THE GAMBIA
At The Gambia border we had to change money on the black market (as we
had done as a group in Mauritania) as we had no money and the bureaux
de change were closed as it was dark. The rates were fine although
the money changers or whatever they are called were crafty their
calculators. I only changed 35 euros for Gambian dalasi but they
tried to make more money in 2 ways: firstly by keeping the wrong
figure in the calculator memory so that they appear to calculate the
right amount in front of you but they quickly flick the memory button
so you don't get the right total. Secondly and more obviously, you
don't get the right amount when you count it out but there are so many
notes of low value that it takes so long to count. I guess they hope
some people are stupid enough to not bother counting. Regardless, the
people were so docile I don't think they'd be able to rob anyone.

While it sounds like a negative start to The Gambia, it couldn't be
more misrepresentative. The whole exchange thing was funny more than
anything else! The border policeman asked us if we had brought him a
present but "no" was enough to deal with that. We walked past 2
prisoners behind floor to ceiling bars that you see on movies and met
up with our fellow passenger from the Dakar taxi, Modou, who lives not far from
the border in The Gambia. I chatted to him for about 3 hours in the
taxi and was such a nice guy we kind of invited ourselves to stay at
his house. Modou was trustworthy (you really can tell after 3 hours
of intense conversation) as he had made no attempt to ask for anything
from us (the small minority of people in Africa are not subtle in the
way they go about this) and he had received a Schengen visa from the
French embassy to holiday in Europe, which few people would be able to
do. He was apologetic for not inviting us already as we had
previously been asking about the hotel.

We ended up staying 2 nights. We were in our element. He lived in a
3-roomed house (2 bedrooms and a living room) with his wife and 4
children who were equally friendly. The children were well brought up
and Modou was relentless in askig if they had been working hard at
school during his stay in Dakar.

We were in our element staying at his place. Much of the reason for
my travel is to try to understand the psyche of African people from
different countries and to do so, it helps enormously to live like a
local and be treated like a local, which is really very hard in every
place in Africa so far - Morocco being the easiest place to live like
a local.

Waking up in a Gambian village was rewardng. We hadn't seen any of
the country the previous night as there are no street lights, not even
in the Gambian capital, Banjul. Walking out of a Gambian house to
explore friendly people in a pretty village was nice. We visited the
small local clinic/hospital which wasn't so well equipped as you can
imagine but the staff were incredibly dedicated to their jobs. We
were in The Gambia in the middle of a national polio mass vaccination
program. Health workers go door to door to give oral vaccinations to
anyone who has not yet received the vaccine. Polio is the disease the
UN's World Health Organisation is working to eradicate, just as they
did with smallpox in 1984. Once it's eradicated, the world can
concentrate on another disease and not worry at all about polio.

We visited the capital, Banjul (population 50,000), and the largest
city, Serekunda (population 250,000) that day. There's not all so
much to describe - they are not particularly unique cities so I'll
save time and space ;-) I do, however, still want to know why there
was a shop in Banjul selling so many bags of rice with the label "gift
of the US Government". Is that misuse of food aid, reuse of bags or
misuse of bags?

The Gambia is Africa's smallest country (half the size of Wales).
Even smaller than Djibouti, Rwanda, Togo, Swaziland and the like. The
British made the colony of Gambia when the navy sailed up the river
Gambia and fired canons inland. Where the canons landed marked the
British territory. The British subsequently used The Gambia as a base
for slavery.
I find it a country with a progressive attitude, keen to develop and
better itself. The people seem to have a positive attitude and the
government is certainly doing its best to educate the country about
malaria, AIDS, polio and the like given all the billboards around. It
has been a fairly stable country in Africa in recent times except in
1994 when there was political violence. Since then, the country has
been heading in one united direction. Nevertheless, the economy is
still weak: 70% of the foreign export earnings come from the export of
groundnuts (peanuts), which means the country is in big trouble
whenever we eat fewer bags of salted peanuts in our local pubs. Just
15% of their earnings comes from tourism despite the huge tourism
industry in The Gambia. This is because the hotels are foreign-owned,
the holidays are booked abroad, the plane companies are owned by
foreign companies. This leaves The Gambia with little.

On our 2nd full day in The Gambia, we headed east. We took a minibus
to a town called Wassu. Minibuses and shared taxis where people are
crammed in like cattle are the main forms of "public" transport in
much of Africa. Minibuses contain somewhere in the region of 30
people and are somewhere around the size of a standard 16 seater
British minibus. Luggage gets stacked up on the roof rack, making for
sagging roofs and abnormally high minibuses. Goats stand on the roof
with no support and chickens get held upside down inside the minibus
and when the windows are open, you get the feathers blowing in your
face. There is always one driver and one young boy/man at the back
who collects the money and opens and closes the door where applicabe.
Sometimes, the door is kept open all the time as it cannot be closed
(broken) or there is no space for the boy to sit so he hangs on the
back, often no handed as he deals with the money! On on day
travelling through The Gambia, we were going along very dusty roads so
orange dust covered everything we owned, including eyes for those
without sunglasses (i.e. black people) and airways for those without
masks (most). By the end of the day, I had an orange face and white
patches around my eyes (where my glasses shaded them). The roads are
obviously bumpy too but the drivers tend not to take any notice of
that - I think they either have no care for their vehicles or they
just try to fly fast enough to ride the peaks of the corrugated roads
and miss out the drops. If all this wasn't enough while sweating
plenty as usual, 2 wheels fell off our minibus, which made for an
almighty bump. Wheel nuts had fallen off, letting the wheels loose
and bending the rear left wing (couldn't really tell among the rest of
the well panel-beated shell of the minibus). They were put back on
again but there were nuts missing and the wheels nearly came off yet
again, once again in the middle of nowhere. The minibus was stopped
and we were lucky to transfer to another minibus that was returning on
the road empty.

We arrived in Wassu and took a look at the stone circles they have
there that the Gambians are proud of. Nothing too spectacular but
worth a pound nevertheless. You have to understand that the worse
things are in Africa (except when it comes to poverty), the more fun
things are because it makes everything so funny. Wassu was pretty
much vehicle-less except a couple of minibuses offering to take us to
Georgetown (Jan jan bureh) if we pay for all the seats as no other
passengers wanted to travel any further. An African wouldn't do this
so neither did we. We often get offered this kind of thing - white
people can afford any price they think. They are surprised we don't
have our own air conditioned 4x4 as all other white people do. But we
are budget travellers wanting a cultural experience! We don't just
want to see Africa through a window. The fact we dare share a minibus
with some Africans is already a mystery to locals but we like it!
As a solution to our woes, I chatted to the police at the police
checkpoint in town and we sat chatting to them while we waited for
private vehicles to come past. The police asked the 1st one that came
along if we could hitch with them. The driver said yes and we jumped
in the back of his open back van, even happier with this than
minibuses that have wheels falling off.
We passed through Georgetown, which is an island, by 2 ferries - a
motorised one and another where all the passengers had to pull a metal
rope to which the ferry was attached in order to get the ferry across
the Gambia river. The driver took us all the way to Basse Santa Su,
the eastern Gambian border town with Senegal, where another policeman
showed us to a guest house....

The guest house cost a mere 2 pounds between 3 people for the night
but we got what we paid for! One dirty room with a mattress and sheet
that hadn't seen any cleaning agents since their manufacture; bars
over the small window, which had little glass left inside and electric
wires hanging out of the walls since the days the electricity was
pulled out of the place. Again, fun! We loved The Gambia for all
these random experiences!

Going through the Gambia during the day was all we got to see of the
country outside the built up west of the country. Nevertheless, it is
small and so we got a good view of rural Gambia - green and lush as
it's set around a river - no surprise there. There's also lots of
birdlife to which we were treated a little. Some nickname the country
"Africa for beginners". I could see why as the people are so easy
going, the country is beautiful and easy to travel around.

SENEGAL
As we crossed the river into Senegal, the police were unexpectedly
friendly, efficient and when I asked (after we got our passports back
with stamps) if I could take a photo of the river (big no-no on the
Mauritanian side) thought I was crazy - of course I could! This, in
combination with the colourful music and colourful people, dressed in
a relaxed fashion (including no headscarf for the Muslim women), was a
stark contrast to Mauritania and showed us that we were in store for
something conforming to my African stereotypes!
Senegal is a modern country that is stable (one of the only African
countries never to have had a coup d'etat) and democratic. It is well
known for a strong football team.

We went to St Louis that night in a crowded minibus, overflowing with
goods that businessmen and women had brought over from Mauritania. We
spent one day in St Louis, the capital of the French colonies, which
were collectively termed "L'Afrique Noire" (Black Africa). The town
is mostly found on one island which is full of colonial charm: old
European buildings colourfully painted in pastel colours, many of
which are fading and peeling in an attractive manner. The town is
buzzing with people seemingly living to the beat of Senegalese music.
Jazz takes an important place in the town with an annual jazz festival
taking place there. This also means lots of jazz cafes - one of the
1st places we have seen many bars. In Muslim Morocco, bars were few
and far between. In Mauritania, they don't exist. Beer is not
allowed to be imported into Mauritania by travellers but it can only
be bought at huge cost in hotels. Senegal too is mostly Muslim with a
small percentage of Christians but is much more relaxed.

On the outermost island, one finds a long fishing community. A few
thousand live there and everyone is involved in or linked someway to
the fishing industry: mainly fishing (men) and drying fish (women) to
export to Ghana and landlocked countries. The sight of fish drying
everywhere is quite a sight.

We crossed the impressive red iron bridge (originally intended for the
river Danube),
reminding me of the Forth bridge a little, over to the mainland to get
to Dakar by minibus. We stayed there for one night and nearly 2 days.
It's a major city of 2 million people. Traffic everywhere, beggers
rife and wealth on show in the form of 4x4s and high rise commercial
buildings. Clearly some have done very well for themselves in West
Africa. Life here is a little rough though and one has to be
streetwise to survive. It was also the first place we had to be
careful as crime is known here whereas so far, we hadn't been anywhere
with any crime rate of any significance. As we got off the minibus
into Dakar, people were pulling our bags, supposedly trying to help us
out to get into taxis etc but really theifs lurk looking for new
arrivals. We didn't spend so much time here, although we did manage
to get our Burkina Faso visas and visit the touristic Island of Goree,
the Westernmost point in Africa and former slave island. It is 20
minutes on a slow boat journey from Dakar (passing the Queen Mary
cruise ship docked in Dakar). It was very colonial in feel, although
the buildings were well kept as the island is a UNESCO world heritage
site. It is colourful and very beautiful, making it worth a walk
around. The most significant place is the former Slave House - a
small 2-storey house: upstairs for the European slave merchants and
tiny rooms to cram in black people like sardines where they awaited
shipping to the Carribean and America. Goree was one of the most
significant slave ports, mostly because of its convenient location,
being the nearest point in Africa to the Americas. Signs placed
around the place with appropriate phrases reminded us how brutal a
trade it was. One sign said "Only the people who have lived between
these four walls know the true value of freedom". All the important
people of the world liked to be seen and photographed in this slave
house including Clinton, Bush (Dubya), the Pope and Kofi Annan.

From Dakar we took a shared Peugeot 7-seater to The Gambia.

SENEGAL 2
As The Gambia is surrounded by Senegal, we had to pass back into
Senegal in order to get to Mali where our truck was heading as well
(but from the Mauritanian desert). This was no disappointment for us
as we love that country as well. The people are tribally the same in
The Gambia and Senegal (sometimes called Senegambia) and share the
same major tribal language of Wolof.

Our Peugeot 7-seater taxi dropped us in Velingara in Casamance, south
Senegal. Casamance would like independence from the rest of Senegal
so there is occasionally violence there. I tried to quiz people on
the minibus from Velingara to Tambacounda about the political
situation but it is a taboo subject as noone can afford to let on
which side of the argument they are on in case they a political
activist hears them and they get targeted.

From Tambacounda, we took an old Spanish coach (!) to the Senegalese
border town of Kadira. The coach fare was cheap (about 3 pounds for a
3 hour journey), just like the minibuses.

Next was Mali, which I will describe next time.

PEOPLE ON THE TRUCK
As I am travelling in a group of 24 people plus one driver and a group
leader, some of you have asked how I find it travelling with so many
people I have never met, especially since the truck is full and hence
not too spacious. Well, to tell you the truth, it's OK but mainly
because I am quite a tolerant person and don't get easily annoyed by
people doing small yet silly things and I am not really the kind to
annoy people too easily either. But there is a sour atmosphere
between certain people, which doesn't help the whole atmosphere on the
truck but other people's grievances tend to funny to me, especially
when they are small really. Such a trip is not suited to everyone for
this reason, although if you can be tolerant and light hearted, things
are fine. I am disappointed though that I haven't exactly made any
close friends on the truck but since everyone is normally in a large
group together, it's not so easy. I know what people are like very
well but don't really know much about their lives back home or their
history. I treat each member of the truck like a family member now
but equally, I am not close to them. It's all a bit bizarre.
Nevertheless, it's good for me and overall, fun :-

MAURITANIA
After goodbyes to W Sahara, we crossed our first border via a long stretch of No Man's Land littered with land mines and blown up
cars, we reached Mauritania. The border post for Mauritania used to be a shack but it has been upgraded to a breeze block
building with a corrugated roof. Note, the welcom sign, which lacked the word "Welcome" said Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
Mauritania is a state that follows Islamic law, although not quite as strictly as some Middle East countries. In the past it has had
some controversial foreign policies such as supporting Iraq in the 1st Gulf War. It has had a new President since the bloodless coup d'etat in August 2005.

Our 1st "sight" was the world's longest train, which travels from iron ore mines to the coastal city of Nouadhibou. Normally, it is
2.5km long. We counted 156 carriages. It's apparently also the world's slowest train, which is quite believable. The rails were
so worn, it is surprising that the trains actually stay on the tracks.

We went straight to Nouadhibou, a coastal city dominated by fishing. Just off the Mauritanian coast is the world's richest
fishing area, although the European Union (yes, including the UK for you British reading this) owns almost all the fishing rights to
the area. The rights were given to the EU as part of a debt repayment deal. The locals make do with some poorer quality areas
nearer to the coast. From a conversation with one local fisherman who wanted to set up business with me, selling fish to the UK,
it seems that locals have to get agreements with EU citizens whereby Mauritanians do the fishing under EU licence and send the
fish to the EU. I didn't leave him with much hope of such a business.

We tryed to bush camp just outside Nouadhibou on what we thought was a former military site. It has ruined buildings, old
cannons and lots of underground tunnels that we checked out. In front of this is the dirty beach with rubbish washed up, dead fish
and maybe 40 shipwrecks. That was all good fun for an hour or so before a local guy turned up, dressed in a traditional light blue
with gold thread "dress" called a boubou. He was not there to greet us though - he was furious, shouting in French at all the
members of our group who understood nothing other than that he wanted us to move. I am under strict orders not to speak anything
but English in such situations because speaking French will only help the corrupt border police or whoever the "agressor" is.
He told us that the site is still military, has unexploded mines and is frequented at night by immigrants trying to get to ships
heading for Europe. He called the military, at which point we left for a great camp site.

This was our first lesson in Mauritanian strictness. Hardly anyone was willing to agree to their photo being taken and even people
distant in a street scene photo would shake their fingers and cover their faces. One person asked if I was a journalist,while a soldier
told me filming is illegal in Mauritania.

Next destination was Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, which can now be reached by a new road built by the Egyptians, Koreans, Chinese, Germans and Mauritanians. Our group leader thinks this is part of Africa being ruined (tongue in cheek) so we
took a guide with us and drove through the desert, which was the only way to reach Nouakchott. up until a year ago. Here, the
desert is very flat, fairly yellow in colour and sporting only small hardy shrubs and trees in parts. There were sand dunes every now
and then in parts, which were much fun (we had camped by them in W. Sahara as well) but the sand ruined a few cameras!

Nearer to Nouakchott and nearer to the coast was Parc National d'Arguin, an area of much birdlife: pelicans, flamingos and birds that I just couldn't identify! Birds migrating
from Europe to central or southern Africa have few options to stop off for rest, food and
water in the Sahara so have to stop on the Atlantic coast, swamping the coastal areas
of Mauritania and more so, Senegal. We were a little late to see all the birds.
After the park, we drove along the beach for a couple of hours in the shallow water with
the sun low in the sky across the Atlantic. That was fantastic. From the fishing
villages that we passed, it seemed obvious that people take more interest in their
boats than a lot else. The boats are immaculately and colourfully painted, while their
general existence seems pretty basic. We flagged down one boat to buy fish for that
evening's meal - pretty much the only place we could get fresh food.

In Nouakchott, I stayed 2 nights but only about 24 hours so that I could shoot off to
Senegal. It was enough time to see the city though. It's a city of 600,000 people,
though it was built for 200,000 after independence. The main city of the area during
French reign, St Louis, was placed within Senegal so Mauritania needed a capital. Nouakchott was the answer, which they built in the desert, 5km from the coast.

Given that it's in the desert, the area was sandy except for the roads, which takes its
toll when trudging around it. It was a modest city with a colourful market (most African markets are) and some interesting people - not outgoing like the Moroccans but much
more reserved. On approaching someone though, people were generally very friendly and hospitable. The strictness of the country's laws and practices was sharply contrasted by a prostitute offering her services to me and a couple of friends and advertising billboards with Western women showing how sexy certain products are.
Impressive was the bustling mobile phone market with about 100 boutiques/stalls selling mobile phones and top-up cards. Mobiles seem to be the favourite toy of all Africans with a little money to spare as in India, I hear, and perhaps pretty much every country? I didn't expect to see so many mobiles in such poor countries but having said
that, they are probably cheaper than their non-existent landline telephones and I rarely see mobiles being used!

In Nouakchott, I left the truck and the group and headed for Senegal with 2 members of the group, Thoby and Andreas. We took an expensive taxi to Rosso, the border town, changed our many from ouguiya (yes, strange name) to the West African single currency, the CFA and crossed the Senegal river by pirogue. Unfortunately, this stage
was far too eventful. Our driver was a soldier so, while he got us through the gendarmerie checkpoints without any fuss on the way to Rosso, he took us straight to his policeman friend at the Mauritanian border post who screwed us for 5000 CFA (5 pounds) between the 3 of us in corruption money. Much reduced from the 12000 that he first wanted. The taxi driver and then I argued with him but with our passports having vanished; no time to wait too long as the Senegal border post was soon closing; Andreas anxious to pay and get out of the place; and the taxi driver having told him to talk to me in French, made getting to Senegal without paying a fiver just too difficult.
We had heard that the Senegalese police are highly corrupt so had let our guard down on the Mauritanian side.