National Museum of the North Bank

We ate a breakfast of onion pancakes, bread, jam, banana and mango then set off at 8.30am to the villages of Jufferuh and Albreda, arrived at the hotel unpacked and we set of walking on the Roots Pilgrimage. No sooner had we left the hotel we were surrounded by children all of which wanted to hold our hands and they were fascinated with Abigail and Bradley. A young girl called Maria who was 10 years old took hold of my hand, as we walked even more children appeared running up to us and hugging our legs very sweet. Amy one of the volunteer’s started singing ‘If you’re Happy and you know it Clap your Hands’ and had all the children joining in clapping and singing, she has a good rapour with the children.

The walk to the Museum was only short as both villages have now merged into one, we passed a very smelly fish market and a large baobab tree full of chirping weaver birds, which are a very pretty bright yellow but very noisy. First we were taken by our guide to a baobab tree within the museum grounds which was said to be the very tree where ‘Kunta Kinte’ was circumcised and became a Mandinka Warrior, in those days this area would have been covered by forest. The tree had the outline of an elephant on one side and a monkey on the other so amused Abi and Bradley.

We entered the small National Museum of the North Bank which depicted the horrors of slavery between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. We tried to lift one of the neck shackles on display and found it to be unbelievably heavy. On display were artefacts of, pistols, whips, shackles, cowrie shells, cowbars and kiss pennies which were iron bars used as money to buy slaves, as well as literature on the history of the slave trade, very thought provoking.

Slave Trade

Triangular Trade

Pistols

Whips and Shackles

Cowrie Shells and Kiss Pennies

Notice, Gambia Slaves to be Sold 1786

Notice, Just Imported Slaves 1767

Kunta Kinte's Descendants Compound

We exited the museum and headed of to Binta’s compound who is the local ‘Alkalo’ unfortunately she was in the fields tending to the rice. So onwards to Kunta Kinte’s descendant’s compound, we had a quick brief from the tour guide and we were shown photos by one of the descendants of the author Alex Hayley and the actor who played the boy Kunta Kinte which was taken on one of their visits to the village. The tour guide explained how Alex Hayley managed to trace his descendant Kunta Kinte back to the village of Jufferuh and by doing so he has helped put the village of Jufferuh on the map so they now have regular visitors during the tourist season and all proceeds are shared within the village. Paul had to offer a vote of thanks on behalf of the group, he is getting quite good at this. Next was the site of San Domingo which was the crumbling remains of a European trading station, and then a trip to a village compound built as it would have been in Kunta Kinte’s day thatched mud huts, unfortunately they had been damaged by the resent rain so would need rebuilding. We headed back to the hotel for lunch with an entourage of children following us, Bradley was holding hands and skipping then playing follow the leader with a couple of the children.

Kunta Kinte's Descendants Compound

Bradley Skipping with the Locals

James Island

After lunch and a rest we were taken by pirogue out to James Island with oversized life jackets for Bradley and Abigail. We were entertained by a drummer come singer who had us joining in asking us our Gambian names and then adding this into his lyrics as we all clapped along. On exiting the pirogue the island seemed quite small this we were later told was due to erosion and was much larger centuries ago, a small model was in place to show us this. Our tour guide briefed us on the history of James Island which was used as a prison for slaves before embarking on a long voyage over seas, of which the women were often raped as months later they were then sold with child. We had a walk around the ruins seeing dungeons where the stronger male slaves would have been shackled to prevent them from escaping, an area where the slaves were branded, and small rooms where up to 200 slaves would have been kept. Very thought evoking to think we used to trade in human life this way banishing them to different unknown countries never to see their families again.

The entertainer gave me a handful of small black, terracotta and blue beads which he had picked up of the beach saying these would have been necklaces worn by the slaves, I have kept these as a memento of our visit. We exited the Island by pirogue reflecting on our visit with the entertainer singing Bob Marley’s ‘No Women, No Cry’, quite funny, but good choice of song for the tourists. Had to climb up a pair of ladders from the pirogue to the jetty and I was again met by Maria ready and waiting to hold my hand. Back at the hotel we ate dinner and then I had an early night as didn’t sleep much the previous night as very, very hot also I could feel the mosquito’s biting so took shelter under my net.