About Us
Destination Janjanbureh -
Local knowledge, Living Culture, Responsible Tourism.
We are Janjanbureh Tour GuidesAssociation, coloquily know as Destination Janjanbureh being the public face of a long community journey in guiding, cultural exchange, and sustainable tourism.
This page reflects an ongoing process...
It is a new stage in the long development of community-led tourism in Janjanbureh. It brings together experience built over many years with learning from the most recent training cycle, completed at the end of 2025.
Some outcomes from this latest phase are still taking shape. As they do, this page will be updated to reflect new activities, roles, and developments within Destination Janjanbureh.
Background: how this work developed
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Community-led tourism in Janjanbureh developed over many years through a combination of local initiative, early skills training, and partnerships focused on sustainability and cultural heritage.​
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Early training programmes supported young people to develop guiding skills grounded in local history, culture, and the natural environment. These efforts helped strengthen a locally rooted approach to tourism
and led to the formation of
Janjanbureh Uniting Sustainable Tourism
And Community Training
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(JUST ACT NYC), a National Youth Council–registered organisation focused on community benefit, skills development, and responsible tourism.
As local capacity grew, Janjanbureh gained recognition as an emerging inland destination, providing an alternative to coastal tourism in The Gambia. From 2017 onwards, formal Community-Based Tourism (CBT) training was introduced to Just Act guides, supported through national and international programmes and delivered in partnership with Gambian training institutions.
CBT development built on existing skills and confidence, enabling communities to design and host experiences rooted in everyday life — including cultural walks, village-based activities, and nature-led experiences such as kayaking and hiking. Parallel cultural initiatives, including the revival of the International Kankurang Festival, further strengthened local identity and visitor engagement.
Over time, these developments contributed to the formal registration of the Janjanbureh Tour Guides Association, now widely known as Destination Janjanbureh, bringing together guiding, training, and community-based tourism under a shared local structure.
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Personal reflections and detailed histories from this journey can be found in our Stories & Voices section.