The city of Serre Kunda, the largest in all of Gambia, forms a heady patchwork of bustling market streets, haphazard bazaars and tight-knit roadways, all loaded with dusty 4x4s, blaring boomboxes and crooked food stalls touting bell-pepper rice dishes and Wolof fish platters.

The town centre is a frenetic mix of West African culture, watched over by the looming figures of mosque minarets, and alive with the twisting aromas of nutmeg and cumin. It’s a place where travellers can get a real taste for the energy of African life—weaving between the claustrophobic silk emporiums of the Serrekunda Market building and the dusty pitches of the city’s makeshift wrestling arena, while dodging purring scooters and the endless clusters of determined hawkers.

More a local hangout than holiday destination, the urban fray can get just a little too much; at such times ask your Serre Kunda tour guide about the wealth of shimmering sands that awaits in nearby beach destinations such as Bijilo, Fajara and Kotu Strand, sloping down into the cool waters of the Atlantic shore.