Kunta Kinteh Island

Kunta Kinteh Island sits in the middle of the Gambia River about three kilometres downstream from Juffure. The crumbling ruins on its surface are all that remain of Fort James, one of the principal holding stations for enslaved Africans before their transportation across the Atlantic. The island and its surrounding sites were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.

The island has eroded steadily over the centuries; what was once a substantial fort sits today on a patch of land barely larger than a football pitch. Boat trips from Juffure or Albreda last around 30 minutes each way and include a walk around the ruins with a guide. The river light, the silence of the ruined walls, and the historical weight of the place combine into one of the most powerful experiences a visitor to West Africa can have.

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The island was known as James Island under the British, who built a fort here in 1661. Over the next 150 years, the small fort changed hands repeatedly between the British, French, and various pirates and traders. Hundreds of thousands of enslaved people passed through its dungeons before being loaded onto ships for the Atlantic crossing. The Gambian government renamed it Kunta Kinteh Island in 2011 to honour the Mandinka people taken from this stretch of the river.

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