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.
When we pull into the river bank to disembark I start to get a little squirm of unease in my stomach. Getting on and off boats with "my leg" is always a moment when my surgeon sits on my shoulder and I can hear him saying " what are you doing?!!! " tonight in pitch black darkness his words are even harsher. Not only that, the Gambian skin is a really blue black tone of black. All that is visible on the shore are shirts moving around. Thank goodness the boat is more or less level with the ground. I make my problem known and I am lifted by several strong arms onto dry land.
Dimly we begin to recall the casual remark by the tour organiser. " This will not be like your hotel"
The list of things to bring said " sun hat, sun cream, anti mossi bite protection and a smart set of clothes for the evening" Not a word about a torch.
We can see an area which is clearly the bar come restaurant. It is possible to make out the bottles of spirits behind the bar and "Gambian white" plastic tables and chairs, this too is poorly lit by very few portable halogen lamps and paraffin lamps.
Other parties had obviously arrived on time ie: in daylight and were sitting drinking and laughing , well settled in. Our group by comparison was becoming a tad tetchy .
The room allocation.
Once again I am reminded of a certain situation we have come across in Italy. There is a travel/ apartment rental agency on the harbour front that kind of toss the keys for the appartments in a huge pile behind the desk. Each time a specific key is needed a full scale hunt has to be under gone accompanied by loud and heated discussions . Well here we were in exactly that situation - only in darkness. It felt like it was the first time they had ever had guests , could it be this was the opening night? The confusion over who wanted double rooms , who was in a single. Where was a specific key? Chaos.
I have know Elaine for 34 years and we have never slept together , we both agreed that if it made things better then tonight would be the night. We shared a common feeling of dread about bedtime.
Keys were given to various members of staff and we set off into the pitch black darkness following a shirt, a rock hard pathway woven with dry tree roots waiting to catch you out at every step , we played Gambian blind mans buff . We were now definitely cross, very cross indeed,our guides did not posses a torch between them. They are holding candles for gods sake! Fear was playing a big part as well. Each time we came to a front door it was the wrong door or the wrong key, on the spot decisions were being made as to who took which room. Our double room turned out to have a round bed so we passed that over to the TA nurse and Mr Windowman. Peter is seen vanishing into the darkness. Eventually I am given a room on my own. My heart sinks and i don't mind admitting I really felt panic setting in. Many times during the day we had all agreed that Franco had made exactly the right decision in not joining us on this trip. Right at that moment although I knew it was really good that he was not there, I really wanted him to be with me. The only time we have ever sleep apart is when I am in hospital, I was getting the same feeling right then as before an operation. You know there is no alternative you can only go forward but every bone in your body is doing a Tom and Jerry cartoon move , legs out at right angles, nails fully extended scrapping along the walls and floor try to stop the arrival time of the inevitable.
My cell was the shape of a cheese wedge. At the foot of the wedge was a tired brown wooden door covered in the usual layer of beige dust, I realise during the night this door is connected to the wedge opposite to mine. On the left hand section of the wedge were some shelves built into or rather carved out of the cement wall and a candle holder is stuck to the wall. On the right hand side all along was a solid cement flat area about knee height , at the fat end of the wedge was placed the mattress with the mosquito net attached at all four corners to the ceiling and tucked in under the bed, this fact is particularly relevant, how on earth can you get into bed and tuck in the mosquito net holding a candle? At the foot of the bed was a space for clothes, this part was nearest to the candle holder.The choice would be to sleep with the candle burning, but that would attract all the creepy crawlers , I am getting palpitations. At the largest end of the wedge and at the top end of the bed was a kind of window and a wooden door. The bottom part of the door was rickety and wonky and not terribly solid, the top of the door had 3 pairs of square holes covered by mosquito mesh. Once upon a time this mesh had been stuck down round the edges but now the corners were sticking up , it was coated in dust, hanging down was a piece of cloth, an attempt at a modesty curtain maybe. Two girls came in and speedily put a bottom sheet on the mattress. I wish i had not seen the mattress cover but too late. There are no pillows , no towel and no loo paper.
On the other side of the front door at the fat end of the wedge was the, hmm, "Bathroom" there was a small tap in one corner over a triangular shaped shelf tilted towards the wall. This was the wash basin. Opposite was the loo. To be fair by the days standards it was almost 4 star. The shower hung overhead, constructed out a metal watering can the water naturally went over everything. To use the loo it was necessary to move the candle and stick it to the window sill of a very tiny arc shaped window.
I am alone. Elaine has been carried off in another direction and we later find out she is sleeping in "Bossman's" room. Bossman will not be staying on to join her. Pity. A guide has promised to come back and collect me to make sure I negotiate the tree roots safely and make it to the restaurant. When he arrives I cannot get my door unlocked , he tells me not to worry and from the outside puts his hand through the mosquito netted square in the window into my side and unlocks the door by hand. Oh I feel soooo safe. NOT. I make a stand, I want a hurricane lamp, I will not accept a candle.
He leads me off like an old lady taking my hand in his and when I arrive at the restaurant I realise I forgot to change into my smart clothes. Blast.
Our group congregate together and we give in to hysteria, we compare cells . Some towels and toilet paper appear, the towel smells clean and comforting.
The food arrives and is quite frankly disgusting. No idea what the meat was but it was not beef and I took one sniff and decided my evening would be veggie. Time moves on we enjoy the company , our joint circumstances provide a great camerarderie. A bonfire has been lit and African dancing starts, the atmosphere is opaque , smokey , whistles and drums. We are in Africa. We leave our table and head towards the show. Without permission I swap my paraffin hurricane lamp for a halogen one off the bar. Shhh. One of the performers has her mobile phone stuck to her ear as she dances, we are happy to go along with anything which will delay the inevitable.
Finally it is time.
Bed.
We are guided back to our cells and with a feeling of dread I go in. For the second time in the day the wrap Serena gave me last time she came over comes into its own, I hang it as a secondary glazing on the front door. ( earlier in the day when those of us on the sunny side of the bus were burning up we had used it as a curtain to hold out the burning heat.) At least I have resolved the problem of the candle burning down the mosquito net.
I get undressed and get certain strategic items inside the net : water bottle,malarone tablet , towel ( pillow substitute ) and halogen lamp.I give a lot of thought to the positioning of each item, I climb in, meticulously i tuck the mosquito net under the mattress , when I feel at a safe point I take a deep breath and decide it's time.
I take off my glasses and place them next to the lamp. A burst of laughter comes from deep inside me, I had been wearing my sunglasses the entire evening.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
When we pull into the river bank to disembark I start to get a little squirm of unease in my stomach. Getting on and off boats with "my leg" is always a moment when my surgeon sits on my shoulder and I can hear him saying " what are you doing?!!! " tonight in pitch black darkness his words are even harsher. Not only that, the Gambian skin is a really blue black tone of black. All that is visible on the shore are shirts moving around. Thank goodness the boat is more or less level with the ground. I make my problem known and I am lifted by several strong arms onto dry land.
Dimly we begin to recall the casual remark by the tour organiser. " This will not be like your hotel"
The list of things to bring said " sun hat, sun cream, anti mossi bite protection and a smart set of clothes for the evening" Not a word about a torch.
We can see an area which is clearly the bar come restaurant. It is possible to make out the bottles of spirits behind the bar and "Gambian white" plastic tables and chairs, this too is poorly lit by very few portable halogen lamps and paraffin lamps.
Other parties had obviously arrived on time ie: in daylight and were sitting drinking and laughing , well settled in. Our group by comparison was becoming a tad tetchy .
The room allocation.
Once again I am reminded of a certain situation we have come across in Italy. There is a travel/ apartment rental agency on the harbour front that kind of toss the keys for the appartments in a huge pile behind the desk. Each time a specific key is needed a full scale hunt has to be under gone accompanied by loud and heated discussions . Well here we were in exactly that situation - only in darkness. It felt like it was the first time they had ever had guests , could it be this was the opening night? The confusion over who wanted double rooms , who was in a single. Where was a specific key? Chaos.
I have know Elaine for 34 years and we have never slept together , we both agreed that if it made things better then tonight would be the night. We shared a common feeling of dread about bedtime.
Keys were given to various members of staff and we set off into the pitch black darkness following a shirt, a rock hard pathway woven with dry tree roots waiting to catch you out at every step , we played Gambian blind mans buff . We were now definitely cross, very cross indeed,our guides did not posses a torch between them. They are holding candles for gods sake! Fear was playing a big part as well. Each time we came to a front door it was the wrong door or the wrong key, on the spot decisions were being made as to who took which room. Our double room turned out to have a round bed so we passed that over to the TA nurse and Mr Windowman. Peter is seen vanishing into the darkness. Eventually I am given a room on my own. My heart sinks and i don't mind admitting I really felt panic setting in. Many times during the day we had all agreed that Franco had made exactly the right decision in not joining us on this trip. Right at that moment although I knew it was really good that he was not there, I really wanted him to be with me. The only time we have ever sleep apart is when I am in hospital, I was getting the same feeling right then as before an operation. You know there is no alternative you can only go forward but every bone in your body is doing a Tom and Jerry cartoon move , legs out at right angles, nails fully extended scrapping along the walls and floor try to stop the arrival time of the inevitable.
My cell was the shape of a cheese wedge. At the foot of the wedge was a tired brown wooden door covered in the usual layer of beige dust, I realise during the night this door is connected to the wedge opposite to mine. On the left hand section of the wedge were some shelves built into or rather carved out of the cement wall and a candle holder is stuck to the wall. On the right hand side all along was a solid cement flat area about knee height , at the fat end of the wedge was placed the mattress with the mosquito net attached at all four corners to the ceiling and tucked in under the bed, this fact is particularly relevant, how on earth can you get into bed and tuck in the mosquito net holding a candle? At the foot of the bed was a space for clothes, this part was nearest to the candle holder.The choice would be to sleep with the candle burning, but that would attract all the creepy crawlers , I am getting palpitations. At the largest end of the wedge and at the top end of the bed was a kind of window and a wooden door. The bottom part of the door was rickety and wonky and not terribly solid, the top of the door had 3 pairs of square holes covered by mosquito mesh. Once upon a time this mesh had been stuck down round the edges but now the corners were sticking up , it was coated in dust, hanging down was a piece of cloth, an attempt at a modesty curtain maybe. Two girls came in and speedily put a bottom sheet on the mattress. I wish i had not seen the mattress cover but too late. There are no pillows , no towel and no loo paper.
On the other side of the front door at the fat end of the wedge was the, hmm, "Bathroom" there was a small tap in one corner over a triangular shaped shelf tilted towards the wall. This was the wash basin. Opposite was the loo. To be fair by the days standards it was almost 4 star. The shower hung overhead, constructed out a metal watering can the water naturally went over everything. To use the loo it was necessary to move the candle and stick it to the window sill of a very tiny arc shaped window.
I am alone. Elaine has been carried off in another direction and we later find out she is sleeping in "Bossman's" room. Bossman will not be staying on to join her. Pity. A guide has promised to come back and collect me to make sure I negotiate the tree roots safely and make it to the restaurant. When he arrives I cannot get my door unlocked , he tells me not to worry and from the outside puts his hand through the mosquito netted square in the window into my side and unlocks the door by hand. Oh I feel soooo safe. NOT. I make a stand, I want a hurricane lamp, I will not accept a candle.
He leads me off like an old lady taking my hand in his and when I arrive at the restaurant I realise I forgot to change into my smart clothes. Blast.
Our group congregate together and we give in to hysteria, we compare cells . Some towels and toilet paper appear, the towel smells clean and comforting.
The food arrives and is quite frankly disgusting. No idea what the meat was but it was not beef and I took one sniff and decided my evening would be veggie. Time moves on we enjoy the company , our joint circumstances provide a great camerarderie. A bonfire has been lit and African dancing starts, the atmosphere is opaque , smokey , whistles and drums. We are in Africa. We leave our table and head towards the show. Without permission I swap my paraffin hurricane lamp for a halogen one off the bar. Shhh. One of the performers has her mobile phone stuck to her ear as she dances, we are happy to go along with anything which will delay the inevitable.
Finally it is time.
Bed.
We are guided back to our cells and with a feeling of dread I go in. For the second time in the day the wrap Serena gave me last time she came over comes into its own, I hang it as a secondary glazing on the front door. ( earlier in the day when those of us on the sunny side of the bus were burning up we had used it as a curtain to hold out the burning heat.) At least I have resolved the problem of the candle burning down the mosquito net.
I get undressed and get certain strategic items inside the net : water bottle,malarone tablet , towel ( pillow substitute ) and halogen lamp.I give a lot of thought to the positioning of each item, I climb in, meticulously i tuck the mosquito net under the mattress , when I feel at a safe point I take a deep breath and decide it's time.
I take off my glasses and place them next to the lamp. A burst of laughter comes from deep inside me, I had been wearing my sunglasses the entire evening.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Janjanbureh camp
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