Saturday 10 March
We went on an excursion today, to a nature reserve in Senegal, which meant I got four new stamps in my passport (out of Gambia, into Senegal, out of Senegal, back into Gambia). It really was an experience! We got a bus to the ferry port - Gambia is named for the Gambia river, which runs straight through the middle of it, from east to west, and getting from the south bank, where we're staying, to the north bank requires a ferry journey - and as it turned out, of the three ferries that travel between Banjul on the south side and Barra on the north, only one was working today. There should have been a 6am ferry from Banjul but it was cancelled as the only working ferry had ended its working day yesterday on the Barra side, so the 9am ferry, which is the one we wanted, was absolutely rammed. Literally, there were cattle as well as people and vehicles on it. We all surged onto the boat, and the lucky ones got a seat on the top deck. We, however, just stood where we were, with just enough room to turn our heads and look around every so often - that is, until the lady in front of Jen decided to sit on the deck where she was, thereby increasing the surface area she needed and encroaching on everyone else's, to the point where Jen was almost leaning forward over her as she had nowhere else to go :). Still, it was no worse than the Northern Line on the London Underground on a Friday afternoon... We saw giraffes, zebras, warthogs, monkeys, hyenas and a rhino in the nature park in Senegal, then we turned round and did the same crazy ferry crossing again :). We at least managed to get a seat on the way back, although the journey took twice as long as it should have because the captain of the boat got lost due to fog. Our guide did tell us that all timings for the ferries are in GMT - Gambia Maybe Time - and he wasn't wrong!
Sunday 11 March
We didn't take any photos today, so here's a shot of the aforementioned zebras from yesterday.
Monday 12 March
Best. Sister. Ever.
Tuesday 13 March
Our return flight was delayed by 5 hours, meaning that after we checked out of our rooms, we had an afternoon to kill before our bus took us to the airport. We spent that afternoon watching this man, Ibrahim, paint this picture of a baobab tree. £50 - cheapest commission ever!
Wednesday 14 March
A consequence of our flight being delayed was that instead of getting into Gatwick at 23:00 and to our B&B by midnight, we didn't get in till 03:45 and got to the B&B at 04:45. We had three hours' sleep, then a lovely cooked breakfast, then dropped Jen off at Gatwick station to get the train home to York, then picked up Daisy and drove home. One of the first things Jon did when we got home was take Daisy to pick daffodils for me from the garden :).
Thursday 15 March
Daisy's spent most of her waking hours over the last day sitting in the laundry basket and singing 'row, row, row the boat'.
Friday 16 March
Teddy and his Mum Sara came to visit today! It didn't occur to me to take a photo until he was ready to leave and had his coat on, then when I did grab my camera, all the shots I took had one or other of them either out of focus or not smiling, so this was the best I could get. Lovely to see you, Teddy!
We went on an excursion today, to a nature reserve in Senegal, which meant I got four new stamps in my passport (out of Gambia, into Senegal, out of Senegal, back into Gambia). It really was an experience! We got a bus to the ferry port - Gambia is named for the Gambia river, which runs straight through the middle of it, from east to west, and getting from the south bank, where we're staying, to the north bank requires a ferry journey - and as it turned out, of the three ferries that travel between Banjul on the south side and Barra on the north, only one was working today. There should have been a 6am ferry from Banjul but it was cancelled as the only working ferry had ended its working day yesterday on the Barra side, so the 9am ferry, which is the one we wanted, was absolutely rammed. Literally, there were cattle as well as people and vehicles on it. We all surged onto the boat, and the lucky ones got a seat on the top deck. We, however, just stood where we were, with just enough room to turn our heads and look around every so often - that is, until the lady in front of Jen decided to sit on the deck where she was, thereby increasing the surface area she needed and encroaching on everyone else's, to the point where Jen was almost leaning forward over her as she had nowhere else to go :). Still, it was no worse than the Northern Line on the London Underground on a Friday afternoon... We saw giraffes, zebras, warthogs, monkeys, hyenas and a rhino in the nature park in Senegal, then we turned round and did the same crazy ferry crossing again :). We at least managed to get a seat on the way back, although the journey took twice as long as it should have because the captain of the boat got lost due to fog. Our guide did tell us that all timings for the ferries are in GMT - Gambia Maybe Time - and he wasn't wrong!
Sunday 11 March
We didn't take any photos today, so here's a shot of the aforementioned zebras from yesterday.
Monday 12 March
Best. Sister. Ever.
Tuesday 13 March
Our return flight was delayed by 5 hours, meaning that after we checked out of our rooms, we had an afternoon to kill before our bus took us to the airport. We spent that afternoon watching this man, Ibrahim, paint this picture of a baobab tree. £50 - cheapest commission ever!
Wednesday 14 March
A consequence of our flight being delayed was that instead of getting into Gatwick at 23:00 and to our B&B by midnight, we didn't get in till 03:45 and got to the B&B at 04:45. We had three hours' sleep, then a lovely cooked breakfast, then dropped Jen off at Gatwick station to get the train home to York, then picked up Daisy and drove home. One of the first things Jon did when we got home was take Daisy to pick daffodils for me from the garden :).
Thursday 15 March
Daisy's spent most of her waking hours over the last day sitting in the laundry basket and singing 'row, row, row the boat'.
Friday 16 March
Teddy and his Mum Sara came to visit today! It didn't occur to me to take a photo until he was ready to leave and had his coat on, then when I did grab my camera, all the shots I took had one or other of them either out of focus or not smiling, so this was the best I could get. Lovely to see you, Teddy!
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