Kotu, Badala Park Hotel Review

Overall Rating

I've just got back from Badala Park hotel. from the outside the hotel looks lovely, the pool is nice and the staff are very polite. Its VERY basic! but a good place to put your head down. But stay out until your ready to sleep! the beach is beautiful! and you can swim peacefully in the sea, and have very good and helpful life guards on the beach. Theres strong security on the beach, and you can leave you hand bag with your camera, money, anything for a few hours while you watch the fishermen, or go for a walk and visit the Fajara market which is on the right 20 min walk on the baech, and your stuff is 100% safe! If sales men try to bother you, the security are there in a flash, and get rid of them, but if you do want to buy something from them, do it quickly, or tell the security that you called them over and there ok, and not bothering you. If you want a nice meal I would suggest the Lebanese restaurant which is just outside the hotel, it has a big pizza sign outside it, the food there is gorgeous! or go to Kunta Kente which in on the beach on the right hand side, its lovely! I would definitely suggest you going to the crocodile pool, you can touch them, they have a main crocodile called charlie (we saw him!) its amazing, but when you there watch the giant spiders! I nearly had a heart attack!! def get a safe its £14 a week, but i would suggest you get one!

The hotel room is not very clean. The bathroom is terrible! the shower hose wasn't long enough to be mounted on the wall, so you have to hold it, theres barely any water coming out! there was no toilet seat! we asked for one, they gave us one, but it wasn't put on properly, so it fell off! The rooms are really dark and the lights don't give off much light and the light bulbs are different colours, a nightmare if you want to apply make up! we had to ask for clean towels on Sunday, they said that this was there day off! We got hold of the manager, which has just taken over that week (a french man) he has big ideas and is very sweet, but has no idea! It took him 30 mins to find us a towel! The locals are allowed into the hotel and hover around there, but there harmless, they just don't stop talking to you! When you leave the hotel is a different story! harrassment central! I tell ya! They don't leave you alone! We tried everything, pretending we couldn't speak English, saying we were of a rare religion that forbids us from talking at certain parts of the day (and it was always that part of the day!) or being rude! which isn't nice, but when your constantly saying 'no thankyou, were fine'' and there ignoring you and following you around anyway, you do end up being a bit abrupt! In hotel they give you breakfast. The air con situation is a joke! the rooms don't come with it, they want £75 a week more for it! We went to look at the room and it was so manky worse that the room they had given us, so we didnt go for it, we ended up with the original room with a fan, but it was fine!

If your going to get a taxi they have green ones which are the tourist one which are more expensive and yellow ones that are proper cheap! BUT make sure you agree a price with them before you go anywhere! the market in Banjul is massive, I would suggest that you go with a local, (don't worry after the first couple of hours you would have made loads of mates), I would suggest making a mate with a Gambian that works in the hotel, because they cant afford to lose that job, and will make sure that your safe and happy, buy them a packet of fags for 70p or a little lunch and they will be happy. I would definitely go back to Gambia, but I wouldn't stay in this hotel ever again, but it was an experience!