in an abundance (click through the carousel below for more monkey love):

Some major construction was taking place close to the entrance of the park when I visited with more of the park area being cleared for commercial development. Hopefully enough forest survives for the existing monkeys but their future looks fragile.

More of my travel photography can be found on my website, my Instagram and my Facebook page. If you are interested in purchasing any prints, using an image online or would like further information please send me an email at: geraintrowlandphotography@gmail.com.