Tanji Bird Reserve

Tanji Bird Reserve

The Tanji Bird Reserve was established in 1993, and it has been designated an Important Bird Area by Birdlife International. The reserve covers an area of 612 hectares. Other names for the area include Karinti, Tanji River Reserve and Tanji National Park. The Tanji Bird Reserve is located 3 km north of the fishing village of Tanji and covers the Karinti River, Bald Cape and the Bijol Islands. The Bijol Islands are the only offshore islands of Gambia, made up of two islands that become one at low tide. The islands are important breeding sites for sea turtles and migratory birds. The Tanji Bird Reserve includes mangrove, dry forest and coastal dune forest, with a series of lagoons along the coast. Around 300 species of birds have been documented in the reserve, among them 82 Palaearctic migratory species. Among the species regularly observed in the lagoons of the reserve are the Black-Headed Heron, White-Fronted Plover, Caspian Tern, Spur-Winged Plover, Sanderling, Western Reef Heron, Royal Tern and Lesser Black-Backed Gull. The Bijol Islands are an essential feeding and roosting ground for a significant number of shorebirds, seabirds, ospreys and other birds, such as colonies of Grey-Headed Gulls, Slender-Billed Gulls, Royal Terns, Caspian Terns, Long-Tailed Cormorants and Western Reef Herons. The reserve also has a rich insect fauna. A survey in 2019 discovered 31 termite species, including 19 species not known anywhere else in The Gambia.