Back To Gambia

We were woken in the early hours of the morning by an animal cry we later discovered it to be a hyena. I felt much better and managed to eat a breakfast of tapalapa and jam and plenty of tea. We left the hotel at 8.30am and headed back towards the reserve gates. On route we kept looking for the evasive lion, unfortunately we didn’t spot any only the usual baboon or warthog crossing the road. On dropping off our guide we headed towards Tambacounda. After an hours drive there was a problem with the jeep, lights on the dashboard for the battery were lighting up, we had to pull over. We all got out of the jeep to stretch our legs and find some shade under some trees. This could be quite bad as we were in the middle of no where with no villages close by and few vehicles on the road. Luckily for us the driver was also a mechanic so after a fifteen minute wait the jeep was restarted and we were back on track.

We made good time arriving at Tambacounda just before midday, this was the route we should have taken on Thursday. Crossing the city we picked up the main road and headed towards the village of Koungheul where we would cross the border back into Gambia. The road proved to be very good and we covered the distance in half the time if only we had known this on Thursday. We arrived at Koungheul and asked directions to which we were sent across country to the border post at Maka-Gouye on route passing little villages and children running out to greet us. With our passports stamped we left Senegal entering Gambia and headed for the village of Wassau.

Wassau Stone Circles

We had decided to stop at Wassau to see what are called the stone circles which is a bit like stone henge. The stone circles are laterite pillars which encircle ancient graves from around 750 AD. Locals come to the site to pray depositing a small rock on top of a circle stone for good luck. I was surprised at how large the area covered and how many erected stones there were, they are also found in other sites throughout the Gambia. Before leaving we looked around the small museum and then got back in the jeep for our short drive to Janjanbureh which is where we will be staying this evening.

Janjanbureh Island

We arrived in good time at 5 o’clock with a short ferry trip to the island and booked into our separate hotels. We then met up at Liz and Peter’s compound with the other new volunteer’s Lucy and Kate who are visiting for the weekend from Soma and Phil for a chat and a much needed cold drink. An hour later we left to shower and change as we were all meeting later for a buffet style evening meal at the hotel. The late nights had finally caught up with Abigail and Bradley so after eating they were quickly settled in bed for the night. We had another couple of drinks before asking for the bill. This proved to be an argumentative time with the manager as they had charged us full price for the children’s meals and were also adding on extra money for the three bedroom room much to our disgust. We paid the bill for food and drinks and finally went to bed with things still unsettled hoping to settle the price of the accommodation in the morning.