Safari Garden Hotel Fajara

... continues to thrive whilst official powers decline to punish those involved in what is viewed as a cultural custom. Similarly when an incident of girl-child marriage or spousal violence occurs, there is often a reluctance to interfere in 'traditional' issues. Many activities are also divided along gender lines. Cooking is a women's chore. Sewing amusingly (to me), is a male task. Men oversee livestock whilst women are responsible for the backbreaking cultivation of rice ...

... see these things, and I can only imagine how bare the well-paved roads of America will seem without them. One night I had one of those dreams that just leaves you with an irrational gloom all morning; I dreamt that I was home again, but when I greeted everyone with a warm "salaam aleikum," they only looked at me strangely and coldly. It was just a little bit heartbreaking to think about. This place has, in the short time I've been here, left a mark on me,. And come December 16th, I ...

... see these things, and I can only imagine how bare the well-paved roads of America will seem without them. One night I had one of those dreams that just leaves you with an irrational gloom all morning; I dreamt that I was home again, but when I greeted everyone with a warm "salaam aleikum," they only looked at me strangely and coldly. It was just a little bit heartbreaking to think about. This place has, in the short time I've been here, left a mark on me,. And come December 16th, I ...

... change and I heard shouts of my name.. it was Jonathan and Chris, they had been driven round and round in the same taxi trying without success trying to find the hostel booked on the internet. We stopped and chatted. I suggested they come with me to the hotel and off we set. I was surprised to arrive at Motel Anfield, decked out in red with football clearly at the heart of its theme. The husband and wife owners where there ...

... a productive (or not?) day for pickpocketing because about 15 young lads are currently banged up in the cage. I got given a Gambian name "Isatu Jobarteh" when I first arrived in-country and that's mostly what I use now. It started as a useful way of fending off unwanted attention, developed into a way of helping me blend in and differentiate myself from tourists, and now I feel it's an established part of my identity. So much so in fact sometimes I fear I've ...

... equivalent of trick or treating, only these kids aren't going to fobbed off with a couple of jelly sweets, they're going for the cold hard cash). I am mildly embarrassed that I slipped away from the Koriteh celebrations for two hours to watch the world cup rugby, but clearly it was the right decision because my presence enabled England to win. The practical upshot of all this festivity upon my office is that today for the first time ...

... to pay the equivalent of about a dollar, it wasn't a big deal. Strangely, when the second group came, they didn't have to pay the cov**. But lat**, when two of the men who work at the compound stopped by to wish me a happy birthday, they did have to pay. When talking about this we realized that the first p**son to ent** of the first group happened to be black...the second group had been all white, and the two men, black. The night club, like many businesses in the area, is owned ...

... the rainy season lasts from May until November so it wont be so hot" I remember boasting to people before I left. Did I take into account what this meant? Nope! The rain that greeted us into the country obscured the ridiculously disproportionate length of the runway which I'm told was built by NASA to provide an emergency landing site for their space shuttles should one ever be needed. The Gambia has only a few paved roads, but it does have a role in ...

... strict confidentiality .One would wonder why I start giving medicine to the public and all of a sudden stop. I have been having a lot of queries about that even after we went to the RVTH on Saturday. People were saying, "Well, the President. This is what he does. He will introduce very effective medicines and all of a sudden it will die down and we will not have access to him." I had to work on instructions. I don't have the mandate to do it publicly in great numbers ...

... is a termed used loosley, but it's a lovely guesthouse is set back from the road, down a dirt track, in a garden setting that overlooks the beach. Add to this the best steak sandwiches in the world and again, the Barra Ferry debarcle is forgotten. At 3 am we are woken by something large and gambolling about in the roof. In our slightly dehydrated, sleep-deprived state we envision it between the size of a rat and a monkey and hope it ...