Sandele

The lodges at Sandele

Sandele (pronounced 'Sandaily') is a lovely new Eco Retreat in Kartong. I went with Paul for just one night as a kind of holiday. It's not something you can do on a volunteers budget but as a treat it was great. The Retreat is being built in conjunction with the local community of Kartong, who benefit from the development and running of the resort and who will assume complete esponsibility in twenty-five years time.

You stay in wee private lodges, nestled in the bush a hundred metres from the beach. And when finished (we had a kind of pre-view) each lodge will also have a fantastic stilted beach lodge (complete with shower and drinks facilities) literally overlooking the sea.

The owners of Sandele also own Safari Gardens, the small hotel us volunteers stayed in for our first week in the Gambia. Both owners are really lovely people (especially Gerry who is just a bubble of positivity all of the time). It has been there dream for the past 10 years to open Sandele and ensure it is run on on ethical principles. They employ and train local staff and use local materials wherever possible. It is built using ecological construction techniques introduced from India to The Gambia and is run as a model of sustainability

I loved the place. It is simple luxury rather than ritzy but is very special.

If I'm totally honest they are still having a few teething problems but once all is ironed out I think it wil be a fab place to go. As we were the only guests we basically had a double date weekend with Gerry and Morris. You get full board when staying there and the food is great so we had breakfast lunch and dinner with them!
The shower in the lodges.

Kartong itself has a great beach (see earlier blog entry when I stayed there at Easter) so we did little else than sunbathe, drink wine and play scrabble. Soooooo relaxing.