Trips to Gambia

Over the course of my service in Senegal I have done quite a bit of traveling. Before my site mate left she decided to introduce me to the country inside of Senegal, Gambia. After going with her I have been a couple of more times to enjoy the culture and scenic beauty the country has to offer. Kourtney and I just went for a night. It's about a 30K bike ride from my house, so we went out into the forest and camped. In the morning we biked out to the river for our breakfast.This was in the town of Kauur. Then we turned around and went home. It was a short sweet trip.

Me and Kourt by the Gambian River

After

The next time I went I was accompanied by two great friends. I met up with Jason in Koungel where we stayed with a friend. In the morning we took a bus down to Wassu. It was a luma day and the streets were busy. Spencer met us there and we embarked on our mission. It took us a little while but eventually we found Fatou Cisse. She may be old and a little blind, but she gives great Pulaar scars. These are ethnic scars created by cutting the skin and rubbing in ash.  We all got them on our chests and I also had them done behind my ears. It was a dirty process but the final product is like a tattoo.

Before

After our fun scarring experience we went to the local bar and drank cashew liquer. That night we took a horse cart back into Senegal and spent the night in Spencer's village. It was nice and they fed us a good dinner we were all hungry for. In the morning Jason and I returned to our respective regions of the country. It was this trip that made me realize how easy I could get from my site to Kolda. So, a month later I embarked on another adventure through the Gambia with three other girls and our friend Mike.





This turned out to be a long adventure. Amy and I left Kaolack and went to Kafffrine where my bike was. Yasmine, Emily, and Mike met us there. We then biked to my village to spend the night. We made ourselves some dinner hung out with my brother and got a good nights rest because we knew we had a few long days ahead of us. We woke up and got an early start biking south to Nganda. We stopped here for breakfast. From Nganda to Kauur we passed through a small national forest. The same one Kourtney and I had camped in. Mike had some bike troubles but was able to make it to the river town and get it fixed. I fell off my bike once. The road was sandy and rough. A real workout. We hung out in Kauur and went swimming in the river. Once we were cooled we continued on East. Although we had lost Mike somewhere we weren't really worried. He's a big guy and speaks like six languages. We figured he'd catch up. We set up camp under a tree in the bush. Passed around a bottle to congratulate ourselves on reaching our destination for the day. I thought from where we were at this point it was about 50K to Wassu. It was 50 miles. This made for a long morning. We were all exhausted by the time we got there. We scored free lunch at the bar, maffee (peanut sause on rice). Then we went to see ancient rock circles from 600 AD. I went in and touched the rocks, took pictures, and checked out the museum. These circles were made for religious beliefs. Often the are in some relation to astrology. There are stories that these circles were made for burials, and for human sacrifices. It was very cool. Then Yasmine and Emily got Pulaar scars. Mike finally caught up to us and we moved on South in the heat. Mike got a flat tire and we ended up stuck in a village waiting on him for a while. We had meant to make it to Pata in Senegal this night but we only got as far as the Gambian river. We crossed the river in a boat at sunset. It was amazing. An absolutely gorgeous site. We biked across some rice paddys which was something I had never seen before, and set up camp. In the morning we biked further South into Brikima Ba. The group stopped for breakfast but I moved on as I didn't like biking in the afternoon. I biked a long time by mysekf and in Soulabali. Here I ended up sitting with Pulaar children for five hours. I leaned a little Pulaar though! At this point The girls caught up with me, but Mike had jumped in a car and given up. Amy, Yasmine, and I finished the trip alone. It was at this point a monkey ran across the road! In all it was 240K. We were all sore but not too tired to eat lots of chicken, re-energize, and dance, for a friends passover party. We had made it!! We decided to take a car home after a few days of abusing a nearby hotels pool :)

This is the ferry we took on the way home.  They put on all the cars and people and cruise across.