Kunta Kinteh Island

Set in the middle of the Gambia River, this tiny UNESCO-listed island, once known as James Island, holds the weathered ruins of Fort James and centuries of slave-trade history. Renamed for Kunta Kinte, the ancestor immortalised in Alex Haley's Roots, it draws visitors tracing the African diaspora's roots. Nearby riverside villages and the Albreda slavery museum deepen the story.