When we first met Fi and Iain they shared with us their plans to explore Gambia and, after a few days of meeting, suggested we join them on the adventure. We were completely unaware of what Gambia offered and, I have to admit, even had to look up on a chart to see where it was! Iain and Fi told us about the amazing wildlife up the river and how it was their intention to go and find the hippos and monkeys they had heard about from a small number of other sailors who had ventured to the upper stretches of the river where the salt water turns into fresh and the big animals live. We were sold the dream and we lapped it up and swallowed it, hook line and sinker and now our ability to be spontaneous and have flexible plans was being rewarded in spades.
Our experience so far in Gambia had been fantastic and we had reached the point that our senses were almost in overload after the time we spent at Bombale school, the amazing birds we had seen and, of course the crocodiles, monkeys and sea otter at Lamin Lodge. Now, as the river water turned fresh, we were entering hippo country and even if we saw nothing, we would still have had a truly memorable visit to this beautiful country.
We were heading for Deer Island and after motoring for about 7hrs, we anchored in shallow water in a gap between two island. That night we had our first experience of hippos, with a couple close to us making deep noises that sounded like horses blowing out through their lips and then deep groaning sounds. It was a surreal experience to sit in our cockpit, enclosed by a large mosquito net which looked like a middle eastern princes’ harem tent as it fell in folds from the bimini (cover over the steering wheel) and protected us from mosquito’s, tsetse flies and other horrible tiny biting things! We had a bright moon but could not actually see the hippo’s, just hear them.
Our journey continued up the river, which was now completely fresh water until we came to the small settlement of Kuntaur. As we approached loud music was blaring from the settlement side of the river, amplified by a large music system and speakers although we could not tell where it was coming from. As we circled looking for a good place to anchor, away from the noise, Fi came on the radio and reported she had seen a hippo on their starboard side. We were not far behind them and, sure enough, the hippo emerged from the depths of the muddy river and looked at us. We were about 30m away from it, so we spun around and found an anchorage a safe distance away so we could observe him. It was incredibly exciting to not only hear, but see the hippo as it ate, swam and wallowed in the mud. At one point he almost dried out in the low tide and allowed the afternoon hot sun to dry the mud on its back. It was a huge privilege to watch this magnificent animal and that night, despite the loud party across the river, it stayed close by, at one point coming between us and the river bank to feed further down stream.
The next morning we discovered, while walking through Kuntaur, that the music was a naming ceremony for a new born baby – a celebration that occurs at least twice a month, so the hippos must be used to the noise! We landed the dinghy at a lodge and was surprised to find a baby baboon tied to a tree. Apparently the lodge had found the baby and “saved” it, although the poor thing was terrified and obviously did not feel it had been rescued. The lodge had called a ranger from the animal sanctuary and by the time we returned it had been collected. Apparently the mother had been killed and the baby would not survive on its own. Very sad to see, but we later found out it had gone to Baboon Island which will release the baby back into the wild once it can fend for itself. Apparently the Baboons are a common sight, coming into the town each morning to scavenge food at the markets.
Close to Kuntaur are Wassu standing stones, dating back to between 750-1000AD. Built of locally mined laterite they were burial circles for royalty and warriors with the tallest stone marking the king’s grave. It is believed that his wife/wives were also buried at the same time, regardless of whether they were already alive or dead, along with all his possessions. Warriors were buried clutching their weapon also with their worldly goods surrounding them. It was an interesting place, located in a field outside of the town and has not been developed, or protected for that matter, but feels just like it must have felt thousands of years ago. Locals still come to the site and place small stones on top of the standing ones when they want a dream to come true.
While on the walk we saw lots of birds which were later identified as Bearded Barbet, Abasin Roller, Senegal Cuckal, African Jakara and a night heron, which looked just like a flying penguin! Walking back to the boat with beautiful fresh tapalapa we met a farmer tending his field of rice. He explained that this rice is native to Gambia and provides two crops per year. The field is flooded naturally by the river at high tide and all work is done by hand as they can’t afford machinery. A hippo can destroy one paddy field in one night, so farmers are not too keen on the large population of hippos that live in the vicinity.
On the dinghy ride back to the boat the hippo popped up very close to Cerulean which forced us to retreat rather quickly to Ruffian until we felt it was safe to try again! Once on the boat we had a spectacular view of the hippo, until we became a little blasé about having a wild hippo as our neighbour! The hippo lay on the muddy bank and baked in the hot sun, just a few meters from us. A couple of monkeys came down to the river bank – but not too near to the hippo – and sat cleaning themselves and each other for a while. It was a fabulous display of wildlife in the comfort of our mosquito netted cockpit!
We motored on just a few miles to the furthest point up river we were going, Baboon Island which marks the start of The Gambia River National Park. Baboon island in the middle of the river is about 2miles long and covered in dense native forest. A chimpanzee sanctuary has been established here and the breeding programme has been very successful. The programme started with 8 and there are now 125 chimpanzees on the island, not all were bred there as some were rescued from other countries. We met one of the eight rangers who look after the national park with very limited funding from the government. Modo was a lovely young guy who was obviously passionate about his role and the animals he looks after. It seemed an impossible task for such a small number of rangers to police, care for and manage the park and animals, as well as educate local children on the importance of looking after the safety of wild animals and their environment. Each night they feed the chimpanzees and monitor their health and development, knowing each one by name but they are by no means tame and can be very vicious. Some interesting facts we learnt about Chimpanzees:
- Their lifespan is approx 50yrs
- Once females are 14yrs they can start reproducing
- Gestation period in 9 months
- Multiple births are very rare and only one off-spring in 3 years
- They build a new nest every night in the trees for the babies and females while the males keep guard. Each morning the nest is destroyed as they do not like mites.
- They eat meat only once a week, maximum – like fish and chip Friday, but in their case it is the Red Colobus monkey which is in good numbers on the island and we were lucky enough to see one.
- Other monkeys and apes swim, but a chimp does not.
Modo took us for a walk up a nearby hill, identifying numerous birds as we climbed to the vantage point and looked over the meandering river and islands. We looked down on a wet paddock where hippo often wallow in the mud, although not that day but we were not complaining as we had seen, and heard, plenty of hippos. As we motored along the river several popped their heads above the water to observe us as we glided past.
It was not possible for us to go any further up the river, for many reasons. There are cables across the river that we could not pass under, the river shallows although is still navigable and time was ticking on our visa, so we needed to start the journey back down the river to Banjul. Over the next few days we enjoyed some lovely sails as we made our way downstream towards the dreaded bridge. This time we would have the tide against us, but current with us at low tide, which meant if we had the calculations wrong, we would find it difficult to stop the boat before hitting the bridge. Once again, Steve went up the mast and we progressed towards the bridge. The water level markers we had photographed on the way up, showed the tide was lower than when we had previously been under the bridge, which gave me some confidence, however as we were approaching Steve commented that it looked really close and was touch and go whether we would get under. Not wanting to look up but doing it anyway, my sense of judging height v’s clearance was completely our of whack and it looked like Steve was going to end up on top of the bridge. Fortunately we both held our nerve and we made it under without damaging Steve or the boat!
We stopped in the small settlement of Albreda which is close to James Island where we anchored on the way up river. Albreda is believed to be the place where the author of Roots ancestors came from. It has a very interesting slave museum and we were guided through the village by Lamin who was very helpful and informative. As we came out of the museum we noticed Cerulean was not where we had anchored her and she was still dragging her anchor heading towards a fish farm. Steve and I jumped into Ruffian’s fast dinghy and Iain expertly steered us at high speed in strong winds and bouncy waves as we chased Cerulean across the shallow harbour. My heart was bounding as we watched our home being tossed about, out of control. We knew we had been lucky – it could have been so much worse and my toes curl when I think about it. We re-anchored, although it took a few attempts to get the anchor to grab the bottom and while Steve went back with Iain to finish lunch, I stayed on board.
We sailed back to Lamin Lodge and was welcomed back like old friends by Momodo (Manager of Lamin Lodge) and Karim (our wonderful boat helper). We spent a very special Christmas at Lamin Lodge with Karim taking us shopping for fresh fish on Christmas Eve – an experience all of us will remember for the busy roads, crowds of people, small street stalls, colourful clothes of the women and a big sign which read, “Be Covid Aware. Avoid large crowds!” below a very busy street scene! Although the country is mostly Muslim, Christmas is a public holiday and everyone seemed to be making the most of the festivities. Our Christmas day was spent with Iain, Fi and John, all fellow sailors and explorers. Lunch was on board Cerulean and as the sun beat down on us, we talked, drank and laughed until dark.
On Boxing Day Fi and I met Momodo for an early morning walk through the nearby market garden and rice fields to the Elephant Tree – a beautiful large tree that stands in a small wood with large roots that cascade down the trunk and a hollow centre which has been made into a shelter. The tree is a Kapok or Cotton tree as the seed pods produce a fluff which locals use to make pillows. The seeds are used for soaps and fertilising the gardens and the flowers are a rich source of nectar for bees.
As we walked, Momodo pointed out the various birds we saw, which were many, varied and colourful. We passed women working in the fields, bending over, keeping their backs very straight and bottoms up, as they planted, weeded and tended to the fertile gardens. A man was collecting juice from a palm tree, using a hoop made of bark to hold him as he climbed to the top of the tree. The tree had been tapped and bottles collected the precious liquid which is used to make a local drink. On the walk we saw Papaya trees, wild chilli’s growing and lots of local rice in the fields. The rice is picked, smashed and then separated out from the husks by throwing the grains in the air from a large round container and allowing the wind to blow the husks away. We had seen an old woman expertly doing this when we were up river but, because everything is still done by hand from sowing to picking to filtering out the husks, it is a slow and time consuming process for a country whose stable diet is rice. Gambian rice is excellent, pure and unbleached but they import huge amounts of rice from the USA to ensure there is sufficient food for the population. This has led to rice fields being left unpicked as farmers can not compete on price.
After the walk we met with Senna who had agreed to give us a lesson on cooking Gambian food. He took us shopping for the ingredients in the dusty streets of Lamin where people greeted us with a friendly shout and children came running out to see us. Back at the lodge Fi and I worked with Senna preparing the food over a charcoal fire in a big cast iron pot. We made Domada – a traditional peanut stew with fresh fish and whole chilli’s. There was enough to feed all the workers (and a lot of people who just hangout there!), which we did. After eating the “brothers” had huge respect for us and greeted us warmly with huge smiles.
We had been closely watching the weather and a good window was being forecast for us to leave Gambia on Tuesday 28 December. We motored back to Banjul the day before departing to complete the check out procedure with Mahmoud, who had helped us check in. After a slightly rocky start with customs refusing to stamp our clearance form without us paying them 500 Dalisi per boat, we proceeded to immigration without being separated from any of our cash! Immigration were lovely and pleased with the huge supply of pens left them by Ruffian!
It was time to do the final preparations to leave and start heading west, first to Cape Verde to reprovision, and then to the Caribbean. As we prepared the boat we reflected on our three weeks in Gambia and month in West Africa. It had been an experience which will probably change the way I live, think and prioritise things for years to come. In a country full of beautiful people from the babies tightly bound to the backs of their mothers, to the old men who are tightly bound to the politics of this country – whether religious or otherwise. It is a country on the verge of either great things, or disaster and so dependent on those in power making the right decisions, not just for them but for the people they represent. This nation lives off the fish they can catch, the food they can grow and the herbal medicines they harvest from the forests. If one of those building blocks falls over, the whole lot will topple. I will miss the cheerful smiles and waves as we pass by, the children clambering to hold my hand, the still anchorages in the mangroves, the amazing birdlife that surprised me every day, the opportunity to see rare animals up close, the daily tapalapas delivered to the boat fresh each morning, the regular calls of “Boss Lady” from familiar faces at Lamin Lodge, the colourful sunrises and sunsets and the dawn chorus that greeted the day. I have loved Gambia and, although I know I will not be back, I hope that Gambia stays with me for years to come.
Photo credit – most of the amazing animal/bird photos were taken by Ruffian. Check out their fabulous blog on Ruffian.uk