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| the bridge between Joal and the shell village |
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| stork and pelican |
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| granaries off the shell village |
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| shell village |
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| our dog crew, Mar Lodj |
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| wrestling practice on the beach |
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| vulture |
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| fishermen at Toubab Dialao |
Saturday, 30 October 2010
some more photos
some photos
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| having hair done in Tendaba |
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| on the beach in Tanjeh |
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| in a large tree near Toubakouta |
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| football matches |
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| the lovely family from Tanjeh |
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| monkey business... |
The rule of Gam
With the end of direct colonial rule in the 1960s, Africa looked forward to a new age of economic independence and prosperity. The reality has been very different, as western owned companies have moved in, continuing to exploit local resources and population. In The Gambia, it seems the Gamper family have monopolised most major industries. Hiding behind the fortunate similarity in their names, this mafioso have created the following: Gamtel, Gamcel, Gamstar, Gamjob, Gamfood, Gampost... to name but a few. Locals fear the future creation of the following organisations Gamchocolate, Gambeer, Gambaby, Gamtoilet, Gamcar, Gamair and Gambling (ha ha).
By Ross.
By Ross.
A Guide's Guide
Thank you very much for you enquiry in how to become a guide in The Gambia. You will find below a comprehensive list of phrases to help you meet, guide and entertain visitors to this country, the smiling coast of Africa.
- Hello boss lady/boss man. How are you? Where are you from?
- Where abouts in...(insert country name)?
- What football team? My team is Manchester United.
- What is your nice name?
- First time to The Gambia?
- How long are you here?
- How do you find it?
- It's nice to be nice, you know.
- Black and white, it's all the same.
- Your home away from home.
- If country of origin is England, feel free to comment upon the positive nature of our colonial link.
- Have you seen the sacred crocodile pool?
- I would like to go there with you.
All over the Gambia
This may be a long blog post. We have returned to the world where there is internet as opposed to the world where there are many places called internet cafes, with lots of computers, where people look at you in surprise when you ask to use the internet. We have done the following things...
After obtaining our visas etc etc we went to Tanjeh, the Gambia's largest fishing village, just down the coast from the main tourist strip. We managed our first successful haggling over a room, although they seemed surprised that we thought a discount should be forthcoming after they told us there was no electricity in low-season. The Tanjeh highlight was meeting a family who showed us around the village and invited us to their compound for the afternoon then gave us lunch. They were brilliant. They asked us for precisely nothing. A relief after so many people jump in straight away with "buy me a football" " buy me a school bag" "he needs some money for medicine".
There will now follow a brief rant, feel free to skip over the next paragraph if you would rather just read about what we have done and so on. Local people and especially children would not jump in asking for stuff and pestering you, often for a long time, if other tourists weren't responding to these requests. It seems that most people turn up at each place with bundles of sweets and pens for the children or they quickly succumb to buying them things from the local market. This has created a culture of asking whether they really need these things or not. I know it is rewarding to give to people who have less than you but very few tourists are meeting any of the real poor, if a village is by the coast or near a major route the residents have the means to make a lot more money than those in remote areas that tourists never see. It also seems incredibly patronising to assume that as a foreigner you turn up like some benevolent visiting dignitory and bestow gifts on the worthy poor. One of the most frustrating things is that as soon as you spend any real time with these people the majority cease to ask for things but enjoy finding out about you in the same way you do them, surely a more useful way to interact with a country you have come to visit? Clearly those of us that are fortunate enough to be wealthy do need to think about how we can help those less fortunate but this is not it and, in actual fact, it has the potential to be quite harmful. Rant over.
Other Tanjeh interestingness includes meeting two boys on a school trip to the beach who had been born in the UK but had been sent back to the Gambia after poor behaviour in school in London! Interesting to see this punishment carried out after sitting through so many parent's evenings where this action was threatened. Watching wrestling practice on the beach. Shish those men are hot! (Ross). And an abundance of hand-holding children. 45% of the population in the Gambia is under 14. Children do rule here a little. I think anything out of the ordinary excites them as they do not have toys or tvs to amuse themselves and they are expected to work when they are not in school. When we appear on a street first every child will wave and call "hello toubab" then a brave one will run up to shake hands then another will hold your hand then there are six on each hand. In places this has developed to children kissing Anneliese's hands (felt like I was the pope) and even one girl who seemed intent on grabbing my breasts, still not sure what this was about.
After Tanjeh we went to Sanyang, a beautiful beach where we spent two days swimming and reading and feeling great until the place's charm was lost when a jellyfish stung Anneliese's foot and it swelled to resemble a homeless person's, with an infection who you move away from on the tube.
From here we went to Tendaba, a camp on the River Gambia about half way along the country. We did an excellent early morning boat trip to a wetland reserve and saw many many birds and crabs and small slimy lizardy things. We met another excellent family with another huge brood of children who we entertained for an hour by taking jumping photos and plaiting Anneliese's hair.
Woop woop! Hippo!! Up and down, up and down, his head poked from the water. We were planning on staying another day to further explore the area but cut this short after our second night at the camp. Anneliese was woken up again by scratching... "Ross there are rats on the bed" then "is that you on my foot?". Torch on it turns out it was a massive rat, on my foot. Vindicated that there had been rats in the bed all along I was a little joyous but this emotion was quickly replaced with despair at the fact that a massive rat had decided it was ok to sit on my foot. Despair meant abandoning sleep for a nighttime vigil shining our torches into the thatched roof and beams to put any more of the blighters off entering the bed. We kept this up for a couple of hours until the sun started to rise and fell asleep just in time for the start of the monkey show. The realisation there really had been rats in the bed shed new light on a conversation from earlier in the night... half asleep Ross grumpily said to Anneliese "can you stop doing that to my foot please?" "I'm not doing anything to your foot" at which point Ross woke up to be confused by Anneliese's next statement of "do you think it was a rat on your foot?" "what?" thinking, what the bloody hell is she talking about? Anneliese thinking, I still don't want to appear hysterical about these rats, dropped the topic.
From Georgetown yesterday we made the very arduous journey back towards the coast, only 250km it took us 14 hours due to waiting and very slow driving. We were entertained by a Gambian man's acrobatics and Ross managed to astound an entire bus station with some basic card tricks. We are now in Serekunda, Gambia's commercial hub.
After obtaining our visas etc etc we went to Tanjeh, the Gambia's largest fishing village, just down the coast from the main tourist strip. We managed our first successful haggling over a room, although they seemed surprised that we thought a discount should be forthcoming after they told us there was no electricity in low-season. The Tanjeh highlight was meeting a family who showed us around the village and invited us to their compound for the afternoon then gave us lunch. They were brilliant. They asked us for precisely nothing. A relief after so many people jump in straight away with "buy me a football" " buy me a school bag" "he needs some money for medicine".
There will now follow a brief rant, feel free to skip over the next paragraph if you would rather just read about what we have done and so on. Local people and especially children would not jump in asking for stuff and pestering you, often for a long time, if other tourists weren't responding to these requests. It seems that most people turn up at each place with bundles of sweets and pens for the children or they quickly succumb to buying them things from the local market. This has created a culture of asking whether they really need these things or not. I know it is rewarding to give to people who have less than you but very few tourists are meeting any of the real poor, if a village is by the coast or near a major route the residents have the means to make a lot more money than those in remote areas that tourists never see. It also seems incredibly patronising to assume that as a foreigner you turn up like some benevolent visiting dignitory and bestow gifts on the worthy poor. One of the most frustrating things is that as soon as you spend any real time with these people the majority cease to ask for things but enjoy finding out about you in the same way you do them, surely a more useful way to interact with a country you have come to visit? Clearly those of us that are fortunate enough to be wealthy do need to think about how we can help those less fortunate but this is not it and, in actual fact, it has the potential to be quite harmful. Rant over.
Other Tanjeh interestingness includes meeting two boys on a school trip to the beach who had been born in the UK but had been sent back to the Gambia after poor behaviour in school in London! Interesting to see this punishment carried out after sitting through so many parent's evenings where this action was threatened. Watching wrestling practice on the beach. Shish those men are hot! (Ross). And an abundance of hand-holding children. 45% of the population in the Gambia is under 14. Children do rule here a little. I think anything out of the ordinary excites them as they do not have toys or tvs to amuse themselves and they are expected to work when they are not in school. When we appear on a street first every child will wave and call "hello toubab" then a brave one will run up to shake hands then another will hold your hand then there are six on each hand. In places this has developed to children kissing Anneliese's hands (felt like I was the pope) and even one girl who seemed intent on grabbing my breasts, still not sure what this was about.
After Tanjeh we went to Sanyang, a beautiful beach where we spent two days swimming and reading and feeling great until the place's charm was lost when a jellyfish stung Anneliese's foot and it swelled to resemble a homeless person's, with an infection who you move away from on the tube.
From here we went to Tendaba, a camp on the River Gambia about half way along the country. We did an excellent early morning boat trip to a wetland reserve and saw many many birds and crabs and small slimy lizardy things. We met another excellent family with another huge brood of children who we entertained for an hour by taking jumping photos and plaiting Anneliese's hair.
Woop woop! Hippo!! Up and down, up and down, his head poked from the water. We were planning on staying another day to further explore the area but cut this short after our second night at the camp. Anneliese was woken up again by scratching... "Ross there are rats on the bed" then "is that you on my foot?". Torch on it turns out it was a massive rat, on my foot. Vindicated that there had been rats in the bed all along I was a little joyous but this emotion was quickly replaced with despair at the fact that a massive rat had decided it was ok to sit on my foot. Despair meant abandoning sleep for a nighttime vigil shining our torches into the thatched roof and beams to put any more of the blighters off entering the bed. We kept this up for a couple of hours until the sun started to rise and fell asleep just in time for the start of the monkey show. The realisation there really had been rats in the bed shed new light on a conversation from earlier in the night... half asleep Ross grumpily said to Anneliese "can you stop doing that to my foot please?" "I'm not doing anything to your foot" at which point Ross woke up to be confused by Anneliese's next statement of "do you think it was a rat on your foot?" "what?" thinking, what the bloody hell is she talking about? Anneliese thinking, I still don't want to appear hysterical about these rats, dropped the topic.
From Georgetown yesterday we made the very arduous journey back towards the coast, only 250km it took us 14 hours due to waiting and very slow driving. We were entertained by a Gambian man's acrobatics and Ross managed to astound an entire bus station with some basic card tricks. We are now in Serekunda, Gambia's commercial hub.
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
my first blog by ross
today is a special day for me. i have been entrusted with the task of typing the blog as we now have english keyboards and it is not painfully slow. i shall be employing a different style to anneliese, one that shuns capital letters and many other forms of punctuation. we are in the gambia engaged in a long process of arranging a visa and flight to sierra leone. the visa is being processed at the reasonable expense of $100 each. our flights will be paid for tomorrow because the bank withdrawal limits are tiny and credit cards are not accepted, so we need to save up. if you bank in the gambia you are allowed to take out enough money each day to buy a small bag of peanuts. peanuts are big business here, we met an ex-new york cop now making a living trading peanuts. it took all of yesterday to try and sort out these things because there was no internet available in the whole of the capital city so we had to travel to a nearby town. the capital city is only 35,000 people. on arrival at the nearest town it began raining heavily and it didn't stop for three hours. we did a lot of walking arround looking like drowned rats and trying to cross roads that had become foot-deep swamps.
we have decided to fly to sierra leone becase it looks difficult to cross guinea due to travel and border restrictions because of the upcoming elections. we have also decided not to travel to guinea-bissau after the guide book informed us to expect to pay a miminum of 60 euros a night for a hotel and a lot more for one that is nice. the main attraction in guinea-bissau is the archipelago, amazing beaches, seas, wildlife... again, the guide book informs us, we would need to pay a transfer fee by boat between each island of around 400 euros. finally, the guide book helpfully proclaims that there are no ATMs in the country so you would need to bring enough euros with you to pay for everything and you can only change these in the capital city, which would mean investiving in a suitcase just to carry the ridiculous amounts of local currency we would need around with us. maybe we will return one day after robbing a bank.
lots of love from Ross and Anneliese.
we have decided to fly to sierra leone becase it looks difficult to cross guinea due to travel and border restrictions because of the upcoming elections. we have also decided not to travel to guinea-bissau after the guide book informed us to expect to pay a miminum of 60 euros a night for a hotel and a lot more for one that is nice. the main attraction in guinea-bissau is the archipelago, amazing beaches, seas, wildlife... again, the guide book informs us, we would need to pay a transfer fee by boat between each island of around 400 euros. finally, the guide book helpfully proclaims that there are no ATMs in the country so you would need to bring enough euros with you to pay for everything and you can only change these in the capital city, which would mean investiving in a suitcase just to carry the ridiculous amounts of local currency we would need around with us. maybe we will return one day after robbing a bank.
lots of love from Ross and Anneliese.
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Siné-Saloum Delta
"Toubab! Toubab! Toubab"
The constant call of snotty-nosed (a statement of fact rather than an implied level of wealth or insult) children lining the streets of Toubakouta, a village on the south side of the delta. It means white person and is often suffixed by "how are you?" which reduces the slightly insulting nature of this greeting. It will also be accompanied by a limp hand-shake if you are stationary long enough. The joy of these acts seems to have worn thin by the age of 8 or 9 but until then toubab is shouted with near uncontrollable glee and a lot of jumping.
We have also been enjoying some dogs. We stayed one night on the north side of the delta on the island of Mar Lodj. Our campemant had three pet dogs who adopted us for the duration of our stay. This included following us for an afternoon's walk, lying under the table at mealtimes, hanging out on the pier as we swam, sleeping outside our bedroom door and getting very protective when Ross was struggling to lift Anneliese, while stood on the bed to hang our mosquito net. Their only activity separate from us was aggressively chasing the donkey every time he appeared from behind a hut.
To get from Mar Lodj to Toubakouta is a distance of 20km as the crow flies but our journey took us 10 hours and the following stages: caleche (horse and cart-ish), pirogue (boat), minibus, bus, motorbike, taxi, minibus, motorbike. And some roads that were more pot-hole than road. And a lot of rain.
Today we saw a very big tree. It is 800 years old. It is very big.
Tomorrow we head to the Gambia and, we are assured, cheaper times.
The constant call of snotty-nosed (a statement of fact rather than an implied level of wealth or insult) children lining the streets of Toubakouta, a village on the south side of the delta. It means white person and is often suffixed by "how are you?" which reduces the slightly insulting nature of this greeting. It will also be accompanied by a limp hand-shake if you are stationary long enough. The joy of these acts seems to have worn thin by the age of 8 or 9 but until then toubab is shouted with near uncontrollable glee and a lot of jumping.
We have also been enjoying some dogs. We stayed one night on the north side of the delta on the island of Mar Lodj. Our campemant had three pet dogs who adopted us for the duration of our stay. This included following us for an afternoon's walk, lying under the table at mealtimes, hanging out on the pier as we swam, sleeping outside our bedroom door and getting very protective when Ross was struggling to lift Anneliese, while stood on the bed to hang our mosquito net. Their only activity separate from us was aggressively chasing the donkey every time he appeared from behind a hut.
To get from Mar Lodj to Toubakouta is a distance of 20km as the crow flies but our journey took us 10 hours and the following stages: caleche (horse and cart-ish), pirogue (boat), minibus, bus, motorbike, taxi, minibus, motorbike. And some roads that were more pot-hole than road. And a lot of rain.
Today we saw a very big tree. It is 800 years old. It is very big.
Tomorrow we head to the Gambia and, we are assured, cheaper times.
fruit
x=oranges
y=bananas
4x + 4y = 2500cfa
2x + 2y = 700cfa
4x + 2y = 1100cfa
2y = 300cfa
4x = 1000cfa
a prize for anyone who can work out the price of an orange or banana
y=bananas
4x + 4y = 2500cfa
2x + 2y = 700cfa
4x + 2y = 1100cfa
2y = 300cfa
4x = 1000cfa
a prize for anyone who can work out the price of an orange or banana
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
People we have met
Sebastian
First met: bus to Dakhla, Morocco
Nationality: French
Strengths: speaks good English, charming, good at winking
Best moments: using a combination of French and charming nature to finally get some decent information for us in Mauritania, randomly re-meeting by a swimming pool in Senegal
Owen
First met: at breakfast in hostel, Nouakchott
Nationality: American
Strengths: knowledgable and well-travelled in West Africa, keen thirst for information about safety
Best moments: finally revealing his new job was in Israel (and he was a little worried about the presence of the visa in his passport)
Sean
First met: at hostel, Nouakchott
Nationality: American
Strengths: easy-going, easy-on-the-eye, gentle sense-of-humour
Best moments: being a slightly embaressed not very strong swimmer, describing the ore-train from Noudhibou
Gora
First met: in a shared taxi from Nouakchott to Rosso
Nationality: Senegalese
Strengths: good English, honest, compassionate, excellent at warding off touts
Best moments: helping us change money, finding the border entrance and carrying Anneliese's bag
Herrie
First met: at hostel, St Louis
Nationality: South African
Strengths: nice accent, interesting job, intelligent
Best moments: buying us drinks in his expensive hotel after recovering from severe food poisoning (after we took him to the hospital at 3am)
Quietman
First met: Toubab Dialoa
Nationality: Senegalese
Strengths: not too much hassle even though selling stuff
Best moments: giving us cafe Touba and walking us to the lagoon
Paco
First met: at hostel, Joal
Nationality: Senegalese
Strengths: eccentric
Best moments: explaining his surname
First met: bus to Dakhla, Morocco
Nationality: French
Strengths: speaks good English, charming, good at winking
Best moments: using a combination of French and charming nature to finally get some decent information for us in Mauritania, randomly re-meeting by a swimming pool in Senegal
Owen
First met: at breakfast in hostel, Nouakchott
Nationality: American
Strengths: knowledgable and well-travelled in West Africa, keen thirst for information about safety
Best moments: finally revealing his new job was in Israel (and he was a little worried about the presence of the visa in his passport)
Sean
First met: at hostel, Nouakchott
Nationality: American
Strengths: easy-going, easy-on-the-eye, gentle sense-of-humour
Best moments: being a slightly embaressed not very strong swimmer, describing the ore-train from Noudhibou
Gora
First met: in a shared taxi from Nouakchott to Rosso
Nationality: Senegalese
Strengths: good English, honest, compassionate, excellent at warding off touts
Best moments: helping us change money, finding the border entrance and carrying Anneliese's bag
Herrie
First met: at hostel, St Louis
Nationality: South African
Strengths: nice accent, interesting job, intelligent
Best moments: buying us drinks in his expensive hotel after recovering from severe food poisoning (after we took him to the hospital at 3am)
Quietman
First met: Toubab Dialoa
Nationality: Senegalese
Strengths: not too much hassle even though selling stuff
Best moments: giving us cafe Touba and walking us to the lagoon
Paco
First met: at hostel, Joal
Nationality: Senegalese
Strengths: eccentric
Best moments: explaining his surname
Monday, 11 October 2010
why is the best internet in the arse-end of nowhere?
We are moving down the Petit-Cote, south of Dakar. Dakar was exceptionally expensive, a cheap hotel room was 50 euros (there were cheaper but they were also brothels). The guidebook only listed expensive restaurants, we were relieved when the bill came to a mere 20 euros. It also listed lots of hideous sounding bars and nightclubs... "Dakar's most renowned DJs play here to a select crowd. Dress smart, look cool and practice the lines "normally I only drink Cristal" and "my cousin lives right next door to Diddy, apparently he's a really nice guy"', someone needs to have a word with the Lonely Planet about the needs of more budget (less pretentious) travellers. These things do tell you quite a bit about Dakar, a lot of wealthy expats and some very wealthy locals who dominate much of the city but there are 2 and a half million or so other inhabitants, it was almost impossible to tell what their experience of the city would be.
We are now on-route to a Joal from Toubab Dialao, two villages on the coast. Many mosquitoes. They mostly bite Anneliese, at least the crazy expensive malaria medication is having to do a little work for the vast sums it set us back. Toubab Dialao was very relaxing after the hustle and hassle of Dakar, a fishing village which is expanding into tourism. The beach disappeared this morning under the extra-large Atlantic waves, the fishermen had to spend a fraught hour hauling all the boats up the cliff. Also the crabs did a lot of scuttling. Eventually the stray dogs seemed to sense the problem but by this stage were mostly stuck on the beach. I hope they don't drown.
Hugs and kisses,
Anneliese & Ross
We are now on-route to a Joal from Toubab Dialao, two villages on the coast. Many mosquitoes. They mostly bite Anneliese, at least the crazy expensive malaria medication is having to do a little work for the vast sums it set us back. Toubab Dialao was very relaxing after the hustle and hassle of Dakar, a fishing village which is expanding into tourism. The beach disappeared this morning under the extra-large Atlantic waves, the fishermen had to spend a fraught hour hauling all the boats up the cliff. Also the crabs did a lot of scuttling. Eventually the stray dogs seemed to sense the problem but by this stage were mostly stuck on the beach. I hope they don't drown.
Hugs and kisses,
Anneliese & Ross
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Book Review
Anneliese
The Winter Queen - Boris Akunin : ***
Waterland - Graham Swift : ***
The Manual of Detection - Jedediah Berry : *****
Waldo - Paul Theroux : **
Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood : ****
Columbine - Dave Cullen : *****
Ross
The True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey : ***
The Manual of Detection - Jedediah Berry : ****
The Winter Queen - Boris Akunin : ***
Waterland - Graham Swift : ***
The Manual of Detection - Jedediah Berry : *****
Waldo - Paul Theroux : **
Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood : ****
Columbine - Dave Cullen : *****
Ross
The True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey : ***
The Manual of Detection - Jedediah Berry : ****
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Dakar bound
We stayed on the beach just outside St Louis for the past couple of nights, this area is called Hyrdobase, Ross said the land was going to rise up on mechanical legs and rotate but this never happened. Disappointing. We got up early yesterday morning and headed straight for a swim but the shore was blocked by thousands and thousands of crabs skuttling around where the waves break. We decided they formed too mighty an opposition and held back on our assault of the Atlantic. Our trip was not wasted though as we chatted for a while with a local fisherman, he posed us some difficult questions... Why do so many people get divorced in England? Why are there lots of suicides in Europe? These are hard to answer in English and almost impossible with our French but it was lovely to talk with him anyway. He won favour with Anneliese by saying she had a good heart, not sure what this implies about Ross'...
Hopefully heading to Dakar, Senegal's capital this afternoon.
Bye for now.
Anneliese & Ross
Hopefully heading to Dakar, Senegal's capital this afternoon.
Bye for now.
Anneliese & Ross
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Senegal, safe and sound
We are in St Louis. The old colonial capital of Senegal and Mauritania. It feels much more like the parts of Africa I have visited before. More green and a lot less desert. More bright colours and headscarves and less long loose blue robes. There are lots of cumbling old buildings with balconies and grand staircases. This fits with the cities reputation as a centre for music and jazz. Obviously a lot more tourists come here than Mauritania, making it easier to get some home comforts but this is balanced out with a lot more hassle to buy t-shirts.
Anneliese is currently feeling weak and useless after a long and cramped journey yesterday without the opportunity to get any sustenance and several hours in a car spewing smoke. Ross is ok, his body has been hardened after several small illnesses and a reduction of 3 belt holes.
Once again it is very hot in this internet cafe so I will end ths post here, failing to describe the vast majority of all the crazy and beautiful things we are seeing and doing.
Anneliese
Anneliese is currently feeling weak and useless after a long and cramped journey yesterday without the opportunity to get any sustenance and several hours in a car spewing smoke. Ross is ok, his body has been hardened after several small illnesses and a reduction of 3 belt holes.
Once again it is very hot in this internet cafe so I will end ths post here, failing to describe the vast majority of all the crazy and beautiful things we are seeing and doing.
Anneliese
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