26 December – Kololi, The Gambia to border with Senegal.
(click on any image to enlarge)
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No-one can call the ferry across the Gambia River fast but after waiting over 5 hours we were beginning to wonder if we were going to have to spend the night at the port! Mind you, we did get to meet a slightly mad, dreadlocked, black Welshman! He approached the Mog and told us we could camp at his place once we'd crossed the river. We also met a very nice guy called Ozman who was in the Gambian Navy and keen for us to stay at his village with him! He gave us his number and if we are ever back in Banjul we'll look him up. |
Once finally over the river, Welsh Chris hopped into the Mog and directed us to his place... turns out it isn't his place! A local businessman had bought the land and had 8 round houses built, each with an en suite bathroom. Problem was, none of the walls were straight, the floors sloped, the rounds were not round and the door heights very short! Chris befriended him and was organising the re-build. He sat and talked at us all evening about random stuff. He'd grown up in Cardiff but left when he was about 20 to live in Europe but returned to raise a family. He was hoping to move out to The Gambia so this was his trial run. The funniest thing was that, even though he was black, dreadlocked and scruffy the locals knew he was a foreigner! The kids still shouted out ‘Toubab’ which means ‘White Man’ – I suppose these days it means ‘White Person!’ so for the first time in his life he was seen as white which must have been a very strange experience for him. He also said that he met someone called ‘Sambo’ and thought the man was joking! He said that this name had chased him round the playground in Cardiff for years.
The following day we moved on to Jangjang-Bureh (Georgetown) about 300 km along the river. Halfway along the town of Farafenni was having a festival and the President was due to visit it that day. As we drove along we saw hundreds of kids in their best clothes lining the sides of the road... they were obviously out to cheer the President along his route. We waved and they cheered and clapped – some danced others waved tiny flags. It was really sweet to see them in matching uniforms all smiling and waving when they saw us.
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Stopping at the Wassu stone circles, which the guide book describes as ‘not Stonehenge’ we were shown round by an elderly, bespeckled custodian who took us into a small room filled with pictures of the stones from various angles. We were keen to see the real thing so whizzed around the room making enthusiastic noises but the display was quite interesting really! We scampered out to the stones and wandered up and down listening to the guide informing us that there were between 10 and 24 stones per circle, each between 1 and 2.5 metres high and 10 circles – which made a whole lot of stone!! The site is a UNESCO world heritage site and well worth a visit as it is totally undeveloped and not at all touristy which is refreshing. (13,40.99N: 14,52.57W)
We chose the Jangjang-Bureh campsite (13,32.71N: 14,45.25W) on the mainland having seen the tiny ferry which chugs backwards and forwards taking goats, people, dilapidated vehicles and vegetables over the river to Georgetown Island and risk sinking the ferry. The campsite had seen better days but was covered in monkeys and dogs both roaming freely! As soon as we stopped a monkey jumped onto the Mog and explored the roof looking for food – we thought Oz ought to keep the roof tent firmly zipped up that night or he’d be getting an unwanted visitor!!
Having wandered to the pretty riverside bar, we asked for two beers which we thought was a fairly simple request! We sat there and were told the barman had been phoned and would be with us soon. About 5 minutes later someone appeared and took our order again once he’d sat about for a bit chatting to us about football (a subject we know very little about!). He wandered to the river bank and called across to his friend on the other side. After some discussion the friend wandered off. Still we waited. Smiling at the barman in the hope that he would go and get the beer we sat there but after about half an hour we asked if they could come and tell us when the beer was available so we could get some stuff done at the Mog. Finally the barman appeared at the Mog clutching two cold beers – the whole process had taken over an hour and we realised that his mate across the river had been dispatched to the town to buy the beer then row it across the river for us!!
The following day we left early and drove back along the river towards Wassu. We had wanted to take a boat trip but the campsite prices were so high we thought we could find a cheaper price nearer to the islands we wanted to see. Stopping at a village on the river we haggled with the boatman down to a figure we thought was reasonable, bought some water and bread from a nearby stall and set off. We were hoping to see the chimpanzees at the local island reserve where they have been released and are now protected. There are three islands each with a thriving new colony of chimps. Chugging up the river in our little boat was lovely and we chatted to the boatman about the flora and fauna of the area. He pointed out some ears sticking out of the water and told us they were hippos – it was hard to tell to be honest! The chimps were persuaded to make an appearance by the suggestion we were going to feed them and we ended up spotting four males and a female.
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Once back on shore we headed towards the border with Senegal over the tiny crossing of Maka Gouye (13,48.00N: 14,56.99W). We’d asked the police guys we’d met on the road if we needed to get the Gambian side of the paperwork sorted out on the main road or if we could complete it at the village of Maka Gouya which is on the border and they said to go to the village. We asked again at every police stop if we could complete the paperwork with them but we always told to go on. So we headed to the border along a rough piste. Suddenly we heard hooting and a tiny scooter appeared behind us – we stopped and it was one of the policemen. He told us that we wouldn’t find the village on our own so had come along to show us the way! After 30 minutes of passing through villages, changing from one track to the other then back again the policeman waved us on and said that we’d reached Senegal!! We gave him a packet of cigarettes for his trouble and agreed that we’d still be driving round in circles trying to find the right village!
We found the customs building – easy to spot really as it was the only brick built building in the village! We stuck our heads round the door to the courtyard and called out. A sleepy looking chap in fatigues appeared at the door rubbing his eyes and asking in French if he could help. Oh god...we were back to speaking really bad French!! I asked if we could check out of Gambia but he said we were already in Senegal so we asked if we could be stamped into Senegal. A simply question really as it was a border post and he was a border guard...! He seemed really confused by the question and kept opening our passports and then closing them again. Eventually we gave him the Mog carnet and asked him to stamp the lorry into Senegal – thus allowing us to exit The Gambia without getting into too much trouble with Paul Gowen at the RAC! I don’t think he’d ever seen a carnet before so I had to talk him though signing and stamping the thing then tore off the bottom bit and gave it to him... I suspect he used it to light the fire with later but I had my stamp so didn’t really care!! He couldn’t provide us with an entry stamp for our passports and so we drove on illegally into Senegal without either an exit stamp from Gambia or entry stamp into Senegal AND using our carnet which we knew was not being accepted by Senegal anymore! Hmm... fun and games at the Mali border methinks!
