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.

It is hard to remember my life when I used to worry about which museum to go to or what thread count the sheets on my bed are.  I am not spending each day trying to find a nice bush to hide behind to use as my toilet with a shovel in hand.  I am perpetually dirty, have bugs in my morning coffee (brings back memories of the Philippines) and I have a creaky back and neck from sleeping every night on the floor in our tent.  My big clothing decision has nothing to do with what looks nice, only which is the least dirty.  I have two pairs of Capri pants, I wear only one pair until we get to a spot where I can wash the ones that I am wearing.  To think of fresh, fluffy laundry, a steamy shower, and staying fresh and clean for more than five minutes is nearly x-rated.  It has been nearly 70 days on the road and we have entered into our eighth country, The Gambia.

It was nice to get back to English again after so long of handling everything in French.  It is nice that I am not the only one to do the talking anymore.  When we got to the Gambian immigration we had to pay 15,000 CFA; with that we got our stamp and 28 days to enjoy this tiny sliver of a country.  We even had to bring in our bags to be inspected, that is certainly a first.  The guy saw the section of my backpack where I keep my medicines and asked for an aspirin for a toothache.  I told him that I only have medicine to help constipation; he let me go after that.

Shortly after entering, we got our first taste of how things work in The Gambia.  There are police checkpoints everywhere and the cops are definitely more strict and thorough than what we had seen so far.  We stopped in Basse to change money and while we were parked, a guy on a motorbike (with a helmet no less, that is rare!) pulled up next to us first to greet us.  This is apparently a Gambian technique for getting an excuse to approach you and scan everything we have at the same time.  Of course, his eyes are roaming the car and he noticed the bottle of beer in David’s lap and told him that he should be careful of that here; he could get a ticket.  David thanked him and within moments a cop approached us asking what this is about us having beer.  Sure enough, the helmeted motorcyclist was right behind him.  The cop then asked for David’s license and documents, all of which were with Peta who was in the bank.  Luckily some traffic offense happened while we were waiting for Peta to return and all the cops ran off to handle that.  The guy in the red helmet left looking dejected that he won’t get his cut of the bribe that will now not be paid.

The cop came back and told David that drinking while driving is not permitted here.  David said that he absolutely agreed; but he was not driving, he was parked.  The officer was confused but let us off the hook and we continued on to Georgetown.

There were several police checks along the way, all of them greeting us in a very friendly manner while their eyes are scanning the car and our belongings. One asked for the pen that he noticed on the dashboard.

When we arrived at the ferry to take us to Georgetown, at least this seemed to be efficient and shuttled cars back and forth quickly.  While we were waiting we were approached by several people.  Instead of the “ça va” that we had grown so used to it was now “Hello, what is your name?” followed by “can you give me a football?”  As soon as we got off the ferry, the touts began to appear.  We drove along looking for the Bird Safari Camp, asking people for directions along the way.

Suddenly we heard a thumping on the car and then shouting, “Hey, the police want you to stop, they are looking for you!”

We pull over to the police woman (another first) and she told us “you cannot have people hanging on the back of the car, that isn’t permitted here”.  We responded that we don’t have people on the back of the car.  She retorted “Well, don’t  you have a mirror?”.  Apparently, the guy who informed us that the cops were looking for us had been hiding on the back of the car with a friend without us knowing.  David responded, “Yes, but the mirror doesn’t help us see if they are hanging directly on the back, only if they were on the sides; we don’t even want them there!”  The officer then let us go and told us that the car is his property and he should tell them to get off of it.

We continued in our search of the bird camp and we see that there are a few guys sprinting to keep up with us…handy mirrors!  David slams on the breaks to yell at them and we hear the dull thud of one of the touts crashing into the car.  Those guys then tried to yell at us for stopping the car when they were trying to hitch a ride.  It was a very bizarre argument, like someone trying to rob your house and then suing you for tripping on your porch.

When we finally got to the bird camp it seemed more like a squatter camp than a place for tourists, all of the staff seemed to be living there and had their laundry hanging everywhere.  It seems the peak tourist season sustains them well enough that they aren’t even concerned with having guests today.  We ended up driving to town and stopping for lunch.  The 6 guys who were chasing us all day pulled up plastic chairs alongside us; as if slamming the car into them wasn’t a hint enough that we are not interested in their services.  They sat there for the entire 2 hours that it took us to have our meal prepared and kept asking to look at Peta’s bird books and guide books.  I had to actually remind them to use the word “please” as if they are children.  The guy at the restaurant also tried to overcharge us for what was clearly priced on the menu.  These guys are really getting on our nerves but we are trying to smile through it.