There’s an element of blink-and-you-miss-it to The Gambia. Mainland Africa’s smallest state, it isn’t even 50 kilometres (30 miles) wide at its broadest. Lying wholly surrounded by Senegal, like the most beautiful of splinters wedged into its neighbour from west Africa’s Atlantic Ocean coast, for the most part its borders… Continue reading
Anyone with a passion for history and culture should consider including visits to historic sites of the slave trade in Africa on any itinerary. It’s a history which hangs over much of Africa, and has everything to do with many contemporary issues the continent faces. As a visitor from the… Continue reading
It’s fitting that mainland Africa’s smallest nation is named after its river. Because the River Gambia plays a central role in the life of the country. It occupies much of the country as well. Its borders with Senegal wobble to and fro echoing the river’s passage towards the sea. But… Continue reading
Something that worried me in the past was whether it’s okay to travel during Ramadan to Muslim countries. I needn’t have worried, but there are certain things to keep in mind if you plan to do the same yourself. What exactly is Ramadan? Ramadan is the ninth month in the… Continue reading
Its a quick romp back to the transport hub that to me is Brikama town, to catch a sept-place down to the true border town of Seleni, then a minibus to the village of Kafountine, back on the Atlantic. All by lunchtime. There is a complete absence of tar from… Continue reading
Out of Senegal and into The Gambia quickly. I catch another shared taxi to the port of Barra for the ferry across the Gambia river to the country’s capital Banjul. Today the ferry is “very late”, the first of the day arriving in Barra at 10.30am. A very stately pace… Continue reading
I arrived in Joal on Sunday and walked the 1km or so to the twin village of Fadiout across a rather stunning wooden bridge that stretcehd perhaps half a km over the sands. Fadiout appears to be a historic Christian enclave, with the first pigs I’ve seen since leaving England…. Continue reading
