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Two English men James English and Lawrence Williams found Makasutu on Christmas Eve 1992. This was the culmination of 3 years of searching the Gambia (and many more searching the world) by James for a piece of land suitable to create a tourism project. Four acres were originally purchased from the local owners of the land, the Sanneh Kunda (family).
The initial idea was to build a small back packers lodge, but upon returning to Makasutu after a three-month journey driving from England to the Gambia, two hundred palm trees had been cut down from the surrounding area. The Sanneh family were contacted, as were the forestry department, and it was decided that the way to protect the area was to buy the land and fence it.
This changed the whole idea for the back packers lodge, and after many nights sitting round the campfire it was decided to try to help in the re-foresting of the area, and eventually to open the site as a cultural reserve, highlighting how the local people live, and also to encourage the return of wildlife to the area.
Fifteen thousand trees were planted over the next few years, as well as 70 wells to help water the new trees. The local people that were living and using Makasutu before James and Lawrence arrived, were left as they were on the land, and discussions were held with them, and it was decided it was possible to incorporate them into the tourism project that was planned.
