Home -> Africa -> Gambia -> Travelogue 2005 -> Monday 17 January

A last day at the beach

We get up quite late, today, and at breakfast we see that many new people have arrived, this time more English people than Dutch. Until now, more than 80% of the guests seem to be Dutch... not the reason why we have come to The Gambia, obviously. We hear a lot of people complaining about stomach- and intestinal problems, but we have been kept free from that, and I do have a very sensitive stomach. The real bad disease one can get here is the so-called Banjul Belly, a heavy form of diarrhea.

After breakfast we take some photographs of the hotel grounds. Every day we walk a few times through these gardens, so we hardly notice the beauty around us, anymore, it has become too normal. But there are some very nice trees, like this baobab tree, just before the entrance to our block of apartments.

A lot of gardeners are busy between the palmtrees and cactus plants, but they can suddenly disappear when they find a tourist to guide them on some trip. We wonder how they do that, if they really have a contract. The people who have a contract, usually have to work six days a week.

The apartments all have a porch, or a balcony when you are on a higher floor. This is the room of Berend and Agnes, located very strategically on a corner from where they have a nice view over the garden and the pathways.

Today is our last whole day here, so we are going to the beach. We are met by Moses who immediately starts complaining about the fact that we are leaving tomorrow and how badly he will miss us. We can imagine he will miss our tips, but he must be a good actor, since he is almost in tears, very dramatic.

Finally, I have waited for a long time to make a picture of Teije (almost) unnoticed. He has the disagreeable habit to take photographs of me whenever I am eating and puts them on this website. Well, this time it will be the other way around! As you can see he is very lazy! We are not allowed to go into the sea today since red flags make it clear that the current is dangerous, like yesterday. So there is nothing more left to do than sunbath (when the sun shines...) and read a bit.

When we walk back to the hotel after some lazy hours, there is no beachboy in sight, not even Moses to receive a tip. Everybody seems a bit tired and lazy, today, as if the week has a very difficult and slow start. We notice it also at dinner, it takes a very long time before we get our food. But the leakage in our bathroom (that we have reported to the reception a few days ago) has been repaired, as they say it: the plumber has put a basket under the leak!

At night, we sit a long time talking to Salifu, to say goodbye. We give him the last of the things that we don't need to take back to Holland, but no money. He has never asked for it and he seems very happy with it. We promise to send him a copy of the pictures and to keep in contact. A very nice man!

It feels a bit colder tonight and around eleven we have to put on a sweater: a good way to get used to the cold in Holland! I love this climate and I would that we could sit outside at home every night, throughout the year. I will surely miss it.

Travel through Europe and Africa

with Elisabeth and Teije