The Gambia, as it is called, (wiki entry click here) is an unlikely country, as it occupies a thin strip of land each side of The Gambia River from its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean deep into the East Coast of Africa forming a narrow intrusion into the country of Senegal. It is immediately evident that it is a poor country and depending on your information source its major source of foreign income is peanuts and the tourist trade. Given the evident lack of wealth we were surprised to see that the streets were relatively clear of rubbish. Note the photo of the man with a donkey cart. There are many of these combinations of man-cart-donkey(s) and they are the first line of defence, they pick up the rubbish in the streets and from piles of rubbish made by home owners and business owners. It is then consolidated into special rubbish trucks.

The days bus tour started with some of the "special buildings", Arch 22 and Banjul Mosque in the town of Banjul which is the port city. There after a drive to the nearby and much larger city of Serekunda where we visited a very busy and very crowded market in a full size bus. This was an amazing experience. The market was comprised of a number of narrow streets (only just two lanes of dirt when empty) lined by vendor stalls protruding into the road way, and then further narrowed by hordes of customers. The bus driver managed to get the bus down these streets and around the associated corners. It did provide a wonderful platform for photos but was certainly a major incovenience for the vendors and their customers. At many places the vendors and customers had to move bicycles and sale goods out of the way for the bus to pass.

These kinds of markets are alway amazing for the persistencce and ingenuity of the vendors who find or source all kind of things to sell. My favourite image of the day is the women carrying a bucket of eggs on her head; notice her arms!, she is completely relaxed - obviously she has no doubt she can manage this load despite the crowd and our bus.

The final treat of the day was a visit to The Crocodile Pool, which as you might guess from the name is a modest size water pool with a population of about 100 crocs. The attraction for reptile lovers like Nina is the opportunity to pat the crocs, so long as you don't try patting their head. The crocs were an interesting experience, but truely the shuttle bus drive from a large coach through the village surrounding the croc pool was way more interesting (even if a bit depressing). Note the second last photo. This women is using a relatively modern sewing machine, doesn't have a table for it so has it sitting on a chair the same height as the one she is sitting on. Yet look at the smile on her face.