There was not much to do today. The distance between Wassu and Janjanbureh, called by my 2008 Rough Guide an upcoming eco-destination, is 20kms, so perhaps 30mins by car. It was in fact 20mins by bus.
I decided to take the boat trip in the morning, before my departure from Kuntaur. There was a family of 7 Dutch staying at Karoh Garden, mother, father, three daughters and a son – all dentists! Is that something that perhaps could be questioned? They told me they travelled around a country in a van, from village to village, helping people to maintain their oral hygiene.
Anyway, they went on the boat trip and they saw hippos, baboons, chimpanzees and “many other monkeys”. I can forgo monkeys but hippos I can’t. Also, I wanna be on a boat on Gambia river. It’s wide. It doesn’t look particularly wide and it’s very dry around but still.
The breakfast was tasty, baguette bread with different kinds of spreads: marmalade and what looks like home made honey, chocolate spread and peanut butter. There was also instant coffee. 100D.
I was soon disappointed: the man in charge said “ah, but the boat trip is better done in the afternoon than in the morning” and discussion ended.
Transport back to Wassu – which I walked the other way, the 3kms – I was told can be arranged if I “get lucky” and find a motorbike or a donkey or horse cart to carry me.
I walked out. I didn’t see motorbikes, there were quite a few donkey carts, there were quite a few horse carts but I just couldn’t gather myself and ask for a ride. I’m a city person, animals should be cuddled to forced to carry 200kg of a tourist.
I returned the empty beer bottles from the previous night (in Africa often you end up paying more for the bottle than the drink if you wanna keep the bottle) and walked on. Less than 20mins later I stopped a motorbike passing me by and I got carried into the village of Wassu. I gave the driver 50D.
I threw my bags into a minibus standing on the road, I was the first passenger. Soon however a bus arrived! I ran to it, together with 20 other people who showed up from nowhere. It was a colourful bus, I mean, the dressed of the women inside. If only I could freely snap pics. I was in awe. The dressed and golden jewellery contrasted with the state of the seats, which was miserable. The ride cost 30D, the male conductor gave me his phone number. His name was Qurize.
The bus arrives on the Northern shore of the Gambia River, the town of Janjanbureh lies on the island. We rushed to the ferry and 5mins and 5D later and a everlasting chat of Ibrahim the skipper we landed on the town shore. Ibrahim obviously has some Polish friends (who from what I understood live in UK), knows to say “dobrze” in Polish. And obviously he has boat trips but boy, they even more expensive than those in Kuntaur. 3hours for 2500D.
I stay in Baobab Lodge, which has been sort of recommended (“good value”) by my Bradt Guide to Gambia. Basic room with two beds, a ventilator, mosquito nets and a tiny toilet attached was 500D which I negotiated down to 450D. The lack of any duvet is a bit worrying, it’s 10pm and it’s already chilly. Let’s hope the walls keep the sun heat for long.
The owner of the lodge is very friendly and helpful. He arranged a boat trip for me to see the hippos for 1200D, he even sells postcards!
I rushed to the post office while it was open. I bought up all poststamps. A stamp to Europe is 35D and they had mostly 5D stamps. At least I won’t have to write much on the cards. Not that I usually do write much. There was even a post box which has been rare lately (in Dakhla in Morocco I was throwing cards on the floor under the doors on). Later when I came back to post the cards I found a gate locked and behind it the post box staring at me…
There is not much to do in town. There is a slave house. On its porch people sell clothes. There is a slave market, roofless and overgrown. There is the oldest wooden building in the country. It’s currently getting ready to fall into itself. There is a lamp post from “old times”. There is a tree in front of the police which replaced some other important tree. There is Gambian mask museum, a bit of a walk out of town. All I saw on its grounds were the goats wandering about. Noone was there.
I
had lunch at Yaya’s. A Gambian version of thieboudiep, called here benachin, rice in tomato sauce (tasty thing), with tiny fish and pieces of eggplant, cassava and carrot. 100D. I bought two juices in plastic bags from a lady on the street. Wonjo juice – which is bissap (I think hibiscus) juice in Senegal – and baw baw juice, which is bouye (fruits of baobab) juice in Senegal. Both were frozen and I had to unfreeze them using a spoon. The wonjo juice I dilluted with water, it’s sweet. Each was 5D.
Then I came back to the lodge. There are vultures living on the baobab above the lodge. Mangoes start falling from the mango tree above the courtyard. I got to eat another lunch, with the owner and his boys, there were 3 bowls of rice and sauce (Nigerians would call it soup). They weren’t really able to explain to me what I ate. The sauce with green leaves was very tasty and of course it disappeared first.
I left for my boat trip. The skipper of the small boat, Solomon, was pointing out the few herons and a finfoot bird we saw on our way. We saw the hippos on the opposite river shore. Which is far but it’s not the first time I see hippos from a boat and we always stay far from them. Then we arrived at a shore for a walk in Kunting forest (paid extra 100D). My new guide said we were gonna walk to the rice fields coz that’s what baboons like.
We walked maybe 10minutes. It’s amazing to see how the forest is very dry despite huge river right on its doorsteps. And how soon there is no forest but abandoned rice fields. They kinda look like forest meadows of my hometown Jaworzno in the more industrial part of Poland. All we could see was… goats! The ground was well ploughed by what my guide said were bushpigs. We haven’t seen any either.
We walked back the other path and we managed to see a red kolobo monkey. Always a joy to see small monkeys in crowns of the trees. Baboons on the other hand can be scary. Then my guide heard… hippos. How on earth he managed to hear them, oh well, my city ears are deaf but he heard them in the river!
And there they were, about six of them, moving, splashing water, showing off their red gaping mouths. All safely seen by me on the other river shore.
We came back during the sunset. It was beautiful, honey-coloured and with the green wall on the river shores and occasional fishing pirogue it felt like Africa.
Dinner was at Yaya’s, chicken yassa but with spaghetti, not rice. Not too bad but the spaghetti made it more expensive at 150D.
I had beers in a bar next door where they also serve food but at a higher price.
I drank 6l of water today. Possibly a bit less than six. A small boy helped himself with almost empty water bottle which I carried with me during the day around town. He just came up and took it. I didn’t object because I don’t think one can refuse water.
A taxi driver in Nouadhibou set me right. Even though he was already unhappy that we ride further than he was already complaining (in Arabic) that the price agreed was too low after he took a sip from his bottle he shared it with me. Desert people know better.
Coming back to Maman 