Traditional Gambian busking

Waiting for our taxi after the river trip we were accosted by these local musicians who put our names into a song but unfortunately I couldn't make out any of the other words! Fifty Dalasi soon ensured peace and quiet was restored to the river bank as our taxi appeared down the track. I have the whole song on video if anyone is so inclined!

Trip up (or was it down?) the river

We both managed to get in and out of this boat twice without falling in once! Amado paddled us against the tide through the mangroves pointing out over 24 species of birds as we went. My favourite has to be the pied kingfisher a large kingfisher which was speckled black and white. Also saw pelicans, herons (including the Goliath) osprey, paraquets and a yellow crowned gonalek to name but a few. The binoculars had their first proper bird watching trip! Saw oysters growing on the mangrove roots and actually left the Gambia and had lunch in surrounding Senegal. All in the space of four or five hours. The tide was against us on the way back again and this time going out so I had to get out and push the boat a couple of times with Amado in the shallows. Needless to say Mark sensibly stayed put!

More tasteful souvenir!

I spent severval hours in the sunshine making my own batik sarong with a local artisan and even if I say so myself I am rather proud of it! Using a charcoal burner we melted candle wax and then stamped our patterns onto wet cotton. Once dried in the sun plant dyes and some foul smelling chemicals were used to create the colours. I opted for purple and orange but as you can see it is not an exact science and I ended up with chocolate and orange! The tailor would have made it up into a skirt or sun top for me but I couldn't bear to let anyone cut it up. So I will hem it when I get home and wear it as a sarong.

Mark's Special Hat

Especially commissioned from Saxton at Footsteps this hat will certainly not get lost at the bottom of the beach bag, neither will Mark wearing it in a large crowd! Mark was hoping for a slightly less colourful one but for 300 Dalasi and handmade to boot you can't complain about this genuine Gambian souvenir.

Annie at the beach!

This bush dog called Annie is really rather remarkable. As the lodge dog she will guide you to the beech and back and apparently stay and guard your belongings if you take a dip in the sea. We did not avail ourselves of her services and got a lift in the Land Rover when David wanted to go fishing to try to catch a lady fish for supper.

Composting Toilet

No photo to go with this one, "Shame", I hear you cry. It really wasn't as bad as all that and something you have to do at least once! Well more than once as we stayed a week!

Hippo Round House

Our accommodation for the week was to be a traditional round house complete with composting toilet and resident gecko! Furnished in a very simple style the house was cool and comfortable set at the end of the lodge's garden. We had a reed bed just outside our front door which seemed to be home to at least a hundred bullfrogs the size of small elephants from the noise they made on the hour every hour through the night! Exploration found that they were really no bigger than a large frog and despite an impressive sound were physically unimpressive! Mind you they drowned out Mark's snoring!

Footsteps Eco Lodge Gunjar

We arrived at Footsteps Eco Lodge at midday from the relative luxury of The Sheraton Hotel. Right in the middle of the bush with a small African village and vegetable gardens nearby we were shown to our roundhouse called Hippo. Just to put this into context we could have had three weeks here for the price of one at The Sheraton. However there is no mains electricity, only solar powered 12 volt lighting and the famous composting toilet!

African Dancers and Drummers

Our pre-dinner snooze was interrupted by an enormous yell and what sounded like a class of seven year olds with a saucepan and a wooden spoon each! This was the cultural entertainment for the evening. A local dance,song and drumming group had arrived at the bar and once they got into the swing of things the drumming and dancing was really very good. They had a selection of Gambian traditional instruments, were dressed in traditional dress and played for a good half hour. The beat was really quite infectious but it didn't half seem quiet when they had finished!

Birds of The Gambia!

Ok not a very impressive start to my bird record but without my friend Jude(I hope you are reading) this is the most I can do at the moment. Lots of pied crows circling over the hotel and egrets walking about in the gardens. Maybe not this exact one (taken from the Internet) but some sort of egret. Hoping when we get to the smaller hotels we have booked will be able to spot smaller and more colourful birds in the gardens. Still it's a change from blue tits and robins on the bird feeders!

The view we wake up to!

OK I will admit this is not as exciting for my followers as pictures of the fox on the scout cam but thought you'd like a look at my new back garden view!

Welcome to The Gambia

We arrived into the Gambian sunshine after an uneventful trip from the UK. It was a bit of a shock stepping off the plane into 30 degree heat after leaving the fog of Birmingham behind. A short coach ride took us to the hotel on one of only two tarmac roads in the country where only 5 million people live. We were personally greeted by the South African hotel reception manager which took us by surprise. We had a personal tour of the hotel grounds in a golf buggy which no-one else got but the catch was we didn't have the room we had booked. Twenty four hours later we are now ensconced in a garden room with beautiful views of the ocean. Have had a lovely day of sunshine and are looking forward to five more nights before moving on to our eco lodge!

Scout Cam Success

One for sorrow, two for joy, what's the rest?

Chilean Miner Jose Henrique

I was so lucky to arrive at one of my schools today to be invited to a special assembly where Jose Henrique (miner number 23) was going to talk to the children about his experience and faith. It was amazing to watch him and think that he had survived such an ordeal. He prayed for the children and what was humbling was the fact that as a preacher he had led prayers with the all the miners everyday at the same time while they were trapped. We were lucky enough to hear that same voice praying. He looked really well and answered the children's questions with very good humour including the inevitable question of "How did they go to the toilet?" Children hey!