And here we thought today was going to be spent onboard with the biggest event being another veranda cleaning. Boy, were we wrong or what? As we had stated a few days ago, we had no intentions of leaving the ship in Banjul, The Gambia. But that changed once the locals decided to charge all of the US citizens the $155 visa fee regardless of staying onboard or getting off. We would make it a point to get off and explore.
But a few facts first. The Zuiderdam began sailing into the Gambia River around 5:30am, and one of us did snap some shots in the dark of moored vessels that were passed on the way. The Gambia happens to be the smallest country in mainland Africa with a population of 2 million people that speak English as well as many African dialects. This country attracts sun-seekers and bird-watchers from Europe, but mostly during the migration season in November. This migratory route begins in Europe and ends in South Africa. Even beyond as the terns will fly to Antarctica. It has as many as 600 species of birds. Hippos, crocodiles, colobus monkeys, and even manatees can be found up the massive river.
What is the special dish here? A peanut stew with rice and baked fish and veggies. The favorite drink is Julbrew beer. We had it and liked it just fine.
The coastline has only 80 kilometers with some nice resorts. Banjul, our port of call for today, is the capital of 31,000 people, where 96% of them are Muslim. A huge portion of the population is under 14 years old. That is about 45%. It is also among the poorest of the countries in Africa with mostly old towns and decrepit colonial buildings.
Some of the tours offered today were Roots Experience, a riverboat ride to a slave trading island with lunch for $150 for 8 hours. Another long tour of 7 hours was Gambia Adventure Drive in open-air trucks where you climb the ladder to get in for $175. Banjul highlights, a tour we did 5 years ago, was $150 for 4.25 hours, while Abuko Nature Reserve was $130 for 3 ¼ hours. Makasutu Culture forest and canoe ride was $185 for 5 ¾ hours.
It was actually sunny, but with a foggy haze by the time the ship was docked up the river. Our thermometer read 82 degrees with humidity at 36%. That makes the heat a lot more tolerable. After another great breakfast, we went outside on deck three to watch the frenetic activity on the dock. The ship had docked starboard once again. There were a ton of vendors that had set up an instant street market right off of the gangway. This was nice for the folks who chose not to take the shuttle to Albert Market, a short drive away. We would check out these items when we got back from town.
Scheduled for another veranda cleaning, the fellows showed up at 10am and began hosing. This was a good time to leave the ship. One shuttle had just left for town, so we waited until another came back. The next vehicle happened to be a 6 passenger mini van, which was tight, but had a lot of knee room. This driver took us on a little tour on the way to the marketplace which was an all-in-one shopping place for the locals. The majority of the nicer souvenirs would be found on the pier.
This place was an eye-opener and at times, an assault on the senses. One area of this corrugated tin and cloth-tented market housed ladies selling produce, spices, and everyday necessities. Where the shuttle dropped us off, there were some typical souvenirs for sale. This is where Bill had purchased a very nice t-shirt 5 years ago, and he was wearing it today. The locals liked that, or least most of them did.
Deeper into the complex, we saw the "sweatshop" of men selling a variety of fabrics from cottons to silks. We saw many more young and older men sewing and ironing clothing using a low bench and a sewing machine. Recognizing the stall where we purchased some fabric five years ago, we stopped and looked again. Not intending to buy more, we did purchase 1 ½ meters of 60 inch wide heavy cotton. The price was right at $10 USD.
The aisleways in this maze were quite narrow, but it did not stop the vendors from pushing their wheelbarrows down them. Move aside or get run over. We can see why these vendors really do not like it when cruise ships stop here. As curious tourists, we crowded their already mad marketplace.
Not all of the locals were friendly as we have seen in other recent ports. Most of the older women would sooner hide their things for sale and even themselves when they see a camera. We mean no disrespect , but photo-taking seems to ruffle their feathers. The local men do not mind at all. Best to ask first, especially when you see young children.
Venturing into the fish market was a trip. Heaven only knows what we tracked on our shoes by stepping in the little puddles on the floor. Some of the catch was huge, things we did not recognize. Hundreds of smaller fish lined their counters. So did hundreds of flies, which you just had to ignore. We have to say that this was the only place the fishermen were happy to show off their abundant catch and photos were welcomed. However, due to the pungent smell, we were out of there in about 60 seconds.
The more colorful section of the market had fresh produce for sale, along with sacks of staples like rice from Thailand, and spices from everywhere. It is customary for them to dry veggies like okra to add to soups and stews. Lots of fish had been cooked or smoked and left in baskets in the open air. Flies were extra. All types of clothing were in each stall, as well as Muslim-style robes for both men and women. We saw few t-shirts for sale, but a whole lot of shoes and sandals were available.
Finding our way out to where we had been dropped off was tricky, because we had been let out at a different spot. We did finally locate the real Albert Market portal with the broken cement and muddy drainage ditch, where some guests had fallen 5 years ago. It was still not fixed, and we doubt it ever will be.
A quick drive through town found us back at the pier by 12:30pm. We ran into friends Pauline and Mike who told us all about their overland trip in South Africa. They had seen a lot of Africa they had never toured before as it was a land trip by bus mostly. Now today, they had organized a tour for themselves and some friends. It had to be cancelled when they realized the visa fees were so high. Now that we were paying anyway, their tour was off. Hope they are able to get their money back.
We did a speedy look-over of the pier treasures, finding one small purse made with fabric and leather. Suitable for dinner, it will work well with beiges and browns. The vendor was most willing to play the bargaining game and would have been disappointed if we did not barter. The friendliest of the vendors were here and had no problem asking too many questions of us. Usually it is where are you from, where have you come from, or is this your first time here? One vendor lady asked me how old I was? Really? Bill spoke up and said I was strong and could still pack firewood at home. She was most impressed, but her bottom line was to sell us something…anything. Even a local cop working the pier wanted to give us a private tour later in the afternoon. Why he was interested in getting our email address confused us. Of course, we would never give that info to anyone we don't know. We thanked him for the tour offer, but since we have been here before, we had seen all we needed for one day.
As you know by now, the dining room is always closed on port days. So we had another cozy lunch delivered by room service. Our meal began with chicken noodle soup (which Susie is trying to have them add real noodles instead of spaghetti). Sharing one cheese quesadilla and a BBQ pork sandwich was plenty to tide us over until dinner.
Spending some down time on the freshly-cleaned veranda found the temperature had climbed well over 90 degrees, but being that we were facing the river, we were in the shade. It was comfortable and the best place to watch ship traffic and birds flying overhead. Oddly enough, we got shots of one Dalmatian pelican, a small flock of gannets, possibly a peregrine falcon, and one African white-back vulture was spotted extremely high in the sky. We went up to deck 10 to see more red kites attacking the local crows. Some terns were dipping into the waters, testing the floating plastic items that had blown off of the pier in the river. Several herons and egrets from the mangroves perched on the ship's ropes. Seeing these birds was icing on the cake for us.
We did spot friends Gyl and Howard who were spending time in the smoking section of the Seaview Pool. We exchanged our shared ideas concerning the recent events that have combined the President's Club members with the Neptune folks. We all agreed that with the larger number of P. Club guests, we do not need the extra people there for a shared cocktail hour. Too crowded and noisy, we wish they would keep the groups separated. For them , it is killing two birds with one stone.
Sail away should have been around 5pm, but it was delayed due to late tours arriving or missing people. It did give us time to watch the vendors cleaning up their goods and packing it all away. Bet they made a ton of money today. By 4:55pm, we could hear the minarets going off in the city, a reminder for the call for prayer. The ship finally left after 6pm, headed west, the finally turned north to our next stop in Dakar, Senegal.
Dinner was good. We both ordered the chicken satay with peanut sauce with a kick. Caesar salads were next, followed by the mahi-mahi entree and a chicken parmigiana with lots of spaghetti- enough to share. Desserts were Heath bar frozen yogurt and a strawberry sorbet. Excellent.
Like we said, today was unexpected, but worth making another memory to share with everyone.
Bill & Mary Ann
