Salla VartiainenThe Gambia for digital nomads
Originally posted 2023-06-19
As some of you may know I usually work in marketing. Either freelancing with my own company Projektmaskinen or as an employee in a consultant firm. I also like traveling and time to time I have worked remotely, both as freelance and as an employee. I think that I might aspire to be a full time digital nomad because I like the freedom that comes with the possibility to change scenario as soon as I get bored.
Here I am recieving the award “the new company of the year” for my company Projektmaskinen in 2016
So how is the Gambia for digital nomads?
Gambia is a nice country, it´s very small, the tempo is laid back and the people here are super friendly. It is also quite cheap to live in if you come from west. Gambia does though struggle with a lot of infrastructural problems. And the badly managed company Nawec is the one that causes the biggest problems for people here.
Nawec handles both water an electricity supplies here in the Gambia and are notorious for the electric shortages that are a part of everyday life here.
They also manage the water which is terrible but that´s an other story…
Lovely shopkeeper in Serekunda. The Gambian people are generally very friendly and nice 🙂
Is internet working in the Gambia?
The first question a nomad may ask them selves is – is internet working in the Gambia?
The short answer is yes! The longer answer is – it depends on what you mean.
While some of the internet providers do struggle I still think it is possible to have quite a good connection – if you live in a place that has a generator that is! This because of the earlier mentioned electricity shortages by Nawec.
Different areas seem to be affected differently, some only have a few power shortages from time to time whilst others (like we here in Kotu) are having them almost on a daily basis! Most of the places have generators – but it can be good to have that in consideration if you plan to come here and work.
Inets sign. While I was photographing this I got told of by an Inet-employee that told me that it is forbidden to photograph private buildings in the Gambia. I know that during Yammeh you couldn´t photograph everywhere but I thought that had changed. If the employee was right or not remains to be seen.
Is it possible to have internet at home?
When I first traveled here in 1999 there were like NO internet options at all! You had to get satellite internet. Now there are several internet providers here who you can turn too. We compared plans and decided to go with Insistnet (INET) and so far we are happy with them. There was only one day they had serious downtime and we never found out why or what happened (there is usually no information going out on these kind of things here).
We pay 2300GMD / month (35 euro) for a Inets “Na Korda”, 4mbps, unlimited data. Which, surprisingly, seems to be enough for us (2 people, one who consumes a lot of data and the other one mostly surfing on youtube and facebook).
I also have a backup by having alot of data at my Gambian number so if there is a problem I switch to that instead.
Back at home we do everything to hide the router – here 5 guys came and installed it with great pride in the middle of our wall 😀
The biggest providers here at the moment are Netpage, Insistnet and Qcell. Qcell seems to have the least beneficial plans imo.
Are there any co-working places where I can work from?
There are a couple co-working spaces here now! And all of them offer different options from membership to daily passes.
AFB Workspace
has 3 spaces. One is located here near us in Kotu, one in Brusubi and one at Kairaba avenue. The one here in Kotu seems to be open from 8am to 9pm (although the times on Google can´t always be trusted). My Gambia has written an inspirational article about the founder.
https://www.facebook.com/afbworkspace/
The Disruptive Lab is located in Bakau.
https://disruptivelab.gm/
And The Hub – Co-working Space / Accelerator / Incubator is also located on Kairaba Avenue and seems to be open 08.00 am to 05.00pm.
https://www.thehub.gm/
AFB Workplace in Kotu
Are there any other nomads around?
So are there any other nomads here? I wish I knew! There are expat-groups and moving-to-the-gambia groups on Facebook but I havn´t seen any nomads-in-the-gambia-groups yet.
Things that are good to know – Card payments mostly not possible in the Gambia
One thing that is good to know is that cash is king here! Most places don´t accept credit cards so if you want to do something expensive (like going to the dentist) you find your self walking around with a lot of cash. Taking out money from the ATM:s come with a transaction fee and a conversion fee so I usually send money to my self via the Western Union. This is the cheapest option I´ve found so far.
Cash is still king in the Gambia
How long can I stay?
This may differ depending on which country you are coming from but for Europeans I think the general rule is that you get 28 days at arrival and if you want to extend it you go to immigration and pay to get a new stamp. At the moment they charge 2000 GMD per month (30 Euro).
How do I find an apartment in the Gambia?
Heading to a totally unknown destination is always a bit tricky (and exciting) and there are a lot of things to take in to consideration. If you are thinking about coming to the Gambia I have collected some good-to-know resources on THIS page. Hope it will help!
xoxo/ Salla V
Originally posted 2023-06-19