March 24, 2011, Day 13 At Sea
We spent the day at sea cruising slowly from Cape Verde to The Gambia on the western coast of Africa. We neglected a few days ago to report an interesting event as we sailed eastward across the North Atlantic Ocean. When we crossed the meridian of 45 degrees West Longitude (you know, the lines on the globe) we were asleep in the middle of the night. However, when we crossed 30 degrees West Longitude we were reading on the verandah in the early afternoon. We felt the significant “bump” as we hit the line and immediately noticed the dark line extending away to the north. (our verandah is on the port side of the ship) Patty made a mad dash into the cabin for our camera but, by the time she returned to the verandah the line was so far behind us that it did not appear on the photo. Maybe we’ll catch it another time and post the photo for you.
Our traveling partner, Dorothy Allyn, has been under the weather. She is experiencing severe arthritis pain in her right knee. We’ve been to the ships’ doctor twice and she isn’t seeing much improvement. Getting around on a bum knee as the ship rocks and rolls is not an easy thing. Everyone is hoping that the medicine will kick in soon. Keep your fingers’ crossed.
March 25, 2011, Day 14 Banjul, The Gambia
We cruised very slowly all night. The captain explained that we could not arrive in Banjul before 6:30 a.m. because a port pilot and a tug boat would probably not be ready for us. So we were approaching our dock at the time we woke on Friday morning. Banjul is a large city on the banks of the Gambia River at it’s mouth into the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia is a small state about the size of Delaware. They refer to it as the “mouth” of Senegal since it is a narrow country surrounded by Senegal.
The city evolved here as a trade center for all the products of the interior of West Africa which were moved down the river for transportation throughout the Atlantic market. It is a vibrant shipping point and the port was busy as we opened our curtains and watched the sun rise through a thick muggy haze. We had a tour scheduled so we ordered breakfast delivered to our cabin. When breakfast was finished we made a trip down to the promenade deck to take pictures of the port and of the dancers performing for us at the gangway. A troupe of young, athletic, African women were dancing a very fast dance to pounding drums and rhythm instruments. After a trip back to our cabin to assemble our tour gear we met our group and left the ship to board a 4 wheel drive truck with seats installed in the truck bed for about 25 people. The truck was open on all four sides from about the seated passengers elbows to the sun roof, a distance of about 4 feet which allowed for great air movement in the muggy atmosphere. We were headed for the Abuko Nature Reserve and looked forward to viewing all of West Africa’s most exotic flora and fauna from our comfortable seats.
We traveled through the city of Banjul with a good view of the people on the streets, the markets, the homes, a few churches, government buildings, parks, and traffic, more traffic, horns, more horns, taxis everywhere,.. organized chaos. The streets were crowded with markets filled with colorfully clothed men, women, and children selling everything from toilets to lettuce. School children all seemed to be wearing uniforms. Forty-five percent of Banjul’s population is under 14 years of age. Many women carried a baby on their front as well as a toddler on their back. Most waved at us and many even took photos of the “light-skinned” tourists. The population as a whole seemed very happy and all that we met were cordial – English is taught in all the schools.
The crowded street scenes soon gave way to miles of mangrove swamps and then another city looking much the same as Banjul. Serekunda was the location of the Abuko Nature Reserve. Then, we assume to save depreciation on the 4 wheel drive trucks, we dismounted and walked for about two miles on the trails of the reserve. We had a very friendly guide who tried very hard to find some wildlife for us but we saw only a half dozen species of birds and one Bushback (an antelope-like quadruped) and a few monkeys.
The end of the tour took us to a fenced area with baboons, 3 or 4 hyenas and a multitude of turkey vultures. After 30 hot and dusty minutes here to take pictures and purchase refreshments and/or carved wooden items we climbed aboard our trusty trucks and retraced our journey back to the Prinsendam. All wooden items were quickly confiscated by the ships’ staff and promptly places in a freezer for 48 hours. Experience has taught cruise ships the likelihood of insect infestations in these items. No worries, we have no products in the freezer.
A quick lunch followed by a long shower and an afternoon napping on the verandah topped off this dusty and interesting day. We left Banjul before dark so no one needed to worry about the unlawful acts of selling soap or charcoal, or whistling after dark. We slipped our moorings, let the breeze tease us away from the dock, flipped around (the Captain’s words) and headed for Dakar, Senegal.
P. S.
As we were taking photos yesterday, we often encountered people who would shake their finger at us. Many little children would shout out “one dollar” and giggle. Our guide said not to worry as “what were they going to do” since we were in a “safari vehicle” and headed down the road. Well……………one of the tour groups found out as a policeman thought someone on a safari vehicle had snapped his picture. He stopped the vehicle, got on board and really caused a commotion. The lady had not gotten the picture of the policeman but that didn’t seem to matter. The tour guide intervened and the detained vehicle was allowed to proceed only to get delayed further by a Presidential visit from the head of The Gambia. All twenty tour members were late boarding the ship and very thankful that they had participated in a ship organized shore excursion since the ship will wait to sail away only if late boarding passengers are on a sanctioned tour.
…and now we head off on a visit to Ilse de Goree by ourselves…if the ship sails without us, this may be the final blog…
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