2 day trip part 4 Phew!

After a while I got fed up with listening to the rustling in the thatched roof above me, folded the towel in 3 lengthwise and wrapped it around my head to block out the sound. Amazingly the next thing I knew was it was 7am and time to get up. I did a quick bed bug bite check and found nothing, big sigh of relief.
The shower worked in a fashion and the cold water was soooo good. I felt a ridiculous sense of achievement that I had survived the night. I stepped outside my wedge and discovered a small complex of white thatched round houses. Hence the wedge shaped room. On my, er, terrace outside my door was a very old broken sewing machine table, minus machine, just the hole where it would have been,the type with the wrought iron table legs and a foot peddle . Some broken scraps of metal, a broom, maybe I had slept in the workman's shed. I cannot work out the sewing machine bit maybe it had been there ever since the 1830's left behind by the British. Monkeys were scampering around , the birds song was full on. The birds in The Gambia are breathtaking in variety,colours and sizes, fortunately the Gambian tourist board have realised this asset and are preserving them and their territory, it will be great if it lasts, however this land, its coastline and climate is like Spain in the early 80's if the developers move in who knows if their current eco principles will hold.

2 day trip part III. " Lights out"

7pm and the dusk is starting to close in. I break yet another promise not to take any more sunset photos. Sunset is just so enticing the dark green black silhouettes of palm trees and forest outlined against the acidic golden yellow sky , turning to pale gold, the perfect sphere of the sun dropping without a sound lower and lower then disappearing altogether. We are in darkness. The crew light a halogen lamp , silently we slip over the water towards our overnight camp.

Day trip Part II "And the Hippo Yawned"

The ferry "Port" ( ha ha ha.) is on the river bank and there is the ever colourful range of food stalls , market traders, a man with two excessively long pythons. Incredibly beautiful women dressed up in sequins , satins , flounces and frills their heads stacked high with bales of immaculately folded cottons in every colour , I would have loved to have a look at some but I was scared of the stampede of women that would descend if I started the ball rolling. The scene resembles a packet of liquorice all sorts thrown on a burnt sienna canvas.

Two day trip . Part 1 " apologies it is rather long.

This trip offered the best way to see the most of Gambia.
Day 1: Collection from our lodgings 8.20 am. Drive along the South bank of the Gambia crossing by ferry to the north bank driving a bit more to reach the stone circles at Wassu , then boarding a boat for lunch and a 4 hour trip up river . Arrive at our overnight destination camp Janjanbureh in time for an evening meal. At this point we were issued with specific instructions " you will change for dinner, nice clothes please" . There was a fleeting aside "this will not be like your hotel" , the Gambian accent is just rich and groily ( i know, thats not a word either but this place just requires new adjectives) it resonates somewhere deep inside them, the smiles convince you every time.

Day trip I.

The idea for this years holiday was a change of modus opperandi. Stay in one place instead of constantly moving on and take day trips out to view and absorb the surroundings. Keep it low key, a gentle itinerary more suitable for us all.

Hard work on the beach

Today we joined up with an amazing team of people who voluntarily help out at an orphanage and  a care home for handicapped children nearby . The owners of our compound contribute their time and use their contacts with tourists like us to support these ventures.

Fish supper

Our guide purchased the fish for us and sugested his wife would cook it "Gambian style" for us. We willingly excepted his generosity , to be honest we had been struggling to find out what Gambian cuisine was like. He drove us to his compound in Serracunda. This town has one of the largest Street markets in Africa we might be ready for it now. It is a hot dusty exhaust filled town a hive of straggled (there's that word again) industry and dusty recycled commerce .

Fishing

I do not know how to title this bit. Smoking herring? Fishing village? Oxford street on sea ?
I am quite glad I missed this bit about the fishing and wrote about some humor and light laughter at our own expense in the in between bit.
To be honest the first few days here were really upside down . I have always had a dream about coming to Africa. I was born on this continent. I have always felt the music in me comes from here. But what did I know? As it turns out , I knew nothing at all.

Day by day

The day here start at 5am.with an awakening of the Muslim call to prayer. Some days it is softer than others , sometimes quite loud. This bothers some members of the guests more than others. Personally I am going to have it out with the adorable little blue and brown pigeon , actually I think it is a Speckled Dove, who starts around the same time and makes a continuous call that resembles someone with a cushion over their face going "baw baw bababawa baw baw bababawa " which it repeats monotone over and over. Although there are several of these really attractive birds in the compound they do this call only one at a time. It is rather like small children going na na nana na . These birds really amuse themselves at our expense. When you are sitting by the pool not disturbing anyone they take off from the 7ft high wall and fly like a kamakzi pilot and whistle past your ear at top speed.
We are getting into the swing of things now. Yesterday we had a shopping trip to buy vegetables from the ladies at the Turntable street market and I think we did OK.they told us they gave us discount price , HUGE grin, flashing smile. You can only believe them. Beautiful veg and salad but at this time of year all the fruit is imported. We then did some supermarket shopping, we decided to forgo the out do date Tesco Stollen or the Christmas pudding . Weird .
All was going well , it was supposed to be home for a BBQ of fresh fish. (oops I haven't written about the fish markets. .... Tomorrow) HOWEVER..... ever since we arrived we have been on a mission to get postcards for small friends back home. Franco found the postcards shortly after we arrived,apparently against all odds,they are a rare commodity it seems. Last evening he decided we should get the stamps. We were in a taxi that was not one of our recommended drivers. The windscreen was cracked right in the centre near the bottom and the crack spidered out across pretty much the rest of the windscreen. The cracks were taped over with a rainbow striped Sellotape. The two passenger doors at the back had 4x 4 inch bolts sticking inwards at ankle height. Anyway, the driver said the Gambia Post was nearby. ( it was then 5.30) we drive in the opposit direction to our compound , the traffic is thickening up nicely, the black fumes from the lorry in front tasted horrible. Eventually we hit a big town, I have no idea where we were. The driver stops outside a formal looking building and asks for The Gambia Post. It is just around the corner. Sure enough there it was. (it is now 6pm.) the building is hidden behind a boundary of heavy trees overhanging wrought iron fencing in a grubby dusty once white wall. Franco and the driver leave the car and disappear.... 6.10.....6.20.....6.30 in the car we don't know whether to laugh or cry. A young tourist girl has gone in and come out. A large oldish Gambian lady with an upturned white ( sorry, white is rather optomistic description) plastic table on her head. Seats x 4. Has taken a shine to us and I don't remember now why we told her about the postcards or why we even got started on any type of conversation, but she went away passing from left to right. She then reappeared , from right to left, minus the table , and starts up again , laughing , " postcards, yes, Ha ha ha" I do not know how to write down their rich rolling accent but that's how she talked.Again we cry with laughter at what is becoming a surreal event. Have they been kidnaped? Do we care if they have been kidnapped? Finally , just as Elaine and I have hit the silly panic laughter syndrome they reappear.
Your going to love this.
The post office was closed. The manager who was still in the building was in the loo and took his time.They had waited for him to come out.I have no idea about how the conversation went on between them all whilst he was in the loo.When he did finnaly come out the manager asked Franco how much the postage was for postcards for Europe! They had to look it up . There had then been a discussion about his honesty and the fact that he would make sure the money went into the till.
You couldn't make it up.
It was then far too late by the time we got home to do the BBq so we ate out.
Those of you who receive postcards owe us a drink.those of you who don't , we did post them honestly.

Airport to Bijilo

The Gambia is one of the smallest countries in Africa.It runs along the length of the River Gambia and is surrounded on all sides by Senegal.There was a time a few years ago that the two countries were going to merge and be called Senagambia but it did  not work out. Somehow it feels like a link in my travel chain that a lot of the beach sellers who pester us on the beaches in Italy come from Senegal. I wonder where they get the better life? That is a genuine question. They are not welcomed in Italy and they do not integrate in anyway. The answer is not a good one is it? Either way these people were born on the tough side of the street. It would appear to be the same here for many Gambians.
Our first impressions of here?  It is too early to say.

Africa. The Gambia . First impressions.

Until our team leader , Mrs Jones, suggested that our next winter trip should be "The Gambia " .
I did not even know it existed as a holiday destination. However it passed the selection test on three counts , weather, price and we could stay in one place  and do our trips out from base camp . So to speak.
Since making that decision it has turned out  , as so often happens, we have met several people who have come here for their holidays and the feed back has been 100% positive.