- Alex Garland-
It was time to finally say goodbye to Nirvana, Utopia, Eden, and Paradise-whatever we wanted to call it and get back to overlanding. We have had our fun and we were all ready, I think, to get the trip done and dusted. The ‘other’ group was also leaving this morning, so there was a flurry of people as we all got our respective trucks all packed and ready. I met a pretty cool chick, Sasha, from the other group and even though we only had a handful of conversations, some people you just click with and I told her that if she was ever passing through Nairobi to look me up and I gave her my card. This morning was also bill paying day-time to settle our accounts from the last 3 nights. That is the bad thing about running an account, you sort of lose track of what you had spent and the final bill can be a shock. Well we didn’t have that problem to start when we went to pay and were told that the computer was down and they could only give us a bill for what they had yesterday. With that said there was 2 night’s accommodation, 2 breakfasts and a lunch yesterday and that was it. We know for a fact there was another lunch, a dinner, drinks and an additional night that needed to be paid for so being the good people that Helen and I are, we sat down and worked out what we had eaten and drunk the last 3 nights, added the missing items to the bill and then went and saw the pay master when he started work at 8.30am. Luckily Helen and I were first in and had no worries paying and he seemed a little tankful that we had been honest, as I am sure that there would be people who would not be and once we had paid we had free time until everyone else had done the same thing. I hope all our group were honest and paid what they should have. I know with the boys it maybe a little more difficult as they would lose track of the beers they consumed, but like Helen said we can’t police what other people pay and we know that we did the right thing.
So our 9am departure came and went, which worked out in
our favor as the internet miraculously came back on in the meantime. It was a funny sight with 15+ people all
standing around checking email and Facebook accounts. A little bit of the outside world before we
head into The Gambia for the next 2 nights.
The ‘other’ group was heading south, so they were going where we had
come from. The difference with their
trip is that they scoot through Liberia for nearly a week and what our trip did
in 7 weeks’; they are taking 10 weeks to complete. To me that seems a long time to add on to an
itinerary. I think we could have spent a
few extra days in some places, so an extra week would be fine, but 3
weeks? I’m not sure and case in point
they were only travelling 30km today to spend another 2 nights on another
beach. I don’t think we have EVER had a
30km travel day. No wonder they aren’t
tired yet, wait till they hit the hard stuff and it makes me glad that I
started south to north as it seems we will be finishing on a nicer note. But again that is all just personal
preference. I wish them all the luck and
I will keep that company in mind as it has on their stickers that they do
Central Africa, (my next destination) but talking to Sasha they are only doing
the West section this year. They got all
their bills paid before us, and I am assuming they were as complex as they had
camped the last 2 nights and eaten off the truck, so with a wave to Sasha and
my travel mate John, they were on their way just after 9.40am. We weren’t far behind them and we were all
paid up and ready to go at 10am.
Sam knew and was mates with the crew from the ‘other’
tour and when he asked yesterday what they did in the town of Ziguinchor, (I
kept calling it Zucchini) as this was our next stop on the trip for 2 nights,
he was told that there was not a lot there and they only did it to obtain visas
for Guinea Bissau. There really was no
other reason to stay. So after a group
discussion, we have decided to skip the town of Ziguinchor all together and we
now have 2 bonus nights up our sleeve to play with. There seems to be 2 options and that is in a
few days’ time either head to the old capital of Senegal, Port Louis, or to
spend some time on some beaches just out of Dakar. Either way a decision didn’t need to be made
now and we would just bring the next 4 nights forward and do them and then decide
on where we would be spending the last 2 nights of the whole trip. We had to double back the way we had come to
Ziguinchor anyway and arriving at 11.50am, Zoe needed to fill up the truck and
Sam was off in search of food for lunch, so we were given 20 minutes to have a
walk around. By this time the heat was
unbearable, it really was like a sauna and so I decided to just stop off at the
servo to get some snacks and a coke and the others went for a quick walk but
were back soon after saying that there was not a lot to see anyway and we had definitely
made the right decision to not stay here, and for 2 nights!!! Crazy town.
There were a few kids hanging around the truck asking for money and
pens. Zoe, with the big heart she has,
gave them some of her banana and without a word of thanks they took it and ran
off. They were stupid enough to come
back asking us for things, and they were a little pushy, especially for 8 year
olds, but I guess you have to be tough to survive a town like this and I wonder
how many foreign people pass through here going to the Club Med and surrounding
resorts. It isn’t like it is a tourist
town, but they were confident, brazen and knew what to ask for. Zoe asked them a few times to leave and then
lost it the last time and they all scattered when she got off the truck to
address them and tell them to get some manners.
So finally with everyone back on board and after a few false starts with
roadwork’s and trying to find a road that would lead us out of town, we were
finally out of dusty, hot dodge at 12.20pm.
We drove for nearly an hour before stopping to have a
roadside lunch and hitting the border formalities of Senegal and The
Gambia. It was the usual fare of salad
(well tomato and cucumber and onion) bread rolls, tuna and mayo and the cursory
tinned meat. We only opened one tin as
we had the tuna today and I know tinned meat sounds unappetizing, and some of
it looks unappetizing but majority of the time it actually tastes okay, even
better than okay, but that did NOT apply today.
It looked like cat food when it came out of the tin and I sampled a
little of it before spreading it on my roll and I nearly barfed. It was disgusting, and I am an advocated for
the tinned stuff. It was bad! There were another 2 tins of the rancid stuff
and we are going to leave it in the bulk for the newbies to eat on their way
back down south. Our gift to them, I
just hope things don’t get that desperate for them that they will have to eat
it!!!!
Back on the road again at 2.10pm and it was now time to
get some kilometers on the clock and make the push for the borders. There seemed to be more cattle in this region
and they had herders, unlike Sierra Leone you would see goats and some cows and
there was no-one around that seemed to be herding them anywhere. Waving to the Senegalese, they didn’t appear
to be very friendly, and there was a vibe about them that I just couldn’t put
my finger on. We were just trying to be
friendly. We arrived into the Senegal/The
Gambia border for the stamping out and in of Madge just after 3.40pm and then
10 minutes later we arrived at the Senegal border proper for us to be stamped
out. While Sam and Zoe went into get us
stamped out we were accosted by about 10 girls.
Now you get a picture in your head, 10 sweet girls, all dressed in their
colorful cloth, hair all woven and looking nice and you would have the right
picture until they opened their mouths and started talking. It started off sedate enough, with the 2 main
‘talkers’ asking us for bic’s (pens) and as usual the same reply goes to them
that goes to all of the people that come to the truck to ask for things is a
flat no. Well that didn’t cut the
mustard for this little girl, and no exaggeration she would not be older than
10, and she let her mouth run. She was a
nasty little thing telling us people of my kind are mean, and why was I
laughing (not at her of course but truck conversation) and to go back to where
I came from, give her money, give her water, give her pens and then the rant
was picked up by an older girl who would have been 13. They then were banging the truck when we
tried to ignore them and it took all my will to not do something that I would
regret, like take a picture to enrage her more, or to say something really
nasty to her. I did tell her that if she
had of been a little nicer to people that maybe she would get things but she
wasn’t a nice little girl and that was why.
Well that started another tirade and it was time to put my window up and
ignore her. The threatened to throw a
stone in my eye and can you believe that when we finally drove off to boos’ and
more abusive words 35 minutes later, I looked back and she pointed to me and
gestured a slitting of the throat. Man
she was scary. It wasn’t only me that
they were targeting with Ian in thrown in the fray and Clem coped a mouthful
and was directed to talk English to her and then Zoe laid into them when she
got back that took them all aback, well for a micro second, but the sad thing
is these kids learnt all this from some-one and it is scary. You can see where people get brainwashed when
they know no better, or even just how un-socially acceptable they are being
towards other people and I am guess the foreign people in their case. It was shocking.
It was only a 3km drive to The Gambia border where the
small children were 1 million times nicer than their Senegal border counter
parts and we were back to an English speaking country again for 2 nights which
will make a nice change. No one needed a
visa for The Gambia, so it was just a matter of paperwork and formality before
we were all stamped in and on the road at 5.05pm. You have to love the borders that don’t need
us to get off the truck, especially when the venom spitting children are around
and today was another day that we could stay on the truck.
WELCOME TO THE GAMBIA.
This was our final new country on the trip, as we head
back into Senegal in a few days’ time.
The road changed from tarmac to a fairly well graded dirt road, and
after only one misdirection, we found our camp for the next 2 nights and were
parked up at 5.35pm. We had made
it. It was weird having to get used to
people speaking English to us and being able to reply back with them
understanding, as it was the second English speaking country only after Ghana,
so it has been a while since I have been able to converse with the locals with
more than 3 words (my French vocabulary).
Tendaba Camp looked nice. It had
just been given a whole new paint job, from the rooms (inside and out) to the
paths and the pool was currently under repair for their high season which was
fast approaching. It was still HOT AS AN
OVEN here and we were all feeling a little lethargic, well until the boys
pulled out the soccer ball and started to have a kick around with some of the
locals/workers. It was FAR too HOT for
those shenanigans. We were shown to our
rooms, which again looked like they had been given a small touch up, BUT they
were HOTTER than an oven and the electricity wasn’t due to come on until
7.15pm, so no fan and no lights as the sun started to set. Man it was a scorcher, have I mentioned just
how bloody hot it has been? I even had a
shower to try and cool off and I was just as sweaty afterwards as I had been
when I went in, but the temporary relief was worth it.
We placed our dinner order for 8pm, with me ordering bush
pig (why not) and then sat under the main section of the resort under a large
open bungalow that for some reason seemed to keep the heat in and it was a
cooker sitting there, no relief at all with the power still off and no fans,
just to move the still air. There wasn’t
even a breeze to keep some air flowing.
Ugh. SAUNA. The upside-the sunset was beautiful as it set
over The Gambia River and I have been lucky to witness a lot of them all over
the world and this ranked up there as a goodie!
The pinks and oranges over the water were just breathtaking and it never
ceases to amaze me just how quick the sun goes down; it is so fast that if you
took too long on the photos you could miss it completely. There seemed to be a lot of mosquito’s around
as well, so I made sure that I lathered up in bug spray and my concerns didn’t
go unwarranted when one of the staff members came around to collect our room
keys and to spray our rooms for the night to keep the mozzies at bay. I will definitely be using my mosquito net
over my bed tonight, even if it means that some of the air from the fan may be
obstructed. I think I am getting a
little paranoid about the pesky blood suckers, but better to be paranoid than blasé
right. Well dinner turned up an hour
late and by this time we were all getting a little tired, but it was delicious
and it was worth the wait. I never
understand why things take so long to cook when it is just chips and rice as a
side and then grilled chicken or like a stir-fry meat. It’s certainly nothing fancy and I am sure
they have more than 2 burners back in the kitchen. It is one thing that you need to have at
dinner time. Patience. Not long after dinner was done we headed back
to our rooms for what I hoped would be a good night’s sleep and that the rooms
would not be too hot to sleep in. I
tucked in my mosquito net as best as I could and when Helen came, I got her to
‘tuck’ me in, so I was sealed nicely into my mosquito free cocoon (hopefully)
and I know I will definitely sleep better in a net knowing how vicious the
mozzies were at dinner. I got a few new
bites, but I can handle the few, it is when you get loads that it drives you
mad when they finally turn to itching!!!
So good night from the smallest country on main land
Africa. The Gambia.
Do you know of anyone else who has been here?
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