How I Finally Backpacked In The Gambia🇬🇲And Senegal 🇸🇳7 Years Later!

“Reality reflection. It’s a long long way from here to there” – Paul Van Dyk.

Well, it has been a long and winding road on this blog and I always like referring to it as a backpacking blog, for backpackers like me. However, until December 2023, there were TWO countries that I had been to, and travelled to and through WITHOUT a backpack!! The Gambia and Senegal!! Those two countries remained the only two countries that I knew I was in but didn’t backpack and therefore I could never mutter these words…

“I backpacked in The Gambia”. (a lie – no backpack in 2016)

“I backpacked in Senegal”. (a lie – no backpack in 2016)

I travelled hardcore through both countries of course, way back in 2016 but with no backpack, no luggage, nothing. You see, as a blogger I was there on a “Lost Luggage Challenge” with Money Super Market so I had to travel through them but I couldn’t backpack through them, since I was missing the only thing you need to be a backpacker – a backpack!

Just to backtrack this – in May 2016, I went from Dean Court to Dakar without ANY luggage. Zero. I had my coat, a jumper, pants, socks, shoes, a football shirt and what was in my pockets was a passport, vaccination cards, camera, phone, wallet, keys, charger, a Northern Ireland flag (standard) and a reusable bag. It was part of the Money Supermarket Lost Luggage Challenge for bloggers! Read about it below if you didn’t know what it was –

Secret Senegal – 2016 – MSM No Luggage Challenge!

My readers had to guess the country and then I was off…the country was Senegal and here are ALL my blog posts on it…

Secret Senegal without a backpack
I’m off to Senegal without a backpack
Dean Court To Dakar without a backpack
Travelling the sights of Dakar, Senegal without a backpack
Visiting Lac Rose in Senegal without a backpack
Fish and Beer on Plage N’Gor, Senegal
Spots On My Head in Senegal
My Stay At The Amazing Hotel Baraka, Dakar without a backpack
Watching Belly Dancing With Mina without a backpack
Overlanding and sailing into The Gambia without a backpack
My Stay At The Amazing Maison Abaka, Plage N’Gor without a backpack

Here are some photos from that trip to Senegal…where as you can see, I wasn’t backpacking.

As you can see almost all photos have the same green Northern Ireland shirt, the same biege jumper and of course the same trousers! And on that same trip, I overlanded into The Gambia but of course also with no luggage…and therefore not backpacking!

The Gambia without a backpack

I crossed into The Gambia on a night ferry and headed to the swanky Coco Ocean without a backpack.

Sightseeing in Banjul and Bakau without a backpack
Touching alive awake crocodiles without a backpack
My Stay At The Amazing Coco Ocean Resort (a 5 Star Paradise) without a backpack
My Stay At The Banana Lodge, Brufut Village without a backpack

Here are some photos of that time I was in The Gambia without a backpack…

After that trip when I started to write about it, I got a slight bit upset that I couldn’t write “Backpacking in Senegal: My trip to Lac Rose” or “Backpacking In The Gambia: Stroking Crocodiles at Kachikally” as I would have been lying. During the trip though, Money Supermarket did allow us to pick up and purchase items, so that on the flight home we would be allowed luggage. At the time though, I decided to be stronger and not do that. I picked up only toothbrush, toothpaste, toilets and souvenirs. I reflected here on the good and bad from that trip…

Travelling with no luggage – top 5 benefits I noticed
Travelling with no luggage – top 5 problems I had
A blog post I was able to upload live by asking to use a computer in the Coco Ocean Resort (from where the love video came…)

I was a travel expert by then anyway, so actually it was easy for me, it was just frustrating without the laptop that I couldn’t write or work. On that trip, I also had time alone and realised I was in love with a girl. I immediately told her and sent her a video from my phone while in The Gambia. She first kissed me, wanted me, then left me alone in the sinking sand and was to be blocked forevermore. There I was living it up with a private pool, a 5 star resort with the best food and drink ever and I had fallen in love with a girl from my previous brace of years (prior to becoming a Backpacking Centurion)!

Seven Years Later…with a backpack!

“These days the stars ain’t out of reach” – Jon Bon Jovi.

This was a wild 7 year story. Because, even by December 2023, Senegal and The Gambia were still the ONLY TWO countries I had been to but not backpacked in. That is obviously because I was there on a no luggage challenge, therefore I had no backpack and in all my other 221 countries (out of 223) I had a physical backpack with me – yes even Podjistan, Austenasia, Adammia, Vatican City and Antarctica. Sure, I travelled hardcore through both Senegal and The Gambia in 2016, but without a backpack and therefore could never say “I backpacked in Senegal/The Gambia”.

By the end of December 2023, I had finally gone back to both, this time with a backpack!!

The weirdest thing is that due to stopovers in 2023, I have now backpacked in both, as this time, I had my backpack!! Even stranger is on the 2023 visit, I was in two airports as a backpacker that I was NOT in when I didn’t backpack them in 2016! Plus in 2016, I spent 7 days travelling in Senegal and 5 days travelling in The Gambia but not backpacking. Yet in 2023, I spent only 2 days in each backpacking but not really travelling! Crazy. It should be the other way around! Plus this time, I was TWICE in both with a backpack!

• I landed in Senegal on 19th December 2023 with my backpack but didn’t leave the airport.
• I landed in Senegal on 25th December 2023 with my backpack and went through passport control and headed to the beach.
• I landed in The Gambia on 25th December 2023 with my backpack but didn’t leave the airport.
• I landed in The Gambia on 29th December 2023 with my backpack and went through passport control and left the next day.

It seems really odd that the time I did backpack the brace, I felt less like a “backpacker” than when I didn’t backpack the brace!!

Here are some photos of the time I was actually backpacking in Senegal and The Gambia in December 2023.

Also on my return to Senegal and The Gambia in December 2023, I didn’t really travel or sightsee as I had short stopovers and ended up eating, drinking and partying! Which included cheese on toast and snacks in 4 bars in The Gambia and a tiny hotdog and Christmas Day party in Senegal. Plus neither country issued any visas and The Gambia waived my $20 entrance tax and $20 departure tax as I was only there for 17 hours (lucky). It turned into a pub crawl actually and to do some writing!

Here are some videos from the 2016 and 2023 trips to Senegal and The Gambia:

2023: