December 10, 2023, Banjul, The Gambia, 8am to 5:30pm, Zuiderdam Grand Africa cruise

When I walked this morning at 6:15 it was still dark outside but it was nice and cool which is a great change from the HOT days we are having. The crescent was up with two planets.  I managed to have the entire deck to myself for the first 25 minutes of my walk and then the Captain started blowing the horn and people came out to look. But, nothing was going on, I think he was just getting impatient waiting for the pilot to show up. He had indicated yesterday, that because of the tide he needed to be at the mouth of the river at 5am. We were there when I got to the deck …. So I guess it was just “TIA” excuse (this is Africa!).

THE Gambia (“the” is required!), the smallest nation in Africa is very interesting geographically. It is surrounded on three sides by Senegal and a river splits the country in two requiring a ferry to get from one side to the other. The fourth side is the Atlantic Ocean.

The is the second “powership” we’ve seen on this trip:

Just in case you can’t read the name of the ferry … it is Kunta Kinteh …. Yes, Alex Haley’s ancestor is from Senegal.

We got docked and cleared quickly. We had an excursion to the Abuko Nature Reserve which didn’t leave until 9. We had a leisurely breakfast and then waited for our excursion to be called. There were 2 buses for this excursion and we were on the 2nd bus which wasn’t full.

My overall impression of the nature park – it was just ok. It was about a 2-1/2 leisure walk through an overgrown field. We did see some cool things – monkeys, centipedes, ants, a cool bird nest, and hooded vultures. Jeff found two really cool bird feathers and was told the red one was rare. We drove through the livestock market on the way back to the pier. Everyone was very friendly and would wave and smile back at us when we waved while driving by. If we were stopped, they engaged us in conversation – and in English! I was disappointed to see that the jeans cinched under the buttocks was seen here. What a craze to copy!

In the next picture there are sides of beef hanging out in the open

I finally got to see a Baobab tree on the way back to the pier, although these weren’t as large as what other passengers have seen on this trip.

We managed to get back on the ship without buying any local crafts. I think I reached my souvenir limit a couple of stops back!

Good to know that Cow Milk is made from fresh milk!

They may live in dilapidated housing but everyone seems to have a satellite dish and a cell phone.

Jeff’s score from the nature reserve:

The Captain said that when we came into port this morning that there was 8 foot of water under the keel. A previous Holland ship hit bottom coming into this port our Captain said he didn’t want to do that because it “involves a lot of paperwork”,

At the end of the day and before we sailed off the Captain, in his evening announcement, said that the ship was subject to numerous inspections while we were out enjoying our excursions. One in particular seemed to perturb him. He said that local officials wanted everyone to exit the ship – passengers and crew members, and then they wanted the ship to be fumigated in order for the ship to receive the needed health certificate. The Captain assured them that it wasn’t necessary and a $600 payment later, and the official agreed.

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