OK I know I am probably the worst person to have a blog because I never get around to actually writing it (I just think about what I could write). So this blog is for the Bright people who told my mum to make sure I remember to update it, thanks for reading :)
As the land cruiser barrels into a thick cloud of red dust I hope that Coolie (our driver) has some sort of special x-ray vision that allows him to see what's ahead of us, because I certainly can't. There must be a car ahead somewhere because our headlights are unable to penetrate the cloud of dust it leaves behind. The sun set about an hour ago and since then we have been driving at 100km/hour into dusty nothingness. Every so ofter we are suddenly confronted with a Gelli - an old beaten up mini van carrying more people and luggage than is physically possible, how they don't fall apart at every pot hole must be a feat of magic. The Gellis are invisible to us until they are about 5 meters away, when we are forced to swerve quickly into the ditch. I suppose the Gelli driver doesn't want to risk stopping as it looks quite possible that the van will never start again.
We are on the road to Basse, the most eastern town in Gambia and a major thoroughfare for many people heading down to Guinea Conakry and beyond. The embassy has made various donations to surrounding villages and Zack has been sent to check them out. I tagged along just for fun (or something like it) as I hope to see as much of the country as possible while we are here. Now we may live in Africa but as other embassy staff say, this is "Africa light", no war, no famine and a reasonable climate. We live in a peaceful country and although entertainment may be limited we have access to pretty much everything we need - I even found vegemite the other day! So going all the way up to Basse is quite an adventure for us, no tourists come up here, there are no supermarkets, very little power and we had no idea what it would be like. Zack made me pack boxes of food, sleeping bags, antibiotics and more bug spray than you can imagine! Despite our wild imagination, Basse was not like driving into the depths of the Congo Basin and we were staying in an apartment on the MRC compound (British Medical Research Center) that was nicer than our house. Although I have to say, for an organization that does so much malaria research you would think they would have mosquito nets and fly wire screens on the windows.
Although Basse is about as far away from Kombos as possible in Gambia, it is probably only a few hundred kilometers in distance. Yet the drive takes anywhere between 6 hours (driving at break neck speed) and 8-9 hours (if the ferries take a while). We drove up the north bank to avoid the terrible roads on the south but this involves many ferry crossings. Bridges here are rare and although they add hours onto a trip, ferries are the usual means of transport across the river - even if it is only 30 meters.
One of the main reasons we were up in Basse was to attend an opening of a community project to assist with education in sustainable farming and other such activities. In typical Gambian style it started 3 hours late and went for 4 hours but on the whole it was interesting - especially hearing about their plans for improving agriculture and industry. We spent the remainder of our time visiting villages which were recipients of embassy projects such as milling machines - grinding cous can take women hours by hand. To show off the new machine we were offered some freshly ground cous which is served with milk in a large communal bowl. Now I am very happy (and surprised) with the variety of food here but the one thing I really miss is fresh milk. Well this is proof that I should be careful what I wish for... this milk was so fresh that the cow was still tied up outside! Now you all may be accustomed to drinking unpasteurized milk but I am not and sipping fresh warm, sour milk (made slightly lumpy from the cous) out of a giant spoon was an experience. I hate to sound ungrateful for the kind generosity of the village but I am now much more appreciative of our imported long life milk from Belgium.
As the land cruiser barrels into a thick cloud of red dust I hope that Coolie (our driver) has some sort of special x-ray vision that allows him to see what's ahead of us, because I certainly can't. There must be a car ahead somewhere because our headlights are unable to penetrate the cloud of dust it leaves behind. The sun set about an hour ago and since then we have been driving at 100km/hour into dusty nothingness. Every so ofter we are suddenly confronted with a Gelli - an old beaten up mini van carrying more people and luggage than is physically possible, how they don't fall apart at every pot hole must be a feat of magic. The Gellis are invisible to us until they are about 5 meters away, when we are forced to swerve quickly into the ditch. I suppose the Gelli driver doesn't want to risk stopping as it looks quite possible that the van will never start again.
We are on the road to Basse, the most eastern town in Gambia and a major thoroughfare for many people heading down to Guinea Conakry and beyond. The embassy has made various donations to surrounding villages and Zack has been sent to check them out. I tagged along just for fun (or something like it) as I hope to see as much of the country as possible while we are here. Now we may live in Africa but as other embassy staff say, this is "Africa light", no war, no famine and a reasonable climate. We live in a peaceful country and although entertainment may be limited we have access to pretty much everything we need - I even found vegemite the other day! So going all the way up to Basse is quite an adventure for us, no tourists come up here, there are no supermarkets, very little power and we had no idea what it would be like. Zack made me pack boxes of food, sleeping bags, antibiotics and more bug spray than you can imagine! Despite our wild imagination, Basse was not like driving into the depths of the Congo Basin and we were staying in an apartment on the MRC compound (British Medical Research Center) that was nicer than our house. Although I have to say, for an organization that does so much malaria research you would think they would have mosquito nets and fly wire screens on the windows.
Although Basse is about as far away from Kombos as possible in Gambia, it is probably only a few hundred kilometers in distance. Yet the drive takes anywhere between 6 hours (driving at break neck speed) and 8-9 hours (if the ferries take a while). We drove up the north bank to avoid the terrible roads on the south but this involves many ferry crossings. Bridges here are rare and although they add hours onto a trip, ferries are the usual means of transport across the river - even if it is only 30 meters.
One of the main reasons we were up in Basse was to attend an opening of a community project to assist with education in sustainable farming and other such activities. In typical Gambian style it started 3 hours late and went for 4 hours but on the whole it was interesting - especially hearing about their plans for improving agriculture and industry. We spent the remainder of our time visiting villages which were recipients of embassy projects such as milling machines - grinding cous can take women hours by hand. To show off the new machine we were offered some freshly ground cous which is served with milk in a large communal bowl. Now I am very happy (and surprised) with the variety of food here but the one thing I really miss is fresh milk. Well this is proof that I should be careful what I wish for... this milk was so fresh that the cow was still tied up outside! Now you all may be accustomed to drinking unpasteurized milk but I am not and sipping fresh warm, sour milk (made slightly lumpy from the cous) out of a giant spoon was an experience. I hate to sound ungrateful for the kind generosity of the village but I am now much more appreciative of our imported long life milk from Belgium.
So we survived and enjoyed our adventure to Basse... times like these remind us of why we love living in such a different place, strange milk and all!
