Gambian River Cruise

We woke early and bought some bread, cheese (like Laughing Cow, but more Polyfilla than cheese) and bananas for the trip. Got into the boat and our captain, who spoke no English at all, also didn't know how to work the engine. Luckily, a younger lad from the jetty leapt on and got it started. Bodes well, we were thinking!

We travelled downriver for about four and a half hours (!), watching the river banks for any form of wildlife. Did see an awful lot of birds (various species, sizes and colours), and one particular yellow kind that makes spherical nests from reeds overhanging the water - pretty skilfull! Tonnes of those and very little else. We were beginning to wonder what we were doing out there.

A little later a sign materialises in the middle of the 200m-wide river. We pull alongside, and see that it says Gambian National Park, No Entry. Rolling of eyes... Our man cuts the engine and for the next ten minutes occassionaly 'whoops' at the shoreline. We were told that there would be armed guards on our way to see 'Baboon Island' and there'd be a 100 Dalasi (£3) fee. More whooping and then a dog barks on land. We wait for a signal, or a boat, but nothing appears. Cautiously our captain starts the motor and we head off into the national park, with an occasional look back over his shoulder.

The river turned into a bird watcher's paradise; all sorts of herons, skimmers, nesters and even the odd eagle. I did make a few of those names up... After another half hour or so downstream, the captain cuts the engine and points across the water. On the other side of the river was a collection of hippos (herd?), floating in the water, with only their eyes visible. It was from quite a distance, and my budget for this trip didn't reach to a zoom lens - Christmas present, hint hint! - but it was really cool seeing them in the wild. We couldn't get too close because they sunk under when the boat came within 100 yards. On the way back though, we saw one pretty close give a massive yawn - teeth and all. Hopefully the pictures will come out okay.

Carrying on we saw a few different types of monkey along the shoreline, hiding in the trees. A couple of small orange ones came right down to the waters edge to have a gander at our noisy boat (the only noise for miles). We also saw some foot-long crocodiles, which made us think twice about dipping our feet in, and a rapid water snake.

All in all, not a bad trip by any stretch of the imagination, but I found myself wanting a bit more. nearly ten hours on a boat and we saw a handful of things (brilliant to see them), but we had spent a lot of the time travelling back and forth, and also trying to find some shade on the very open boat. To give you an idea of what the boat looked like, I put on Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" as I sat on the bow for the return leg. Felt very 'Nam.