Monday, Feb 18, 2002 Kate got us VIP tickets to the 37th anniversary of the Gambia's Independence from Great Britain. We were sitting in the main section of the National Stadium, on individual chairs, under a sun shade (after 10 pm, when the sun was high enough in the sky to be blocked. We got there about 9:30 AM, and left about 2 pm. For Gambia, it started remarkably on time - only about 30 minutes late. For most of those there, however, this was a long time to be in the sun, and many fainted and had to be carried off by the Red Cross To read what the Observer had to say, click here. The President of Senegal visited and participated, along with the President of the Gambia. In the photos below, President Jammeh of the Gambia is in white, and the Senegalese President is dressed in blue. First there was a parade of arriving dignitaries, including the female vice president, all in humongous SUVs. Then the 2 presidents arrived in their motor-cade. Next there was a review of the military units of the Gambia - the army is only 1000 strong, so we saw representatives from the police force, immigration service, prison guards, and fire departments as well. They did several different marches around the stadium while various military bands played. They ended by firing a salute. The review concluded with the Gambia's one jet fighter flying by the stadium - definitely the crowd's favorite! Next representatives from about 70 local schools and voluntary societies marched by. Finally, President Jammeh delivered his annual speech on Independence day. See the Observer (above) for a synopsis (the accoustics were poor).We met the Army PR officer acting as MC during the first half of the event, so we now have a friend in the Gambian Army who's promised to show us around. You can also see how colorful the other VIPs dressed. Back to Main News Page Back to Our Homepage |
| In which we take Kate's parents Up-River soon after they arrive in the Gambia, and sleep out under the stars in our very own version of the African Queen (Thursday March 21 - Sunday March 24) |
| Photos of our vessel, the Alhagi Photos from our river voyage Photos of what we saw upriver Back to main news page |
| Kate has enterprisingly booked us on the reverse leg of a tourist trip down river. Our trip goes from Tendaba - about 175 km east of the capital, up to Georgetown (now called JamJamboureh) about 300 km east of the capital. The boat departs on Friday morning at 8 am, and its the last such reverse (cheaper) trip of the year. We leave a note for the Holdsworths friends the Browns (who will arrive on Friday night, too late to join our last minute expedition) and set off Thursday after work in our rented 8 person van with our skilled driver Mr. Colley. Those who've read about Kate's business trek will recall that the roads become terrible about 45 minutes beyond the capital. It's safe to say they haven't improved at all since our last trip upcountry - in fact, they might even be in worse shape. The detour was even longer, dustier, bumpier and less clearly marked than before! But at least in our own rented van, we had a bit more space, and as it was already getting dark, the temperature was beginning to fall. We arrived at Tendaba camp at 9:15 pm, well after the fabled sunset, but in time for a hearty dinner of Bush Pig! The next morning we were up early to meet the boat - unfortunately, the boat didn't show up til about 9 am, not bad for the Gambia. We reminded the chef we'd been promised breakfast onboard (which was news to him) and got ourselves settled. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Holdsworth, Kate and I, fellow passengers included Yuha (a Finnish VSO) and his mother and sister, Marie-Claire (an APSO volunteer) and her sister, and 6 German tourists (including a 3 year old) - fifteen of us in all. There were 3 crew - a captain, a cook and a steward. Our vessel, named the Alhagi we later discovered, is about 60 feet long, and 12 wide. The main saloon cabin is where meals are served, on a few tables with comfortable benchs with cushions. This area is well covered from the sun, but large side windows afford full views of the river and scenery going by. On top of this cabin, there is an open deck, where we lounged during the day and slept at night. The deck is covered with thin cushions, and a brightly coloured sunshade (looked a bit like an old parachute) was strung up. At night, the crew lay down sleeping mattresses and hang a mosquito net over each one, providing a bit of visual if not aural privacy. The boat is powered, as are most such pirogues, by outboard motors mounted in special bays (as the stern comes to a stem, just like the bow). Only our boat had two such motors, I believe 40 hp each. We crusied at a good 10 knots or so. [see photos] For the the first day, the river was actually salt, tidal water. The crew had seen porpoises the day before, and the crodiles we saw were also salt-water. Both banks were a dense wall of mangroves growing into the river, extending as far as the eye could see. Although traveling by river is much more pleasant than by road, one would hardly know it - as the river seemed almost totally deserted. Aside from the odd fisherman in a canoe, we saw virtually no other boat traffic the whole two days we were afloat. And only 1 or 2 villages are located right on the river - most are set well back. Perhaps the crocodiles are too vicious? Although we saw some interesting animals (crocodiles, many birds etc), its fair to describe the scenery passing by as uniformly peacedul and lazy. We spent long hours reading, sunning, talking, and of course eating (the chef was very talented, especially given such limited kitchen facilities and no running water!). For breakfast we had omlettes, fresh fritters, bread, meat and cheese, cut up fruit etc. For lunch, several different salads, rice and local sauce dishes (domoda), chicken yassa (with onions). Dinner was an even large choice of meat and rice dishes, plus pasta bolognese and aubergine salad! We stopped at one village just as it was getting dark to fill up water jugs and stock up on provisions. The pier was just down from a huge groundnut (peanut) processing plant that was in high gear. It appears that ground nuts are one of the few things transported by water in the Gambia. After dinner, we anchored and the crew prepared the sleeping mattresses and mosi nets. Most of us hit the hay by 9:30 pm, but were "entertained" for a while by the sounds of drums in the distance. Several of us thought we heard hippos in the river, but we couldn't see anything. We were awakened in the middle of the night by a mini-tornado, which blew all the mosi nets up and cooled us off (some too much). And then it was gone. We woke up to sound of birds in the trees and soon thereafter the crew getting us underway again. The next morning, we were definitely into fresh water. We're still pretty unclear where the transistion occurs, but by Saturday the mangroves had been replaced by reads and palm trees. We could see inland, to cows and sheep grazing. We also saw monkeys on the shore and in the trees. We came across large flocks of birds swimming about. And we finally saw our first hippos! As we puttered past 2 islands, we could see the telltale humps in a narrow passage between the islands. We were going too fast to stop, so our captain executed a slow 360 turn, and we came back to hover as close as we could. We spotted 4 of them, one a baby. Apparently more people are killed by hippos than by any other wild animal in the world - mostly because they get between the hippo and its route to the water. They also like to come up under boats, we were told. So we kept our distance. If you look hard at the photos, you can see their ears poking up out of the water. During the day, when its very hot (up to 40 C in the shade) the hippos, no fools, spend most of their time submerged, and rather resemble rotund logs. At night apparently they are more active and likely to be seen on dry land. Just before lunch on Saturday we stopped at Wassau, where Kate and I had been with her colleagues exactly 2 weeks earlier during her "trek". While it hardly seemed worth a second visit, the prospect of a walk around and the chance to show the Holdsworths the "Stonehenge of the Gambia" proved too enticing, so we hired a bush taxi and set off with a few of our German ship-mates. We had a guide this time, and learned that a group of stones is featured on the back of the Gambia's 50 Dalasi note. We noted that we had been preceded at the museum (according to the guest book) by the US ambassador to the Gambia, Jackson McDonald (who we were scheduled to meet a few days later). Saturday evening we arrived at JanJanBury camp, on the north bank of the river overlooking Georgetown (now renamed JanJanBury). Although there was no electricity or running potable water, we were delighted with the loo and showering options, and got clean and comfortable after a long voyage. We had a relaxing end to our day around the camp grounds. Kate and I walked to the neighboring village, but returned home earlier than planned because the concept of alone time and personal space doesn't exist here - its impossible to go for a quiet walk talking (about oh, perhaps wedding plans, say) without gaining an inquisitive entourage of children along the way, all who want to practice their English, marvel at our (feeble) attempts to speak their local languages, and ask us for stuff. Dinner was set at about 8 pm. The place was swarming with monkeys, and plastered with signs saying not to feed them. Apparently monkeys can't read, as they came right up to the tables and helped themselves - although we managed to miss the worst bits as they like to go to bed when it gets dark . We were told the local women would come to dance for us after our dinner (very good, but very similar to what we'd eaten aboard the trusty Alhagi)... And indeed they did, around a bonfire. There were about 12 of them, with 3-4 male drummers. This particular group wasactually comprised of migrants from Guineau-Bissau, not too uncommon given the Gambia's relative peacefulness amidst an often troubled region. They showed us how it was supposed to be done, and then invited us to join them. Showing extremely poor judgement, Kate and I were persauded to join them. But the biggest lapse of judgement was to leave our cameras in the hands of Mrs. Holdsworth! The next morning, after a wonderful breakfast of fritters and eggs, we were ferried across the river to Georgetown proper. This town is on an island, and we were to meet our driver on the South side of the River, so we puttered around for a bit, but there wasn't much to see. We got ourselves to the ferry on the south side of the Island, and pulled ourselvess across (very similar to ferry Kate and I used at Bansang on her trek - see those photos). On the other side, we browsed through a few stalls in the local market (not much to see or to buy), and took up chairs at the local drink shop, under the shade. The four of us must have made his week what with several rounds of sodas and a couple of bottles of water. We investigated a small statue and garden fenced off from the goats - a bust of a Taiwanese rice farming advisor sent here in the 60s who died here, helping the Gambians grow their own rice. We waited for our ride, did a bit of reading, and watched the world go buy (there were lots of bush taxis picking up and dropping people off - many with goats tied to their roofs!) Our driver was about 1 1/2 hours late, but that's not too bad for the Gambia, especially considering the roads. It took him 6 1/2 hours of hellish driving to reach us, and when he did, after a quick Fanta, he got back in the drivers seat and we headed West towards the capital. We stopped to buy petrol (out of a platic bottle, dispensed with a funnel and strained through a cheese cloth - but still about 10 Dalasi per liter - the going rate in the capital). One of the few places where gas is cheaper than in the US! We stopped along the way to buy a decorated metal steamer trunk we'd been admiring (again, the French is proving wonderfully useful for negotiating with various merchants - thanks Pop!). We also stopped to buy firewood about an hour from Brikama. Its about half price (5 Dalasi a bundle of about 6 sticks) what they charge in the capital. We are having everyone in our compound over for dinner on Wednesday to meet Kate's parents (and introduce the Holdsworths to Benichin - rice and sauteed vegetables and chicken - delicious), and although we use gas to cook, our maid Harriet will be cooking for us out back using a wood fire. (see separate write-up, coming soon). We get home about 8:30 pm, and collapse into bed. After such a drive, over such roads, our lazyrelaxing trip up the river seems but a mere memory already... |