Saturday 26 April 2014

16.4.14 Wednesday Janjanbureh and Jamwelly



We were all awake early, the donkey, chickens and dogs saw to that!  We got up and arranged with Sanaba to go to Janjanbureh (Georgetown) for breakfast and a tour round the old slave market and to see where Annes’ father was stationed in WW11.  Steve drove us to the ferry crossing and we all had breakfast in a local café before leaving the car and crossing by small boat to the island of Janjanbureh.  Sanaba went to organise a local guide, when he arrived we knew him from various programs we have attended where he was the local drummer and griot.  The island was used during the slave trade for keeping slaves in a large house with an underground prison, and from there they were taken to the market for sale.  There are still chains in the walls showing where they shackled the more troublesome slaves.  We listened to the history, visited the Governor’s house, and then the freedom tree in the centre of the town.  It was nearly time for our boat trip, so we returned to the river and once again crossed in a small boat, this time landing back on the mainland and then driving back to Kuntaur where we found our boatman waiting for us.  We climbed into the boat which fortunately had a roof, and set off to see the local wildlife.  We had only been going about 10 minutes when Sanaba spotted a hippopotamus in the water.  We could only see his ears and the top of his head, but we were all excited and taking lots of photographs.  Of course these animals are very dangerous and the boatman would not take us any nearer, so we kept at a safe distance before moving off into the National Park area where we collected our guide for the rest of the trip.  There are several islands in the middle of the river Gambia, some of which have been made into a Chimpanzee sanctuary.  Visitors are not allowed on these islands, but the guide was able to make the sound of the animal and the largest and oldest of these Chimps came down to the riverbank long enough for us to see him and take more photographs.  More hippos appeared at a distance and lots of birds and other monkeys were seen on our journey back.  Just before reaching the landing point we saw our original hippo, and as the tide had gone down we were able to see more of him this time.  Back on dry land we made our way back to Sanabas’ compound for lunch before loading the truck and setting off back down to Jamwelly for our second night.  The weather is still incredibly hot in this area and we were all glad to reach Kaur and get a cold drink.  We called in at the Lower Basic School to see the library which now has a sign painted over the door. “Belle Vue Boys Proud to Care”  On to Jamwelly to be met once more by Channeh, Musa and Tiger the dog.  We got our sleeping things ready for the night and were able to open some windows so we all got a breeze to help us sleep.

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