Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia and The return to Senegal

The world is a beautiful place and worth seeing with your own eyes

Guinea-Bissau

After leaving the "Clara Maersk" I headed inland to meet with Simone who accepted me as a couch-surfing guest. Simone is Brazilian and has a Japanese heritage. She works with the UN in Bissau and turned out to have a lot of knowledge about the region. She's truly international and a spirited traveler who phenomenally proves that female travelers can travel alone and have a good time. She's currently planning on visiting Mongolia! :)

Bissau is a simple capital which you will quickly find yourself familiar with. It was a little strange with all the construction which was ongoing all over the city. Roads were being redone, sidewalks created, facades repaired, public areas, parks and the presidents palace...much activity and everything at the same time. Apparently a new government took office and something had to happen. The climate was moist and the capital which was very green has mountains in the background and the ocean at its feet. The dirt is red and most of the roads in the capital are (so far) dirt roads which makes you question the wisdom within repairing them during the rain season. But progress is progress.

 Taxis in Bissau are as cheap as half a dollar for short fairs.

I had a great time with Simone. We visited the local market, walked around the old town, found some nice places to eat and I was even introduced to some dance lessons one night. I however failed to participate. Shame on me :)

Old town Bissau

The old town is exactly that. It's interesting because often you find such areas overly restored and full of tourist traps. In Bissau that is certainly not the case. The buildings need a little more than paint in order to be restored back into their glory days. But it has its charm to look at the old architecture and see what the harsh climate has done to it. 

The nature is wild and spectacular and the island groups not far from Bissau have hippos which you can visit in what I was told resembles paradise. Exporting cashew nuts is a big business area for Guinea-Bissau and one of the main exports. Fishing is however also an area which occupies many and I happened to run into a very nice and very drunk coordinator of 5 fishing boats. Apparently the boats had done well...because it was certainly payday for this drunken sailor :)

Simone's driver helped me bargain the right price for a shared taxi and then I was off to the Senegalese border so I could reach The Gambia.

The Gambia

Hunting for monkeys...

After a short drive through a little bit of Senegal, which surrounds The Gambia, I arrived to the first English speaking country, so far, within Africa. I'm quite challenged with French and Portuguese is not the same as Spanish so it was refreshing to arrive to The Gambia. It's nice to be nice...you will hear this over and over again in The Gambia. The "the" in front of Gambia has been said to be instated in order for people not to confuse Gambia with Zambia. 

Found them! :)

I have said it a few times publicly and I don't mind writing it here: The Gambia is a small country with a big heart. There is no doubt that you will feel safe and well received. People are...nice! They attend to you and take interest in you. But do to the misconception of which countries had an ebola outbreak, tourism failed miserably last year. And much like a farmer who has lost his crops...there isn't much to live off outside of the tourist season when the season failed. It's a shame, because the beaches are gorgeous, the food is delicious, the people are nice, the nature is spectacular and the prices are low. It's tough.

Musu Kinteh at table #4 wants all of you to know that there is no Ebola in The Gambia and that you are all being silly :)

Perhaps that's why Bubba starting talking to me on the street: "Hey, you don't remember me do you? I work at the hotel. Most of you guests don't remember us when we are out of uniform". I sort of thought he might had been the guy who fixed the air condition? So I went along with it. He walked with me for a while and showed me where I could buy some cheap local food. We chatted a bit and finally he told me that he needed money for rice for him and his family. I get requests all day long so I wasn't keen on helping. But he then told me that he simply needed a loan. He would get his salary the next day and 25 kg of rice cost X while 50 kg cost twice as much. Could I help with a loan? Of course I could. Should I? Well...I did. He promised to pay me the next day after he got his salary. Did I ever see Bubba again...no... 

Domoda is the national dish of Gambia.  It is a delicious “groundnut stew” (peanuts)

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

The next day I met a man on the street. I had moved to a cheap guesthouse which was only a third of the price. I'm still on this $20/day budget so I can't stay at hotels. The man said his name was Lamin. He was happy because he had his wedding the day before. "Did I not remember him? He was the security in front of my guesthouse?" No, I didn't remember him...but he might have been the security? Who knows...it was dark. We walk for a while. He wants to show me the way to the cheap busses. But he also wants me to meet his wife and its on the way. "Please respect me". He asked where I was from? "Oh Denmark, there were 2 Danish guest at the party. They danced just like Gambians". Then we turn into a garden and I meet a woman. She was the brides mother? But she didn't speak English. After a while we continue. Now we just happen to meet his wife on the street. She is well dressed and only speaks French along with some other languages I don't know. I say hello but she quickly moves on. Now Lamin pulls out a notebook and asks me to write my name and country. The notebook is full of names and I note that there is room for an amount to the far right. And of course he now asked me for money for their honeymoon. I give him some small pocket change but this does not sit well with Lamin. He wanted "big money". And now it turns out that we walked the wrong way. Where we were was nowhere near the cheap busses. Fooled again...

This great smile belongs to 30 year old Muhammed from Poco Loco street :)

I don't think I easily fall for that kind of stuff. But I did twice in The Gambia. Perhaps it's the way they deliver it. They do it so nicely. Perhaps it's because I speak the language and understand everything? I never felt that I was in any danger. I never felt that I lost control. The Gambia is a safe country to travel in...I guess it was just...shame on me.

The Gambia has a river that runs the length of the country. Actually if you picture a river that runs inland from the coast and you draw a line around it then you have The Gambia. You may wonder why there is a country there. It's quite narrow and basically follows the river. I figure it's because people used to live along the river which is an excellent waterway. And with time the forest areas around the river got populated by other tribes. And the tribes around the river formed a country.

The next time you meet someone from Senegal, The Gambia or Guinea-Bissau you might think that they lack education and only speak 1 "real" language: French (Senegal), English (The Gambia), Portuguese (Guinea-Bissau). But think again. Most people I have met in this region speak 4-5 "real" languages. Apart from their nations official language they often speak the official language of the neighboring country and in addition to that often also 3 African languages: Mandinka, Wolof and Fula. And those languages are as different from each other as French, English and Portuguese are. It made me think...can you imagine the complexity of dealing with society in a region where you need to know so many languages to make it work?

After a few days I finished my visit in The Gambia with a press conference at the Red Cross head office. I then left with a little bit of my heart behind. From Banjul you can get the ferry across the river to Barra. From there I got in the back of a crowded bus which brought me to the Senegalese border. There you must wash your hands before dealing with immigration. I met Ebrima who was also heading to Dakar. Ebrima is originally from Guinea but now lives in The Gambia and had a funeral to attend to. 

Senegal

There are 2 general options regarding how to get to Dakar (Senegal) without flying:
1) Take the bus
2) Take a shared taxi

Ebrima had to take the bus because he couldn't afford the shared taxi. A shared taxi would arrive to Dakar around 6:00pm. The bus, according to Ebrima, would arrive around 8-9:00pm. But you need to wait for the bus to fill up with passengers + I wasn't too keen on arriving late since I would be couchsurfing again. The price difference would be $3.00 - not much. But then I thought of the budget and the bus driver said that we would leave soon...

We left after 20 minutes, but went the wrong way? We had to go back to the border to collect some boxes. Then we needed to wait for the real driver who had been praying. But then we were on our way...until customs stopped us in the middle of nowhere and did a very thorough search of the boxes on the roof...which where next to a goat I noticed. The customs officers cut open all the boxes. Everyone had to get out of the bus. It took over an hour. But THEN we were on our way! Until the bus broke. But we fixed it after a while. Then we reached Kaolack which is 177 km from Dakar. And it was getting really late. The bus was crowded and in Kaolack they had to do further repairs. And we also had a flat tire. So after a few hours we were on our way again. And the closer we got to Dakar the more stops we had to make for people to get off. There is however something completely magical about looking out the window in the nighttime and watching the silhouettes of Baobab trees underneath the stars... Oh yeah - I forgot the part of driving on a red dirt road which created so much dust that some passengers put on masks. I think I was the only person in the bus who wasn't regional...we arrived at 02:00am.

But my sweetheart couchsurfing host had put a note on the door stating that I should simply call her when I arrived. Red from the dust and dirt I entered her apartment in the middle of the night. But she simply smiled and said: "This is Africa". That's something people keep saying and I completely disagree. This is not Africa? This is a part of Africa. This happens to be Senegal. And you wouldn't confuse it with Mauritania, Egypt, Madagascar, South Africa, Nigeria or many other countries. The only place you can say "This is Africa" with my approval would be if you are standing at the African assembly. But it was 02:00am and I was red and tired :)

The reason why I had to return to Dakar was to retrieve a shipment with personal belongings. Unfortunately curruption is a part of the culture in this otherwise amazing country. I had to pay "delivery taxes" 5 times the value of the actual shipment. It was equal to 10 x my daily budget.

Actually a bus ride like that can be a fun experience. But for me I need to be prepared for it. If I do not expect it and it comes as a surprise...well...not as much fun.

Next step will be to reach Bamako in Mali. And I have my bus ticket. There are many countries in the world :)

Best regards
Torbjørn C. Pedersen (Thor) - 1 shower will not be enough :)

Once Upon A Saga - a journey to every country in the world without flight.