The Gambia
After a lovely day at sea, moving steadily north into a more temperate zone, we awoke this morning to a beautiful day on the “smiling coast of West Africa”—The Gambia. It is said to be the “smiling coast” not only because of its hospitable people, but for the fact that the country cuts a long thin line across the face of its nearly all-encompassing neighbor, Senegal, which surrounds it on three sides.
Here we found yet another example of the folly of colonial borders imposed on the indigenous populations of Africa. It is said that when Britain claimed the Gambia River and a 10 to 15 mile swath of land stretching inland from its banks as a Crown Colony, they intended to hold it as a pawn to trade with France for a more enviable colony. But the deal was never sealed and The Gambia remained an Anglophone colony and eventually an independent nation, apart from Senegal.
Despite the fact that The Gambia is the smallest country on the African continent, we found a day full of rich experiences awaiting us. Some of us focused on the people and culture of the country, touring the tiny capital, Banjul, and the nearby economic capital, Serekunda. The marketplace of Serekunda was bustling as we wove our way through a colorful scene of powerful women entrepreneurs, hawking everything from fresh ground peanut butter to saltwater oysters harvested from nearby mangroves. Next, we stopped at a family compound to learn about the batik dying process. Some of us even picked up a brush and joined the instructor in creating a design.
At the National Museum we saw examples of traditional string instruments, including the kora and the akonting, which are said to have traveled to the Americas with slaves from the region and given birth to the modern American banjo! Some guests discovered an interesting bit of culture in the museum’s courtyard when they spotted a small shoe nailed to the trunk of a listing palm tree. Come to find out, this is a widely practiced traditional remedy for curing ailing trees!
When we returned to the ship for lunch, we were surprised to see that an expansive marketplace of local arts and crafts had magically appeared on the dock. After lots of shopping, we enjoyed lunch on board, followed by a fascinating presentation by the Chargé d’Affaires from the U.S. Embassy and several of her colleagues.
In the afternoon we set off for a leisurely stroll through the enchanting Abuko Nature Preserve, where we encountered red colobus and green vervet monkeys in one of the few remaining gallery forests in the lower Gambia. For the birders among us, this was a small piece of ornithological paradise. In terms of the number of species spotted, The Gambia was off the charts. Over 100 species were spotted today, including Casapian tern, osprey, giant kingfisher, and the stunning violet turaco.
My group ended the day on a wooden double-decker riverboat, gliding through the brackish water of creeks lined with mangroves. It was low tide and women paddled their dugout pirogues along the edge of the mangroves, harvesting oysters to take to market. The gentle breeze, the golden light, the calm, and yes a cold beer, proved to be the perfect ending to a delightful day in The Gambia.
