While the beautiful beaches and palm trees are aplenty, it’s the local young men that elderly British tourists are seemingly on the hunt for when they travel to Gambia on holiday
British grannies are still flocking to Gambia in search of toyboys years after efforts were made to cut down on sex tourism.
The tiny West African nation has had a reputation of being a ‘real-life Tinder dream for geriatrics’ for the last 30 years, since budget airlines started offering cheap package tours to the former British colony. In 2020, a shocking documentary titled Sex On The Beach showed bars packed full of elderly white women in search of younger Gambian men.
The country clamped down on older women seeking holiday flings two years ago – but it appears to still be rampant. Abubacarr Camara, the director of the country’s office for tourism, put a plea out for “quality tourists” and not just those that “come just for sex” in 2022, as he was sick of Gambia’s reputation as a sex hotspot for mature European women.
He said: “What we want is quality tourists. Tourists that come to enjoy the country and the culture, but not tourists that come just for sex.” At the time, Kausu Samateh, a tourist guide, told the Telegraph: “People are poor here, so they have no choice. They think it is better to go to Europe where they will have a better life. They hope that the old ladies will take them.”
Despite local pleas, the Senegambia Strip remains notorious for sex tourism today, and following the global pandemic, it seems to have hit a low. In a new interview, Ali Cham, 39, who plays at music venues along the strip, told The Sun: “Older women are still coming to The Gambia to have sex with younger men – it’s rampant.”
The father-of-five, who performs under the name Killa Ace, continued: “When you go to the strip or the tourist resorts, you will come across it, it’s happening in plain sight.” He explained that some Gambian men are “desperate for a better life” where “corruption is high and the economy is getting worse”.
Gambia has few job opportunities and low wages, so many men seek relationships in exchange for much more money than they could ever usually earn. While prostitution is illegal there, Western women rarely pay locals directly for sex, but will instead pay their bills and send them lump sums of money when they return home.
Locals told the paper that the popular Kololi beach resort is currently swarming with women from Europe looking for male escorts. One male beach worker explained that rich women, and sometimes men, will initiate contact by asking locals for massages – and the relationship escalates from there.
But Barbara, 65, from Kent, who travels to Gambia for “a bit of fun”, said she doesn’t know what “all the fuss is about” because she is “not harming anyone” when she hooks up with locals. She said: “If I want to take a good-looking bloke to my hotel room it’s no one’s business but my own.”
A couple from London told the Mirror that they witnessed “smiling grannies” besotted with younger men walking along the beach during their holiday abroad after the pandemic. Nicole, 52, and Paulo, 60, who declined to share their surnames, said they “love travelling to culture-rich destinations” and were “surprised” to see the hotspot of OAPs.
The pair said: “They call Gambia ‘The Smiling Coast of Africa’ and we certainly saw a lot of smiling grannies with their handsome local boyfriends.” Package deals from the UK to Gambia cost as little as £529. Tourism makes up 15 percent of the country’s GDP – while international money transfers account for 50 percent, according to a 2021 report by the World Bank.
Back in 2018, Heidi Hepworth converted to Islam so she could marry her Gambian fiancé Mamadou Salieu Jallow. The mother-of-nine appeared on ITV’s Loose Women and spoke about ending her 23-year marriage to Andy for a relationship with Mamadu – who was 14 years younger. Heidi said she had “never been happier”.
She told the panel: “No one imagined this would last but we love each other and are making plans to marry. I’ve never been happier… It was daunting at first. I got on the plane and thought ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’ But then I got there, and he met us off the plane with his brother and friend, and it was alright. It was magical.”
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