Beautiful sunrise kicked off our very long day
Setting off for our boat tour
Our little rooms in Jangjangbureh (Georgetown) became terribly uncomfortable as soon as the power went off for the night. The heat and mosquitoes arrived at exactly the same moment as the fan was keeping both at bay. We had an early morning planned with our posse who somehow managed to convince us that they are the best bird guides around…more like the only ones around right now.
The ride started off fine, they actually did know a fair bit about birds; at least one of them anyhow. So there was the one guy who was operating the boat, the one guy who was the most knowledgeable about birds and then four other guys, I’m still not sure what their purpose was. The bird guy was able to spot things but didn’t know specifics. If Peta and David tried to elaborate or get more information he would clam up. For example, according to him, there is a white kingfisher or a blue kingfisher but in reality there are dozens of varieties but he wasn’t interested in learning about the others; there is the white or the blue.
The "blue" kingfisher
Throughout the boat ride the guys would come up to David and say “Papa, cigarette” pointing at his pack of cigarettes. Never were the words “please” or “thank you” uttered. They do speak English here which makes the minimal grunts of their demands more irritating. One guy pointed at Peta’s bird book to indicate he wanted to have a look. Another guy took my binoculars and didn’t bring them back until we demanded them back…and I am the one paying for this trip, not him. Then they asked to borrow the car keys for the bottle opener that is attached so that they can serve us drinks.
David's leg didn't deter them from using the nail clipper
The last straw for me was when I saw them using the nail clippers that are attached to the key chain and used them to clean their toenails. I said to the guy something like “You should really ask for permission before you use our things, it is more polite” and he responded “No, we are family here” and continued to pass the nail clippers to his friends. I then pointed to David’s leg, which is red/purple, swollen and has a big hole in it and told them “You really should have asked first to use the nail clippers; look at his leg, that is contagious and you used the same clippers as him and now you may get the same thing”. The guy simply shrugged and said “Its ok, we are family”. This really got to me and I blurted “If we are family then what is my name?” He responded, with certainty, Melinda. “No, so we aren’t family after all and so you must ask to use things” The rest of the boat ride continued with their antics, I think I preferred them when they were just running after the car and pulling up chairs at lunch.
At the end of the trip, we returned to the camp and got to meet the lady who runs it, she is actually a lovely person. She even gave Peta some dalasis coins as a gift when they were talking. As we were nearly ready to get in the car she came up and asked for the payment of the last 3 bottles of soda. We explained that we didn’t have any more sodas, we were already paid up and showed her our receipt. She just sighed and said that they boys had 3 drinks and told her that it was on our tab and that you cannot count on them for anything. I told her about our car run in with them yesterday when we were yelled at by the police because of them and that they were rude. They gave us a good service in the boat but they were not respectful. She told us how they approached her yesterday claiming to be responsible for us coming to her camp and she had to tip them. I hope she will be able to set those kids straight…punks.
After we left Georgetown we went to visit the stone circles. Just as we pulled up, there was a group of Spanish tourists who had just arrived. While we were in the museum, the employee had been at the window watching as the tourists dished out handfuls of candy to each child that they saw. He went to go speak to their tour operator and had to ask them stop. He was concerned about the kids eating nothing but candy and rotting the teeth that they have; they may be able to get candy today but they will never be able to afford to see a dentist. We had a picnic nearby and the kids swarmed us demanding things like “give me that thing there, I want it”, despite having no clue what it is for.
When we got back on the main highway the police checkpoints became more frequent and they began to inspect our passports at each stop. One officer asked me why I didn’t have a visa and then I showed him where my passport was stamped by immigration. He responded “No, that is a tourist stamp” “Well, yes, I AM a tourist”. On the sixth or seventh stop of the day an officer asked where we crossed and why we didn’t have visas. We explained that we paid the 15,000 CFA each for the visas and they gave us those stamps. Another man very nicely tried to explain the situation and said that we are very welcome here and they don’t want to give us problems and discourage tourists but there is a problem with our visas. He then needed to call his superior in Farrafenni, the main office. We arrived at the office and the boss was very helpful. He said basically that they gave us the wrong sort of entry stamp and we were overcharged. He would contact that office and make sure the officers were punished.
We went on our way and got to the main checkpoint, the officers there were expecting us and told us that we need to go back to Farrafenni. The head police commissioner had gotten word about what happened and was on the phone and wanted to speak to David. So he had to recount exactly what happened at the border, how much we paid, what the officers looked like, etc. They gave us new stamps in our passports to avoid any further problems at checkponts and gave us a receipt with the price of the visa…only 300 dalasis. Strangely, even with our embezzled, exorbitant visa price, it was still the cheapest of the trip so far!
It took us hours to get to the ferry from Banjul to Serrekunda, ridiculous considering the entire country is only 700 miles long. The ferry was madness, again all the touts trying to trick you. While we were waiting to board the ferry there was the array of people asking for a broad range of things from cigarettes to stereo speakers. One vendor girl said to Bobby, “Give me a drink” and he replied “Sure! We’ve got coke, fanta, water, beer, whatcha want?” “COKE”, “Ok, that will be 50 dalasis!” She didn’t want to pay and tried to give him a cent coin and I’m not sure what happened next but somehow Bobby came into the car with her entire tray of peanuts that she was selling. He gave it back to her, of course.
It was our longest and latest day of driving of the entire trip. We finally got to Sekuta camping after being a bit lost; it is a big overlander stop and was bustling with expats in cars, vans, motor bikes and even bicycles. I’m just so thankful that this day is over with and it seems like we will get to relax here a bit.
