At Sea and The Gambia: Banjul
April 19-20, 2012
Aboard National
Geographic Explorer
Thursday, April 19 was a relaxing day at sea sailing past
Guinea and Guinea Bissau. The day was filled with lectures and picture editing. In
the afternoon we had a “Super-sized Recap” which included a briefing on the
next day’s plans.
Friday, April 20 found us in Banjul, The Gambia's, capital
city. It is located at the mouth of the Gambia River. The Gambia is a long narrow country
that stretches along both sides of the Gambia River. The country is only about 225 miles long
and varies from about 20 – 30 miles wide. As with all the countries in the
area, it was heavily involved in the slave trade and after the Portuguese, the
British took over control; hence the official language is now English.
Again, we were greeting by music and acrobat troupes on the dock, performing for us as we disembarked for the morning tours.
Morning and afternoon tours basically split the passengers
into two groups and rotated through six activities and stops. Our first
stop was at the Lamin Lodge in the Tandi Wetlands area along the Gambia River. We boarded a double deck boat for a cruise to enjoy the mangrove trees
and variety of birds.  |
| Red Colobus Monkey |
The second morning stop was at the Abuko Nature Center, a
large protected area in the city with a large variety of birds and red colobus monkeys.
We had a peaceful walk through the forest.
When we arrived back at the ship for lunch we found another
market set up for our convenience. Following lunch we met in the lounge for a
visit and discussion with employees from the US Embassy. Cindy Gregg, the chargé
d’affaires represented the ambassador. Three others joined her. They all had a
chance to describe their jobs and tell us how the US is helping The Gambia. There are now 84 Peace Corp Volunteers currently in the country. It was
interesting to learn that girls are now staying in school and the students who
go abroad for education are coming back home.
The afternoon outings took us first for a walk through part of
the Serrekunda Market. The visit was just for the experience and not for
shopping. The section we saw mostly sold clothing. Other groups visited
different parts of the market.
 |
| Hoopoe Bird |
Batik is the most widespread art form in The Gambia and we were
taken to a factory where many sizes and designs are made. It is combined with a
tie-dying technique that produces very interesting pieces. Several artists
demonstrated their skill for us.
We returned to the ship with little time left to jump in the
shower and get to the lounge for Recap.
The next day we were in Dakar, Senegal.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We would love to hear from you.