The Journey Continues – Journal no. 9
12th March to the 12th April 2010
Back in Africa
Well I'm back in Africa. I have
to say it's good to feel the sun on my back again after three long months in
what I believe has been one of the coldest winters in the UK since 1963. A
winter I remember well, stranded as a child in the village of Hordle, just
outside New Milton, cut off by three-foot snowdrifts for almost a week.
Please don't get be wrong it's
been great catching up with everyone. I'm also conscious that you’re still enduring
the cold so enough said. I will say, however, a big thank you to all, I've
enjoyed re-acquainting myself with family and friends alike and experiencing your
hospitality, kindness and generosity. I hope that some of you will join me at
some point where ever I might be at the time; you would be more than welcome.
It would be good to show you some African hospitality.
Arriving at Banjul
airport
The plane landed as scheduled at
Banjul airport, Gambia on the 12th March 2010 at about 2.45 p.m.
No problems getting through
customs, on the contrary the passport officer expressed pleasure at my return
visit.
My pre-arranged taxi arrived with
friends Fatou and Babo at 3.45 p.m., 45 minutes later than scheduled, African
time I guess, and we headed the 10 kilometers to Fajara and, 'home from home',
the Sun Bird Lodge guesthouse.
Point of note the exchange rate
in the UK for the Dalasi is 34 to the £, here its 40 to 41. Even with the 1% charge
and commission on top you’re better off getting the money out of an ATM here.
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| Friends Fatou and Tamsir |
We spent the next two days
re-exploring the area and enjoying the hot weather, about 38 degrees, with the
intention of driving across the border to Senegal early Monday morning and
heading to Kaufountine.
My friend Deanne is currently
with a mutual friend of ours Egon in Dakar filming for the B.B.C. She will head
North at some point to the old French Colonial capital of Senegal, for a week
of exploration thereafter.
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| Make are way to the beach, outside our lodgings |
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| The beach at Fajara with Fatou |
Crossing the
border to Senegal
Monday morning the Taxi arrived
on time along with my friend Tamsir. It was great to catch up with the goings
on over the last three months, although not much has changed. It appears the
villagers are aware that I'm back in Africa so I’m sure there will be the usual
exuberant welcome.
The border crossing presented
little if any problems just a desire to fleece a tourist travelling with an
African, in this case Fatou. Although African’s are at liberty to cross the
borders of West Africa with an identity card a fee is paid for the privilege,
higher when travelling with a foreigner. Creative fee structure!
Sensible price agreed with the sept+
driver and one hour later we were off initially to Dioloulou and then a bumpy
and familiar ride to Kaufountine.
Senegal
countryside
Everywhere you look at the
moment the countryside looks noticeable dry, almost arid. The huge varieties of
tree are coated in a reddish brown dust, so typical of Africa, thrown up by
passing vehicles or what little air-movement there is, possibly the effects of
a coastal breeze.
I say huge varieties probably to
numerous to mention, however, here’s a short list of some that I’ve managed to
identify, most that grow naturally. Papaya, Banana, Palm tree and Coconut, I
think three to four specie of Mango, Lemon tree, Lime, Orange, Grapefruit,
Cashew, the tall, elegant and ancient Fromager and Baobab tree. Thereafter I
have to resort to the African names, Flaboin (the seed pods about 18” long are
used as a percussion instrument), Mambatoo, Solam-Solam (which produces and
edible fruit*), Cabaa, Stoll (same thing*), Lingom, some small conifers and
many variety of Eucalyptus. There are many others that I have failed to
identify or mention.
There is a delightful splash of
colour at the moment, a welcome relief from the drab red-dust and browns
visible. Mainly in the villages and particularly round the compounds with a
huge range of Bougainvillea in full bloom. Cascades of rose-pink, purple,
white, orange, yellow, cream and a sort of salmon-pink seem to adorn walls,
fences and houses, with the lilies in the lagoon similarly in bloom with a
delicate white flower.
It's remarkable really that
anything grows at all, the ground seems to consist entirely of a fine grade
sand difficult to walk on at the best of times.
One other thing it's the season
of controlled burning, the brush and dead crops are systematically cleared a
bit at a time. With most of the houses built out of a combustible material it's
important to remove the threat of an uncontrolled bush fire, so less is more.
All of the trees have clearly adapted
to fire apart from the occasional scorch mark apparent at the base of the trunk
there are little signs of damage.
The Casamance
Region
Casamance, or the area that I
have visited thus far, is largely flat and made up of land ‘islands’ consisting
of vegetation, trees, and bushes. These areas are slightly elevated with the
foliage providing shade from the sun and the height safety from floodwaters, mainly
during the rainy season. Most town and villages occupy an area similar to that
described.
Mangroves swamps, flood plains
or flat areas are where the crops are grown mainly rice punctuating by the
so-called islands. It pretty much describes the area around Kaufountine,
Ziguinchor, Bignonia and Cap Skerring.
Bohemian
Kaufountine
Fatou and I, my travelling
companion, spent several very enjoyable days in Kaufountine by the beach with a
short trip to Ziguinchor on Thursday to replenish depleted funds.
There's a new bank in
Kaufountine, I think a Western Union, with no ATM, which is a bit of a bummer!
To take out money over the counter it’s an expense process with a £30 fee
payable for every hundred pounds withdrawn.
We stayed at the Sitokoto Campement
mainly for its relaxed setting, it’s a place well known to me, it’s close to
the beach and the guys that run the resort are very friendly.
It was Fatou’s first time in
Kaufountine and although apprenhsive at first she thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance
of the Campement and the seaside village by the end of our stay.
Back to The Gambia
Thursday we crossed the border
back to Gambia spending almost a week ‘on and off’ with a mate of mine at the
time, Michael Owden, and his new-partner Jan. They’d flown in a week beforehand
for some ‘rest and recuperation’ in the sun, staying at ‘The Combo Beach Hotel’
at Fajara.
We enjoyed several good nights
dining-out at a place called the ‘Blue Kitchen’, located between Baku and
Fajara. It provides excellent food, the setting is good and as a German guy and
his African wife own the place the menu caters for western tastes.
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| Fatou, Roy and Jan |
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| Jan and Mike |
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| Mike, Fatou and Fiona at the Blue Kitchen |
Return to Ndongane
with Fatou
Saturday 3rd April Fatou
and I crossed back to Senegal with the intention of returning to the village.
We arrived late afternoon to the
usual enthusiastic welcome and some surprise about my travelling companion. The
great thing is, Fatou speaks seven African dialects as well as English, and so
acting as my translator at long last I could understand what was being said.
Clearly they were happy for me and took to Fatou almost immediately.
Deanne, who had returned to the
village by now, was nowhere, to be found, apparently she’d gone to a local
festival with some of the villagers and would be back late evening. Anyway we
made ourselves comfortable.
Changes in the
village
Whilst I'd been away, two more
babies have been born both co-incidentally named Peter that makes four I think with
another Peter on the way!! They will have to rename the village at this rate.
Ha ha!!
The village has also undergone a
bit of a transformation to, in particular Aliou's two compounds with the
construction of new fencing, two new buildings, several new toilets and a
massive clearance of the land.
There’s a greater sense of order
and organization to the village now than I’ve seen before and having spoken
with Deanne about it, although she’s not prepared to take any credit, I'm sure
she has had an impact on attitude and understanding.
Village
developments
The other bit of new s is that
the school is mainly furnished now on a temporary basis, which is great, with
new furniture on the way courtesy of a Spanish charity.
They’ve employed a local
contractor to deepen the main well, which has all but had its day.
Four, possibly six concrete collars,
1-meter circular rings, are cast on site. They then lower a man into the 30-meter
deep well who will proceed to deepen it by another 5 meters, clearly very
dangerous work.
Each individual collar, probably
weighing about a tonne, is lowered into position using rope and pulley only.
Two guys at the base of the well ensure the collar is positioned correctly.
Two naming ceremonies
and a wedding!
I've returned to the village at
a time when there appears to be a lot going on. Monday a party was held to
celebrate the 3rd baby Peter I missed the naming ceremony as I was
elsewhere. Thursday a naming ceremony for the 4th baby Peter and a
pre-arranged wedding to be held on Friday between Sol, a guy from The Gambia,
and Mesa, a local girl of eighteen from the village.
One of the interesting things is
as I’m travelling with a local Gambian girl called Fatou, who speaks eight
languages, dances professionally and plaits hair - so she’s become an instant success;
I’m able to keep up with the local gossip.
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| Pictures from the 'baby naming' party |
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| Messa |
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| Sol |
One thing that has always
confounded Deanne and I about the village is the lack of communication. Often
we are the guests of honour, however, nobody informs us about the procedure or
timing of an event. On some occasions we have managed to miss the ceremony
completely.
The informal evening ceremony
for baby Peter no.3 went off fine, lots of eating and dancing. Baby naming
ceremony for the 4th baby Peter, I missed the main event, but the
rest of the day went off without a problem.
Friday day of the
wedding
I have to say the lead-up to the
main day was great. Lots of high spirits, plating of hair in readiness, cooking,
drumming on whatever happened to be to hand, kitchen pots, pans and what
appeared to be a large gourd floating in bowl of water, producing a lovely deep
bass tone, with dancing late into Thursday evening and throughout Friday.
At about 4.00 p.m. on Friday, although
it might have been five, the groom arrived with friends, family and lots of gifts.
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| Pictures of the wedding |
About an hour later I caught up
with Fatou, it appeared that she had been sitting in one of the huts acting as
a kind of translator along with several others trying to appease the bride, who
was in tears, and the groom.
In some respects having Fatou involved
may possibly have compounded the problem, she’s considerably older than the
bride and can elect who and when she marries. Fular people are the only ones
who still insist on arranged marriages with some of the girls only fifteen at
the time.
Afternoon turned into evening
and we determined that we ought to visit first the bride’s compound and then
the grooms, although both were somewhat subdued.
Finally about 9.00 p.m. Messa put-in
an appearance at the grooms compound, perhaps at the time not realizing the
significance. We left none the wiser retreating to bed at about 9.30 p.m.
Fatou, D and I were conscious
that there seemed some sort of celebration going on which continued until the
early morning although it was indistinguishable from the day’s events.
We finally surfaced about 9.00
am the following morning with indignation from the villagers that we had not
only managed to miss the wedding but we hadn't photographed the occasion. I
still have no idea when it happened.
Spitting for Africa!
As a side issue I thought I
should make a reference to the women of Africa and the aplomb shown when
removing excess saliva from the mouth. It really is a practiced art form worthy
of note. Invariable the trick is to squeeze it out through gritted teeth. The saliva
is ejected at great velocity with an almost constant stream of fluid; hopefully
you’re not in the way at the time!!
I'm sure that it's a point of
discussion round the campfire and young children are indoctrinated into the
club.
D leaves with the
wedding entourage
Saturday, Deanne left in a hurry
on the 'marriage' bus returning to Gambia, free ride, and more partying I
guess.
She managed to leave certain
items behind including her passport, not clever when in Gambia. Fatou and I in
the meantime headed to Carrefour.
Fatou returned
safely back to Gambia
Fatou and I parted, she is
returning to The Gambia and I’m moving on to Kolda. We will both remember our
time spent together with fondness, Fatou is a very gentle loving soul with
simple aspirations. I know that she has made a great impression on all those
people that she has come into contact with along the way especially D and I.
Kolda and Hotel
Hobbe
The Hotel Hobbe is a nice but
over priced establishment frequented by hunters. I’ll stay here for three days
before moving onto Tambacounda and then on to Mali and Bamako, where the real
adventure begins.
History of Kolda
Kolda is a city located in
southern Senegal. It is the capital city of Kolda Region, a region known
historically and popularly as Haute Casamance.
Most recently, as of 1988 and
2002, Kolda's population was 34,337 and 53,921 inhabitants respectively. In
2007, official estimations brought the population to 62,258 inhabitants. The
majority of the population is made up of members of the Fula ethnic group,
along members of the Mandinke and Jola tribes.
