Tendaba Camp Kwinella

After an expensive splurge in Dakar, we decided to opt for cheap and cheerful accomodation at the oh so obscure YMCA in Serrekunda. Sent on a wild goose chase by the locals who as in India refuse to admit they are unaware of directions to ANY destination, we eventually ended up in a basic but respectable room in the centre of The Gambia's biggest town. Ten minutes drive away from the resorts and so removed from the touts and ...

When our wallets were seriously slim from the delights of Dakar we decided to move on but although Basse Cassemance in the south of Senegal sounds like such a special place it is plagued by separatist issues and so seemed unsafe as our next stop. Tempted by an overnight ferry trip to the region's capital city, Ziginchour that would see us wake up amid the stunning scenery and ...

... FALSE FOOTBALL<br><br>Kick off never comes in this meaningful match for life, <br>Long, indefinate days of desperation diluted by strife.<br><br>Swamped by bold football strips swallowing their hips,<br>Hoards of hungry players prowl affield for tips.<br><br>Arsenal on attack and as ever danger's defence, <br>Do these footballer's fortunes really make sense?<br><br>Scores seem futile when passes and dribbles ...

... to Kaolack took about 4 hours in a sept place (station wagon) and then we stupidly got on a minibus for the rest of the journey,,,big mistake! had to wait about an hour and a half for it to fimm up with passengers and then when we finally left it drove at about 15mph along a very dusty and potholed road! Some very interesting charachters on that bus! Arrived in Toubakouta when it was dark...imagine no ...

... we noticed that it was absolutely hissing down. Result! Some 6 hours later, we were in the sunshine and joining the usual bunfight to get through customs. There was an extra hurdle to get through today because, in view of the massive 9 confirmed cases of swine 'flu in the UK (Pop. 65m) the Gambians were taking no chances and took everybody's temperature on arrival. I don;t even want to ...

... occupies a prominent place in a collection of similar-sized souvenirs from previously-visited nations, and is intended as a symbolic reminder of the overall sense of Gambian spirit. Considering the range of emotions generated during the trip, my overall assessment of the Gambian experience is that it is living proof that a visit to a third-world country most definitely does not always equate to a third-rate holiday.<br>

... decides to swap paint with the right side of our ride. Two accidents and almost two hours later we are still in Dakar. The driver gets out to look at the damage. I'm not really sure why it's important. No one has insurance and if the car still moves from A to B, no one will pay to have it fixed. Finally, we are moving along. The wind is in my hair, baobab trees in the horizon, grass villages along the road, and mangoes ...

As we threw our clothes into the bag and dropped money into the managers hands, we bolted towards a Gelleh-gelleh of waiting Gambians. Alittle earlier we had decided that since we had such a ****** night and were absolutely still wiped out that we should try and still make it to Tendaba Camp. We were on the road by 6:30, had to pay for an entire fair to Serekunda. After about a 30minute ride we jumped off at Kwinella with a really nice man who was part of the gambian army. The ...

... meant we were the first passengers in our "sept-place" taxi. Sound familiar? My words: Getting to the garage at around 8:30(we were starting to get so good at accounting for time and recording how long things take to happen... mostly to laugh about at later times). After playing around with the local youth, taking photos(thank you kids for breaking a new camera, but we got some good shots), asking every 10minutes, and not thinking too much of the wait because it was ...