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| Crocodile Pond, Abuko Nature Reserve, The Gambia |
After departing Ft. Lauderdale on March 14 and visiting
several Atlantic islands, we finally reached the African continent exactly two
weeks later. On our two previous trips
to Africa, including going to northern east Africa at Safaga, Luxor, Sharm el
Sheikh and the Suez, and last year from Mozambique in southeastern Africa,
South Africa and then Namibia in southwestern Africa last year, we now touched
a far western corner in The Gambia and Senegal.
In fact we are in the area that has the farthest west portion of the
entire African continent.
This is an area of significant history but not the kind of
history that promotes pride. Rather it
is an area to be remembered for some of the worst atrocities against
mankind. The Gambia and Senegal are noted
for the slave traffic. In fact the
island of Gorée right off the coast of Dakar, Senegal was a place notorious for
its slave trade and the shipment of slaves, captured in various areas of
Africa, to be placed on boats and shipped to the New World.
Gambia was originally settled by the British and most signs
are in English, so I asked my tour guide today if everyone knew English. He said they did not, and in fact, school is
not required in The Gambia which did come as a surprise to me in 21st
century society. He did say however, the
government is encouraging students to attend school, particularly girls who
have not traditionally been educated. He
said the government is subsidizing those people, particularly farther inland
than we were to try to get more people to receive more schooling. Muslim schools do not teach English which
would come as no surprise.
After World War II, the British relinquished control and boundaries
were drawn with The Gambia following the Gambia River and surrounded on three
sides by the larger Senegal. Gambia,
with its economy tied to the 700 mile long Gambia River in western Africa, is
in fact, the smallest country on the African continent. Gambians are proud of the fact that on July
22, 1994, they overthrew their dictatorship in a bloodless coup. In commemoration of that historic event, a
gigantic arch, called Arch 22, was built in Banjul. It towers over the small city of about 35,000
and can be seen from the ship. The
unusual name of Arch 22 comes from the fact that the coup occurred on the 22nd
day of July in 1994. We passed through
it as we left the city for our shore excursion and around it on our return back
to the ship.
After cooler temperatures than we expected, we were hit in
the face with heat with an expected high of 94 degrees for our The Gambia
visit. In The Gambia, Barb found no excursion that she felt she could handle,
so she stepped off the ship to justify the required purchase of a $55 visa as
well as to be able to say she had been in The Gambia, browsed the local craft
booths that had been set up by local vendors, and got back on the ship.
I elected to do an excursion called Abuko Nature Reserve, located less than 10 miles from the
pier. I boarded the small bus, similar
to what we had experienced in Cape Verde, and had a chance to view daily life
as we passed through Banjul, the nation’s capital. We saw the unpretentious legislative building
and a bit later, a much more modern structure under construction that will
house the legislative chambers. In addition we saw other government buildings
before crossing a bridge and into a much larger city, Serre-Kunda. Here we drove along a busy main street with
throngs of people going about their business.
Small stores were open selling their wares which ran the gamut from
appliances and huge, and I mean huge, overstuffed furniture, to auto repair
items, and small household objects and clothing. We saw many women in their colorful garb (I
later heard that so many were dressed that way since it was a Friday and that
it isn’t customary for them to have such festive clothing other days of the
week.) Many were already carrying their
purchases and some carried them on their heads.
Kids were either out romping around or dressed in school uniforms and
carrying their backpacks. Men were seen
walking the streets or doing manual labor.
I remarked that I had never seen such tall men as the vast majority in
The Gambia were. One of the others on
the tour noted that the women were taller here too than most women in our country. Someone else commented that they seemed to
have such excellent posture as well.
Every so often we either passed or met a donkey-drawn cart hauling one
item or another. A few goats and other
animals as well of course, dogs, were running in the streets.
As we drove out of town, I had one of my unfulfilled wishes
from the 2013 World Cruise satisfied.
There is an unusual tree, called the baobab tree that we thought we
might see last year – and they were all along the highway in The Gambia! These
are trees with fat trunks and stubby branches at the top making it look like an
upside down tree. (I will include a
picture with the pictures for this blog.) Shortly before arriving at the Abuko
Nature Reserve, the bus driver drove us into an area cattle-ready for market
were enclosed and on the other side were more goats than most Americans have
ever seen in their lifetime (or it seemed that way to me!).
Then we arrived at the Nature Reserve to begin our hike
through the lush reserve. We didn’t
realize the walk would be so long, but we estimated that it might have been
about a three mile walk over a mostly level dirt path. It wasn’t difficult at all but just longer
than we expected. As we got off the bus, we were told that it would take about
2 hours by the time we stopped to hear explanations from the guide and observe
wildlife. We had been told to wear long
pants, long-sleeved shirts (despite the heat), socks and closed toed shoes as
well as putting on sunscreen and insect repellent. After all, in this heavily forested area so
close to the water, mosquitoes could be present that might carry malaria! Despite that, several wore shorts and light
weight shirts and tops.
Our guide showed us several unusual plants and trees. Not the most interesting creature we were
shown were some termites as well as their gigantic nests. Of far more interest were the several species
of playful monkeys swinging in the trees, watching the curious two footed
invaders with cameras looking at them.
Along the way, we climbed a tower to look at a pond which often has
crocodiles but none seemed to show off for us on our walk. But the vultures were in abundance, sitting
in high trees or circling while watching for possible prey. We continued to an animal rehab area to care
for injured or abandoned animals (abandoned because a law had been passed
saying that Gambians could no longer keep monkeys and other non-domesticated
animals as pets. There we saw some
baboons, monkeys, and hyenas. The tour
ended with almost a half hour walk back to our bus and our uneventful ride back
to the ship.
Before the ship departed at 5 PM (by the way, we are 5 hours
ahead of Chicago here in the westernmost part of Africa), we were treated to a
colorful, high energy performance of dance and song by the western African
performers. There was one group where
the men did the dance in contorted positions, positions that most of us could
never imagine! It was a great show before our ship moved on to Dakar, Senegal.
When we docked at Dakar, we found that neither side of the
ship had a good view since there were shipping containers stacked on both
sides. While he didn’t have the dock on
our side, we actually had a better view of the city buildings such as they
were. Mostly though they were medium
height modern buildings, probably offices and apartment buildings. From what we could see beyond the port, we
were probably near the better part of the city.
Senegal had been settled by the French and given the fact
that it is in far western Africa, it was more accessible as well as a launching
point to places across the Atlantic. One
of Dakar’s beaches is considered to be the farthest west location on the
continent of Africa. This has made the
capital, Dakar, one of the more cosmopolitan cities in all of Africa. It’s
population is about 2.5 million people, probably making it just slightly
smaller than Chicago’s.
I chose not to do an excursion in Senegal despite never
having been there before. Normally I try
to do something in every new port in order to get a better understanding of the
area. Depending on what is offered, I
may or may not do something in a port I have previously visited. The shore excursions are expensive when one
considers how many new ports we visit on this cruise. Instead, here we had a relaxing morning and
got off the ship to make official the fact that we have been in Senegal. We noticed that there were craft sellers set
up so we decided to check out the displays knowing full well that we would be besieged
with sellers trying to convince us that we just had to have that wooden hippo,
or bright multi colored smock that we would never wear, or that huge wall
hanging depicting local culture that we had no room for even if we wanted
it! When we wandered down to where the
sales were taking place, most people were either out on tour or were not
browsing the displays which made us fair game for the sellers. For the most part they weren’t too persistent
but Barb did find a small wooden mask that our friend had asked her to obtain
if she saw something. Initially he asked
$35 but Barb started to walk away since it was obviously way too much. The vendor asked her what she would pay and I
jumped in with $5. Anyway, after a bit
more negotiating, she purchased a slightly larger mask with beading for
$10. That ended her shopping.
Having decided not to do a tour, I decided to just walk out
of the port area and see if there was something near the ship that would be of
interest. I was prepared to run the
gauntlet of taxi drivers wanting to take me on a tour or wherever I wanted to
go. Those who have been in many places
in Africa and Asia know the routine.
Whether it is Senegal, Egypt, Turkey, Vietnam or other countries, taxi
drivers and vendors want the money. We
do feel sorry for them because it’s not a way most people want to earn money
for themselves and families and they have so little in the first place. But I didn’t need several taxi drivers
offering to take me places in an unfamiliar city and not knowing the integrity
of the individual in whose hands I was literally entrusting with my life. Several men offered me rides or walking tours
of nearby areas. If one gave up and
approached someone else, there was always someone else to keep up the pressure
assuming that even if I didn’t take the offer of the previous person, I
certainly would do so with the next!
After walking about a block, I turned around and headed back to the
ship. As I walked, other walkers were
being beseeched by others to take their taxis or tours. One lady that I had seen from time to time on
the ship was walking with two other friends.
The lady turned around and asked me if she could walk with me as she had
had enough of the high pressure that she didn’t want to endure any more. It seems that with our different cultures, we
will never understand each other – we like to browse and ask for help if we
need it while they feel that constant pressure will make us decide we really
need their product or service.
Retreating to the safety of the ship, I can’t say our visit
to Senegal was memorable but it was primarily my own fault for not booking a
tour. Some people who are well traveled or
have physical issues enjoy relaxation on the ship and that’s fully
understandable. While many people don’t
book tours, a large part of my desire to travel is the education it affords and
I know I missed out on that opportunity in this port. I enjoy the excursions but with such a port-intensive
cruise, I felt I couldn’t purchase tours in all locations.
When we reach the Canary Islands in a few days and Morocco
later next week, there are what I considered to be some interesting tours
planned.
CT
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