Where worlds collide: The Gambia

The Gambia turned out to be a country of contrasts. One the one hand there is a (thankfully) short strip of coastline jam-packed with package tourists, largely from the UK judging by the beer bellies, badly highlighted hair and painful-looking sunburn. Although the government has apparently had a big clamp down on 'bumsterism', as they call it, over the past few years, sex tourism is still very much evident. It may be cruel, but a stroll down Fajara beach really does make for good entertainment. You can watch the British blue-rinse lovelies walking arm in arm with super-buff 20-something local guys. It's hard to believe your eyes at first, but it's definitely all going on along the strip in Gambia! Each to their own...
On the the hand however, you don't have to go far at all down the coast before the high-rise hotels and fast food joints disappear and the now familiar Africa, with its dusty roads, barefooted children and mud-hut villages, regains it's hold.



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Sayonara Sierra Leone: Greetings The Gambia

Well Sierra Leone clearly didn't want me to leave it as much as I didn't want to go, evidenced by the whopping 24 hour delay in my flight leaving Freetown for Banjul. Let's just say that it was a long couple of days of frustration, but luckily I met a nice English couple also stuck at the airport, so at least boredom wasn't too much of a problem.
I cannot speak highly enough of Sierra Leone. It is without doubt one of the most beautiful, unspoilt places left on this earth, populated by gentle, resilient and warm people. Put it on your list now!
After less than a day Gambia so far is treating me well, but is a world away from impoverished Sierra Leone. I'd go so far as to say that coming from one to the other is quite a culture shock, but then all I've seen so far is the coastal tourist strip just south of Banjul, so I'm looking forward to discovering what more this country has to offer... but the vibe is positive so far.

Paradise found: Bonthe and the Turtle Islands

Having successfully navigated my way through my Mattru Jong police encounter I climbed up on the roof of the small wood boat, lay back and spent the next few hours lazily watching the tiny villages, palm forests and fishermen in dugout canoes drift past as we made our way along the stunning Jong river, out into the ocean and across to the small town (village really) of Bonthe on Sherbo Island. Each time we pulled into a tiny river village to pick up or put down passengers, women bare from the waist up waded out to the boat holding slippery fish, crabs or plantain for sale and excitable kids ran along the banks waving and smiling. It was like something out of a National Geographic article and I must've taken about 100 photos en route.
Bonthe itself turned out to be a great little place which I instantly warmed to. The people were all incredibly friendly and welcoming, and couldn't do enough to help. I had a veritable entourage escort me to the cute little guesthouse which I was staying in. The following day a quirky young Swedish guy, who had come across on the same boat, and I decided to splash a bit of cash and hired a motorboat for the day from the plushy Bonthe Holiday Village (an incongrously up-market complex just outside town set up to cater for serious international fishermen) to take us out to the seldom visited Turtle Islands. Definitely money well spent - the islands are quite simply stunning. More like tiny atolls than islands really. An arc of pure white sandbars with a scattering of skinny palms, crystal-clear turquoise water and a handful of palm-roofed village huts thrown in for good measure. It was a perfect day and without doubt my favourite experience of the trip.

A visit to the local Police station: Mattru Jong

Quiz time!
You're a lone female in a port town in Sierra Leone. You're about to get onto a boat for a 4 hour journey down the Jong river (in fact, your backpack has already been loaded onto the boat) and an unknown man, not in uniform and with no ID says, "Give me your passport". What do you say? Hmm, exactly.
And then what does he say? Well I can answer this one... "I'm from the Office of National Security. You're being evasive so now you're coming to the police station with me."
Oh yes. So I end up getting into the police van, being driven to the police station, (my backpack remains on the boat) taken into a sweaty room with four officers in and answering a whole host of questions ranging from "What are your reasons for visiting Sierra Leone?" to "Do you support Manchester United?". An hour later we're all friends and they drive me back to the boat, which had been fully loaded with passengers and about to leave but which they have made wait all this time for me. Handshakes, high-fives and big smiles and off I go.
The people on the boat couldn't believe that I hadn't had to pay my way out, but I didn't. I think the police guys were just bored and wanted a chat. There was nothing remotely sinister about it. It's just that tourists are still a real novelty in Sierra Leone so they didn't want to miss out on the fun.

Getting back to nature: Tiwai Island

Chimps-shrimps, I want pigmy hippos! And I travelled all the way from Freetown to SL's second largest city, Bo (a 6+ hour bus ride), then from Bo to the one-horse town of Potoru in a Poda-Poda (another 3 hrs), and then - a first for me - on an Okada (mum, dad, shut your eyes now) i.e. a motorbike taxi, complete with backpack balanced on the back, for half an hour to the tiny mud-hut fishing village of Kambama, and then finally a boat across the river Mao and a walk through the jungle (now in the dark) to Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary in search of them. Nobody can say that I didn't put in the requisite effort, but did I see a pigmy hippo? Did I b*****ks! It turns out that not only are they extremely shy creatures, they are also nocturnal, so you've about as much chance of seeing a pigmy hippo as you do of getting an iced skinny caramel machiato. That said, it didn't matter in the slightest because Tiwai Island is absolutely beautiful and I loved every minute. It's a large-ish 12 squ. km island that sits in the middle of the muddy Mao River. It's covered in pristine forest and is home to all sorts of rare animals, especially monkeys. 11 primate sepcies, so I'm told. Accommodation is of the canvas variety, and I slept like a log on the night that I arrived despite the rustling and skreiking of all sorts of wildlife outside the tents seemingly protective walls. Then it was up at 6.30am for a 3 hr hike (more like a scramble over shoulder-high butress tree roots and through dense foliage) in search of monkeys. In this quest I had much more success, and saw Campus, Red Colubus and Black & White Colubus varieties, making dare-devil acrobatic leaps from branch to branch high up in the upper canopy, some 50m+ above the ground. Then it was back to the camp for a bit of homemade lunch (Dairy Lea and banana sandwiches. Yum.) before heading down to the river for a very peaceful couple of hours being paddled around the island in a dugout canoe. Another first - I washed my clothes in the river. This is what the locals do, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It was actually quite succesful, as hand-washing goes, but I couldn't shake the image of a great big croc making me into it's dinner, so I didn't linger too long.
The whole Tiwai experience was both exhillarating and relaxing and definitely one of my favourite things so far.

Monkey-tastic: Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary

I have just come back from an overnight stay at a Chimp sanctuary. (Definitely Sanctuary, not Factory!). They are pretty cute and very entertaining to watch, and also apparently share 98.6% of their genes with us humans.... which does explain a few things about certain people that I know! I have even photographed a billboard explainging how to 'Talk Chimp' by pulling different facial expressions. Emmy & Mitch, I will print you out a copy so you can use it as your new 'Saturday night in' game. Dave, after our ridiculous conversation the other day, I think you have already mastered Chimpanzese!

My favourite beaches: Freetown Penninsular and beyond

Well it's hard to choose, because none of them are exactly shabby, but if I had to then my two favourite beaches would be (and not just because they have great names!), in no particular order:
Big Sand Beach, Banana Island
To get to Banana Islands you need to travel right to the far southern most tip of the Freetown Penninsular to Kent. Yes, Kent (reached via Aberdeen, Hastings and Warterloo no less!) and then take a boat for about half an hour across to Dublin, one of two tiny, rural villages on the islands. In summary, the islands are absolutely stunning and for once the Lonely Planet has got it bang on when they describe BI as an emerald pendant dangling off the tip of the penninsular. They are virtually untouched, except for the two villages, one at either end (so about 8km apart), combined population of about 200 people. Which means that virgin jungle clings to steep mountainsides that plummet down to yellow sand beaches and a tranquil sea. To cut a long story short, I ended up staying in a beautiful wood and bamboo cottage overlooking Big Sand Beach (does what it says on the tin) owned by a crazy Latvian, spending my days sunbathing, snorkling, accompanying the guys on their spear-fishing trips, eating fresh-as-it-comes seafood and drinking too much palm wine with two equally eccentric German 'radio amateurs'. Ahhhhh. I had intended to stay for one night... I ended up staying for six.
River No. 2 Beach
Words can't really describe quite how breath-takingly beautiful River No. 2 Beach is. The sand is that ultra-fine, white-as-snow kind, and it goes on for about 3 km with nothing but seven rickety bungalows at one end. The green, jungled hills form the backdrop once again behind the beach which is about 200m wide at the point where a perfect, turquoise freshwater river winds its way across the white sand beach and into the sea. Much fun to be had at high-tide when the sea spills over the sandbar and effectively reverses the direction of the river, so you can lie on your back in it and gently be carried up-stream, meandering through a white wonderland and then past mangroves. (Apparently there are crocs, but I didn't see any). A Swiss girl that I'd met in Banana Islands and I hired a boat and were paddled up stream for about 45 mins to a gorgeous waterfall which tumbles over rocks, creating balmy, cool 'swimming pools' at various different levels. It's quite simply paradise. Oh, and for a few quid we had fresh lobster for dinner just to top off a great day. All that was missing was a glass of cold, white wine, but you can't have it all eh!