Today we left Kaolack (where we spent the night) and headed south for about two hours to the Senegal/The Gambia border. Now talk about a sh*t show. Big rigs full of various products were lined up for miles. Men, women and children were selling everything under the sun from baskets they carried on their heads and from stands set up on either side of the road. There were even men herding goats through the border. And then there were the children begging for money who had apparently been brought here by their parents from Burkina Faso (a neighboring VERY poor country).
Ultimately, we dodged the traffic and walked into the Senegal border control where, within 5 minutes I was
photographed, fingerprinted and had my passport stamped with the exit date. We then were free to walk a couple blocks up the road to the border for The Gambia. And after having my picture and fingerprints taken again I walked into the visa office and surprise of surprises … The Gambia does not charge Canadian passport holders a visa fee. All I had to pay was about a $5 processing fee. (Beats the heck out of the $120 USD fee I would have been charged if I used my U.S. passport!)
So after this we had to change the Senegalese money I had withdrawn from the cash machine in Kaolack into Gambian money because there are few cash machines in the area we were travelling to. Malang negotiated the rate and after a lot of back and forth in Wolof (a local language in both Senegal and The Gambia) as well as hand waving, we had a deal. And based on the internet exchange rate, Malang did a great job.
Then I had to sit and wait in the car while Malang and Samba did the paperwork to get the car through the border as well as exchange funds themselves. And this is where the “fun” began. For the next 15 minutes I was inundated with requests to buy everything under the sun … cookies, watermelon, fruit, toothpaste. And then there was the hands through the window from kids begging for money. It was brutal.
Once the guys were back in the car, I asked Malang to speak to a young boy (looked to be about 12) holding a basket of bananas near a fruit stand operated by a woman who appeared to be his mother. He had approached me earlier and the bananas looked great, but the kid did not speak English so I had no idea what he was charging. Malang came back and said 400 CFA franc for a bunch of four (about $.71 USD). I had 700 CFA franc in coins I was only going to drop in the British Airways coin collection bin on my way home so, instead, I gave Malang all the Senegalese coins, and asked him to give the kid the coins for the four bananas.
And my good deed of the day was rewarded. Not only were the bananas fantastic, but the kid walked by the car, looked at me and gave me a thumbs up! I don’t mind giving money where there was no begging involved. (I just wish I had a picture. He seemed like a good kid.)
Anyway, we finally left the border and within minutes we were stopped at a police checkpoint. This turned out to be the first of no less than 11 stops by police in the span of an hour. Apparently, Senegalese have to pay for the privilege of driving their cars in Gambia and of course, the money goes straight into the pocket of the police.
Each stop was the same. We would approach a sign. One of the police officers would saunter over to the car and ask Samba for his license, car registration and insurance. Once that was provided, the cop would take the documents, motion for Samba to pull over, park the car and go into the little building that was apparently the police station. Samba would then go inside, pay the amount requested and off we went to the next stop.
At one stop, I was able to understand what the cop was saying in French which was something to the effect of “you understand I need to fee my family, this is not personal”. Good grief.
Anyway, after the stopping and starting through the endless villages as well as numerous slow downs for large herds of cows and goats and periodic braking for kids leaving school for the day, we finally reached Wausau where I was going to visit the Wausau stone circles aka the Senegambian stone circles, which were designated UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006.
The Wausau stone circles, like the other three sites that make up the Senegambian stone circles, consists of upright stone blocks and pillars, although weather has caused some of the pillars to collapse. The megaliths (large stones that have been used to build a monument with the stones standing along or together in a group) are arranged in circles, with the tallest stone standing at a height of 2.59 meters and isolated from the stone circles.
So once we arrived, Abraham, the resident guide took me on a tour of the megaliths. The tallest stone was nearest to the entrance and nearby was the first of eleven stone circles. And apparently it is custom for the villagers and visitors alike to take a small stone and place it on top of on of the stones in the circle and make a wish so … when in Rome….
I wandered around the site and marveled at the smoothness of the stones and the fact that the people who built these circles were able to cut the stone from the nearby laterite quarry without causing cracks or splits. Amazing.
Now there is a debate about when the stone circles were created. Excavations conducted in the area show that burials near the megaliths date to between A.D. 927 and 1305. However, no one knows if the stones were here before then. In addition, no one can be sure if the megaliths were to mark the burial sites or whether the burials occurred after the original construction, and the megaliths were to honor pagan gods. It was all fascinating to me.
Anyway, after the walk around the circles, I took a look in the small museum and waited as Malang took drone video footage of the site. Apparently Malang became friendly with a gentleman who produces documentaries using drone footage, and he took Malang under his wing to teach him how to use a drone. The guy even bought Malang a drone and if he uses footage Malang created the guy pays him. Pretty cool! And the video of the stone circles Malang took was awesome. He gave me a copy, but I will not share the video on my blog in case Malang is able to sell the video.
So from here, we drove across the village to our home for the next two nights, the Kairoh Garden Kauntaur, which is located right on the River Gambia. After we had a lunch of local foods (grilled chicken, white rice, potatoes, carrots and peanut sauce), we hopped on one of the hotel boats for a trip around the five islands that make up River Gambia National Park.
Now the park is collectively called Baboon Island because in 1979, chimpanzees were introduced to the area and are concentrated on three of the islands with about 88 of the approximately 150 chimps located on the largest island. In addition to the chimps, the area is known for the occasional hippo, Nile crocodiles, green monkeys and western red colobus monkeys. There are also numerous bird species in the area.
So once in the boat, we made our way along the very wide river passing by palm and date trees. Overhead there were numerous small birds flitting about, but we eventually saw a much larger bird hanging out on a branch known as a vegetarian vulture. It apparently does not feed on meat, but instead feeds on berries on the trees in the area.
From here, we continued on to the largest island and it wasn’t long before both the Captain and Malang spotted a baby chimpanzee hanging out on a branch. And nearby in the leaves of the same tree was mama chimpanzee.
Now females apparently don’t give birth until age 14 and once born, the baby stays with its mama until 3 years of age. This baby appeared to be older and likely approaching three.
Anyway, we sat in the boat and watched the baby move around through the trees peaking out at us every now and then clearly curious about what we were doing there. Meanwhile, mama kept an eye on junior and actually moved a little closer to the baby while we were watching.
After about ten minutes the Captain decided it was time to give them their space and move on so we headed back in the direction we came, stopping once to talk to one of the park rangers who provided me with some additional information about the park and the chimps before moving on.
So from here, we motored to two other islands closer to the hotel and as we entered the little channel between the two islands, we spotted a hippo. Now I have seen hundreds of hippos, but seeing this hippo was special because they are apparently a rarity in these parts. We watched the hippo go under water and surface a couple times before moving on. Unfortunately, the one picture I was able to take is marginal at best because the hippo only surfaced briefly making it hard to capture the animal. The Captains said that the noise from our boat was likely keeping the hippo under the water.
At this point, we began the ride back to the hotel arriving at just after 5:00 p.m. Now at this point, I thought I was done for the day, but at about 6:30 as the sun was setting, two guys from Holland, their guide and my guide, Malang, were going to cross the river and go for a walk on the island closest to our hotel. I got an invite and quickly joined them.
The crossing took only a couple minutes and once on the other side, we went for a walk along a sandy dirt road as the sun was setting. Now, sadly, we probably should have started out at least a half hour earlier. By the time we got about 15 minutes down the road, the moon had risen and the sun was gone.
We eventually reached a bend in the road and spotted the rustle of trees in the distance. A sure sign of monkeys. They turned out to be red colobus monkeys and the tree was full of them. Unfortunately, the dark made it almost impossible to see them, but periodically the monkeys would jump from one tree to another so we were able to catch a glimpse of them. Now my trigger finger was slow and I did not capture a single picture. And why I didn’t think to simple turn the camera to video and catch the monkeys in flight is beyond me. Stupid.
Anyway, after the last monkeys left the tree and made their way deeper into the jungle, we turned around and headed back to the boat. It has been a very interesting day. Tomorrow, we are going on a short tour of the nearby town of Georgetown. I am also hoping that we can go on another boat trip, although it is not on the itinerary. Fingers crossed.
