San Aches

During our last visit to Gambia in 2011 we asked our regular taxi driver (we keep in touch with him via email) if he knew of any other places we should visit - having been holidaying in Gambia since 2001 we were running out of new places ! he replied asking had we visited the San Ache farm? we were a bit puzzled  and asked him to explain, after a bit of charades and him trying to think of the correct word he explained  that San Aches "are like lizards but with no legs" we realised he meant snakes, from then on we always refer to snakes as San Aches.  Anyway we decided on this visit that we would visit the snake farm, my question was why the hell would anyone want to farm snakes???

The snake farm (or to give it it's proper name The Gambia Reptile Farm, is almost at the bottom of Gambia and was a good hours drive from our hotel in Cape Point, we had booked Buba (not the one in the red shirt in earlier photos) for the day and we arrived at the farm at about 9am - we do like our early starts!  It's not so much a farm as a rescue centre, there are indigenous snakes in Gambia and the locals are mostly afraid of them (me too!) so they tend to kill them, the centre is trying to re-educate the local population and to that end entry is free for Gambians Ken and I had to pay 200Dalasi (about £4.00 each)

The young man (1st photo) who took us round was very knowledgeable on his subject and was very keen in some instances that we should handle the snakes - Ken was far braver than me and Buba was clearly terrified.

The picture below is a rock python, Ken was fearless and went straight in although he was at the tail end not the hissing end! Buba and I went into the enclosure a bit more reluctantly, Buba saying that the last time he had been there they couldn't see the snake and the guide told them to "look up" and the snake was looking down on them from the roof of the enclosure - you can see from the picture the roofs are not very high so I can imagine Buba's fright, I said that I would stroke the snake if Buba would & Ken obliged with the camera

They also have some tortoises,  terrapins and crocodiles, some of which they are trying to breed

As we were leaving a couple of local children came into the centre and held out a carrier bag to the man who had been showing us round - he explained that the children will be paid if they bring any mice etc as these are used for food for the reptiles !

 

Ken had about read about a riverside camp type of place in Kartong so we headed that way, this is just about the furthest south you can go in Gambia (in fact at one point we were closer to Senegal) as the road literally stops at the mouth of the river. Buba referred to going to Kartong as "going to the seaside" it was certainly far quieter than the tourist areas.

 

Stala (the name of the camp) is on the riverside and has a bar area and a boat for trips on the river for birdwatching or fishing, we booked to take the next boat for birdwatching not fishing this time! Buba said that he had never been on a boat so we persuaded him to come with us.  While waiting for the boat to be ready (fuel) we had a cold drink and decided that we would have lunch here after returning from the boat trip.

We headed out up the river and many birds were spotted, a few pictures below.

Pelicans !

Osprey

Gulls and terns,

The trees are mangrove oysters and are in Senegal, that's how close we were to Senegal while on the boat.

 

 

We arrived back at the bar area and within a few minutes our lunch was served, there was no choice you have whatever is being cooked that day, today it was fish yassa with rice and some fried vegetables, and was perfectly fine.

 

Unfortunately we were not the only ones here, we had been joined by an UncleKnobHead (apologies to Peter Kay for nicking his phrase) who had brought 3 others with him one of which also turned out to be an UKH. They both  had to speak in the loudest voice possible and were trying to outdo each other with bird spotting, they were to take the same boat trip we  had taken and we were relieved when they headed down to the pontoon to the boat, our relief however was short lived as the boat had broken down and they returned to the bar and took their lunch while waiting for the boat to be fixed. So we had to put up with their loud and pompous conversation throughout our lunch.  At one point I asked Buba if his lunch was ok, prompting one of the UKH's to exclaim "why are they all called Buba?" I was very quick to point out how rude he was being, it was his use of THEY that annoyed me as Buba was sitting right next to the bloke, sadly it didn't shut him up.

 

About this time a 2nd boat drew up to the pontoon and disgorged a party of tourists (not English, perhaps Swedish) and rather worryingly we saw a group of local ladies in colourful costumes also entering the camp, these were to be the entertainment for the tourist group, the ladies proceeded to bang wooden bars together,  blow whistles, chant and dance at the same time. We listened for a few minutes but by now we were ready to leave anyway so tried to make a quick exit as we knew what would happen at the end of the dancing, but we weren't quick enough - one of the ladies followed us to Buba's car and held out the hat - we have no problem whatsoever in tipping people, Ken is very generous with all the people we encounter - bird guides/taxi drivers/boat drivers etc will all receive a good tip, but on this occasion we felt that it should really have been the group who paid, we gave them 50 Dalalsi anyway.

 

This camp had some rooms that they let out, and we have decided that if (when!) we go back we will spend a night or two there, all the rooms look out over the river and have a little patio to enjoy a Julbrew and wine - to avoid the problems encountered in the past we will take our own beer & wine !!

Picture is from their website.

 

 

 

Next time . . Birds and Fish

Donkeys/Circles/Wishes & a Ferry

We pack up settle the bill (dinners and drinks only) breakfast is same as yesterday this time by candle light instead of torch light! 

The rain has cleared and the day promises to be a very good one weather wise, First obstacle is the local ferry off the island on to the North side (the south side has a bridge over) 

The ferry,

We head off making a couple of stops on the way down, one of the towns we drive through is having their equivalent of a Sunday morning car boot sale the difference being that the car boots are donkey pulled carts, they seem to be packed with all sort of lovely things and I would rather look round the market than do the birding but the blokes don’t seem to share my enthusiasm so birdwatching it is. 

I didn't take either of the above photos, this isn't the actual market but is shows similar.

The second stop is at the town of Wassu to see the stone circles, these are believed to be the burial sites of kings and courtiers and is a bit like our Stonehenge without the druids and with sun !

The small stones on the top of the pillars are put there by visitors and the idea is you place a stone and make a wish, I noticed our guide Famara placed a stone perhaps he wished for more birding clients, Ken too placed a stone I bet his wish was fish related, mine? well it won’t come true if I tell will it??!!

We carried on with a few more birding stops then it was time for lunch, I wasn’t particularly bothered as the time plan was for us to be back in the hotel about 1800hrs and we would eat in the hotel restaurant (but later I will be glad we did have something to eat at lunchtime), however the guys wanted to eat and took us to a local restaurant where Ken and I ordered steak sandwich I wish I’d taken a picture!  If we’d have known we would have ordered one to share it was a full length French stick filled with pieces of steak! ! I shared mine with Famara,  Buba had the Gambia staple of omelette and chips, we had to wait quite a while for the cold drinks probably because they had to go to another shop to get them, but you get used to waiting (although the main wait was yet to come!!)

We pressed on and visited a couple more birding sites by now we have run out of cold water and I’m getting  very hot so I decide enough is enough and with Ken’s agreement we decide to call it a day and head off down to Barra for the ferry to back to Banjul. 

The word used most to describe the Barra/Banjul ferry is chaos, the world and his mother (and his goats) use it, it is the main route up to Senegal and through to Northern Africa so is used by all the commercial trucks and the tourists coaches etc too. None of the following pictures were taken by me, and did not happen while we were there but they give an idea of what it is like ! 

I did see a man loading goats on to the ferry - they were very well  behaved and probably didn't know they were headed for the meat market the following day.

I don't  think our Health and Safety (or the ELFS as I call them) would be too happy with this !

We arrive at Barra at 16.30 switch off the engine, Famara leaves the car saying “I’m off to talk” at the time we had no idea what he meant by this, Ken goes in search of cold drinks returning with nice cold cans of Fanta, the driver says “now we wait” I replied that in the past we had waited 2 hours for this ferry when returning from Senegal.  I had brought my Kindle so I start reading

Every now and then one of us gets out of the car and goes for a bit of a wander, at one point Ken counts that there are about 20 other vehicles in front of us so we hope we will be able to get the first ferry to arrive.  After about 2 hours Famara returns, the driver starts the car and we hurtle forward and I think 'ok that wasn’t too bad we’ll be back in Banjul by 8ish and I can at last get a proper wash' .

We are herded into a holding area and it became apparent that had we stayed in the previous queue there is no way we would have been on the first ferry, the engine is switched off and we start waiting again, I ask when the ferry will be in and am told ‘about 25-30mins, so we wait, 30 minutes come and go and still no sign of the ferry, by now I am seriously pissed off, I’m filthy, tired, and am waiting in the dark next to what Ken described as the worse toilets in the Gambia and judging by the smell I agree, I ask again and am told again the ferry will be 25-30 minutes, another 30 minutes pass and by now even Ken is getting pissed off.  Famara has again disappeared (probably fed up with my constantly asking what is happening) a  body appears at the car door and dialogue ensues, it turns out that when the ferry turns up Famara, Ken and me will go across as foot passengers and Buba will stay with the car and if he can’t get on the same ferry as us he will stay with the car and get the first ferry the following morning (the last ferry leave Barra at 8pm) I’m not happy with this but see the logic, Ken gives Buba 200 Dalalsi to get some food and drink but anyway the ferry still hasn’t turned up so it may be that we all end up spending the night enjoying the bright lights of Barra.

It is now getting dark and the time the mozzies come alive so we start applying the Jungle Formula and notice that we are both itching we have been bitten all over by flies on the boat trip last night, great, I'm now filthy, tired and itching (and no doubt suffering from wine withdrawal as it has been 3 days since I had a glass!)

At about 8.30pm Famara returns saying that we should head down to the ferry which had finally turned up, we say goodbye to Buba and I feel like we are leaving a comrade in arms on the battlefield.

From our vantage point on the ferry we watch all the vehicles loading but don’t see Buba’s. The ferry eventually leaves and whilst I’m glad to be on the way I feel sad that we’ve left Buba, we are about 2/3 of the way across and Famara shouts that he can see Buba, I feel stupidly pleased to know he had made it (and not because it means we don’t have to take a taxi from Banjul to Cape Point) we make our way over to where Famara saw Buba and when I see just how close to the edge of the ferry Buba’s car is I am nearly poorly -  the tow bar is very nearly overhanging the back of the ferry, I pray that he doesn’t accidentally put the car in reverse when driving off the ferry ! !

10.30pm and  we are back at the hotel I decide it’s too late to shower so we head over to the bar next to the hotel for a restorative Julbrew and glass of wine (or 2 or 3)

I will NEVER EVER use the Barra/BanjulBarra ferry again, any trips in land will be on the South Road from now on.

The next day Ken goes fishing and I spend the day under the shower !

Holiday within a holiday

25^th Jan 2013

We are halfway through now and have decided to make a trip in land to Georgetown.  This was discussed with Famara on our first trip out with him, the cost was agreed at £400.00 this covers the cost of car and driver,  accommodation and breakfast for two nights, boat trip up the creek to see (hopefully – see below!) hippos, and the birdwatching trips.

We gave Famara £200.00 in advance so he could arrange the driver & car and it was only as we were sitting outside the hotel at 06.30am on the morning of our agreed departure that we questioned whether we trusted him, of course our fears were unfounded and he duly turned up in a 4 x 4 car and with Buba as our driver for the trip and we were off.

Buba, our driver for the trip to Georgetown

(this photo was taken later - at 0630 it is was still dark)

Georgetown (now named Janjanburgh) is about 300km inland and sits on an island (McCarthy Island) on the Gambia river it was a slave trading post and is the town in the start of Alex Haley's book Roots, today it houses Gambia’s main prison.There are basically two roads ‘in land’ the north road or the south road, as the name suggests the north road is above the river and you cross at Banjul to Barra on the ferry,  we were to take the south road going and the north road back thus leaving the ‘joys’ of the Barra ferry crossing for our return journey. The roads have been upgraded considerably over the years and  it was a pleasant surprise that the road was tarmac all the way to Georgetown with the exception of a few Kms between the towns of Tendaba and Soma (about an hour’s drive)

 Tarmac Road!

We made a few stops on the way and birdwatching including spotting Carmine bee eaters, marabou storks nesting on top of buildings the young were visible too and a pair of Abysinnian Ground Hornbillls prehistoric looking creatures.  Lunch stop was in Soma a very busy town, Ken went off to see what ‘street food’ was available and came back with what we would call a steak baguette but was probably filled with goat rather than beef it cost 25 Dalasi (approx. 50p)  I decided on a cold drink instead and watched a passing sheep/goat devour a hand of bananas that the market trader hadn’t put high enough out of the reach of the animal!

Soma - I didn't take this picture, and it was much much busier when we were there

I Slept in a tent! 

We arrived at the camp at about 5.30pm and were shown to our ‘rooms’ there now follows  words I never thought I would write . .  I was to sleep in a TENT ! The rooms were tents,  however they were semi-rigid structures  not the sort you roll up put in a back pack and head off to a music festival in a muddy field,  ours had a double and single bed, decent pillows, clean sheets and a blanket.  The bathroom was fine, containing sink, shower and compost toilet -  you put sawdust down instead of flushing.  The tent opening has a mosquito net - we weren't bitten at all while in the room.

Tented accommodation, photo from Bird Safari Camp website,

After being on the road for nearly 12 hours Ken was in serious need of a Julbrew (lager brewed in Banjul) so we headed in the direction of the bar only to be told that Julbrew had run out but  not to worry because someone had been sent to fetch  more from the village shop (this is back of beyond in Africa so they don’t have wholesalers etc) so it was Sprite or nothing.  We sat on the pontoon me writing up some diary notes and doing the daily bird list and Ken moaning about the lack of Julbrew (I remind him that during our previous trip to Tendaba a couple of years ago I had NO WINE for FOUR days but this doesn't seem to register) it starts to get dark so we go inside where dinner was to be served, dinner was chicken in sauce with a big mound of rice, some (cold) chips, coleslaw and fried onions with green peppers,  nice enough but far too much for me. Julbrew arrived so a couple were consumed, then it was time for bed.

The view from the Pontoon - it's about 6pm,

The plan for Saturday was that we were to do the boat trip in the morning, then back to the camp for lunch and relax then out to a nearby bird site in the afternoon for birdwatching, however we were going to be thwarted by the weather and the president !

I had woken during the night to sounds of what I thought were insects on the tent roof (still can’t believe I slept in a tent!) however as the noise got heavier and heavier I realised it was RAIN !!! and it continued all night long and into the morning too. Even though the boat had a roof – more usually used as protection from the sun I presume,  we still weren’t happy about taking the trip in the rain so reluctantly (and we’ll come to why later) our guide and driver agreed that we would go to the bird site after breakfast – which was coffee, omelettes and bread and jam served in the dark because lack of sunlight had meant the solar panels weren't working.

We took a walk round the camp grounds first as we could all hear a pearl spotted owlet calling, we didn’t find it but we’ve seen them before anyway, so off we go day 2 of our trip and we get to the main road going towards Basse and have to stop at a police check point, these are regular in Gambia usually the driver is waved on or is asked to produce his licence and documentation then all is ok and off you go, this time however there was quite a bit of dialogue in native language, the outcome being that the last Saturday in each month is Operation Clean The Nation, and means that no vehicles whatsoever are allowed on the roads between the hours of 9am and 1pm (it was nearly 10am) and we had no choice but to turn round back towards the camp.  Buba parked the car up and Famara led us to some scrub land and did some birding, spots included Tawny Eagle, Greater Painted Snipe, Blue breasted kingfisher, Blue cheeked bee eater and little bee eater.

We then headed into  Georgetown itself as Ken wanted to see the slave museum.  We found the museum without much trouble and unearthed the ‘guide’ the museum was the original slave prison where the more troublesome slaves were kept prior to despatching overseas (not going to write anything about slavery there is enough on the web about it sufficient to say the dungeon was not pleasant), a donation to the upkeep was given and we then went on to the bird site we had planned to visit earlier.

It had been raining on and off all morning and I'm wet, dirty and not looking forward to dinner in the dark because there has been no sunlight and the camp runs on solar, and I know the camp has no wine to ease the pain !  The continuing rain and overcast weather  had also put paid to seeing many raptors too, so it was back to the camp for a rest and Julbrew (Sprite for me) before we were to take the boat trip.  We made a MAJOR mistake here, it was still warm so we didn’t bother changing into long trousers which we do every evening so the mozzies can’t get in and nibble, I had lathered on the Jungle formua but Ken didn’t. The boat trip was very nice and lots of birds were spotted but no hippos. There was something that I found odd - because Ken had partaken of  Julbrew he needed to "get rid of it" and went forward to pee over the side of the boat (this isn't what I found unusual!) a couple of minutes later Famara our bird guide does the same, a minute or two later I turn round to speak to the guys 'driving' the boat to see one of them scooping water out of the river and drinking it, I make a comment about "you are drinking that knowing what they just did in it ??!!"  

Then it was back to the camp for dinner which was more chicken, rice, cold chips and coleslaw repetitive but fine by me, and the electric had lasted so no need for the torch. Bed and early start for the trip home tomorrow

African fish eagle taken on the boat trip.

. 

Next instalment - the journey back to Cape Point - I get annoyed, 

 

Holiday continued,

A "Lazy Day"

It was decided that our first day would be a "Lazy Day" - this meant leaving the hotel at 7.00am YES the morning - it wasn't fully light !! and taking a walk on the beach outside the hotel.  We loaded up with binoculars/telescope/camera & rucksack containing amongst other stuff a bottle of water something I always take when we go out for the day, and headed out of the hotel onto the beach,

Oddly enough we didn't meet too many people, there were a couple of local lads out and because they see the binoculars most of 'have a friend who is a bird guide' and will know 'the best places to see birds' we always explain that we've been birdwatching in Gambia for over 10 years and know our way round, this is usually sufficient and the chaps leave us alone.  A guide is not necessary if all you want is a stroll around but if you want to go to any of the nature reserves then a guide is recommended.  We carried on our walk left the beach and headed onto Cape Point Road,  we had been walking for a few minutes when we noticed we were being followed by a young Gambian man wearing a tee shirt proclaiming to be a 'professional bird guide' I left Ken to do the talking, he introduced himself as Famara and after a bit of a chat - Ken explaining that we know a bit about birds and would like to do a couple of visits to various sites it was agreed that Famara would be our guide for the holiday, - it only later dawned on us that it wasn't a coincidence that he found us, the chap on the beach had obviously phoned him !

Famara is the one in the straw hat,

He accompanied us on our walk that Saturday pointing out loads of birds and he proved to be a nice chap, he took us round the gardens (we would call them alottments) that belong to the Bakau Ladies Association - anyone can apply for a piece of land and they then cultivate it and grow either for their own consumption or for selling at the local market.

It is getting a bit warm and now and heading towards midday so we decide to head off to beach bar that we had passed on the way, somewhere we had been the previous year, Famara came with us and we had a chat about trips we would take during the holiday and the subject of Georgetown came up, Ken has always wanted to go so we did the maths and although it was going to take a substantial amount of our holiday cash we decided we would do it and gave Famara £200.00 in advance. We also booked to go to Pirang Shrimp Farm and a couple of other bird reserves, with him. I won't bore you with endless bird pictures but there are a few below.

Pied Kingfisher 

Western Reef heron

Cattle egret and some pretty flowers !

More to follow including words I never thought I would write - " I slept in a tent "

Gambia holiday

Bore alert ! !

Preparing for the journey,

Once the holiday has been booked preparations as to what needs to be taken are made in the form of The List, The List is created on a Excel spreadsheet, I carry The List in my purse and update it as and when I purchase the necessary items – holidaying in a hot place in our winter means that sun protection etc needs to be purchased during our summer, once purchased they go in The Holiday Drawer,  also on The List is enough medical items to stock a small chemist shop – these include : Jungle formula insect repellent, we find the roll-on type is best, Eurax anti itching creams (I’ve tried homeopathic ones and they don’t work quick enough this one works almost instantly) Savlon in case of any scraped legs due to bird watching in forests etc or if  any bites get infected,  Imodium (we call it Bung Up Stuff) to ease any dose of the Banjul Belly, and most importantly Anti Malaria tablets, Gambian mosquitoes carry Malaria and medication must be taken, usually you start taking a couple of days before hand and continue for about a week after returning home, thankfully we only had a couple of mozzie bites but we did get ferociously bitten by ants – the following photo is not for the faint hearted, 

these bites were the result of not applying the Jungle formula before taking an evening boat trip.

We are not the type of people who take a holiday and spend 14 days laying by the pool – each to their own but we like to get out and about and also we are quite keen birdwatchers and of course Ken enjoys fishing, so The List also includes all the stuff in the house that need to take too such as binoculars, cameras (and the chargers), bird guide book, so towards the day of departure armed with The List I have a ‘treasure hunt’ and round up all the items needed and these too go in The Holiday Drawer, finally there may be room for some clothes ! !

Race against the snow

Departure day was approaching and we had two problems, firstly my car was suffering from the need to have a new head gasket and the garage couldn’t fit the repairs in before we went so we were going to have to take the van that Ken uses for transporting his fishing stuff – at least space for the suitcases etc wouldn’t be a issue!

The second problem was that all day on the day before we were due to fly the weather reports were warning of widespread heavy snow, with a 5 ½ hour drive to Gatwick airport we decided to leave early Thursday night.  Because we don’t own a Sat Nav I printed out the directions and became the Co Driver – although I think Ken would have been ok without but at least it gave me something to do. We had got to about Wiltshire on the A303 when the snow started, not very heavy but snow none the less. We got to the offsite car park we use and thankfully the snow had stopped. We now have 6 hours to fill at Gatwick Airport.  Ken went in search of food and coffee I settled down with my Kindle – I had previously loaded about 15 books on to it so I could be sure of having something decent to read. Eventually we were able to check in and head through to the departure area – this excites me because there are Nice Things to buy in the shops, my first purchase was this

  J for no other reason than I like it, also purchased some magazines and a plug  in mosquito repellent thing for in the hotel bedroom.

We are called to go to the departure gate and that is the first time we can see outside and it’s snowing not too heavy though so we are optimistic that we should be able to get off on time, however by the time we are seated on the plane you can hardly see outside and there is a man who appears to be cleaning the wing of the plane with a large hose – the captain told us he was in fact de-icing it then he had to do the other side and finally we could get under way however by the time we had reached the end /start? of the runway the captain came on again and said that the runway needed to be cleared of the snow, about 1 ¼ hours late the plane was finally in the sky and we were saying goodbye to UK and looking forward to a couple of weeks of sun (hmmm will come to that later)

About 6 hours later and nearly 24 hours since we left our house in Cornwall we arrive at the hotel

This is not the best or even one of the best hotels in Gambia, we chose to spend less on the hotel giving us more money to spend on the things we like doing such as fishing in his case and buying stuff in mine, this is a 2.5* hotel by Gambian standards but probably not even 2* by ours, however the rooms are spacious, comfortable and they (most of the time) have hot running water - this bit will be explained in a later blog !

More to follow later (sorry ! )