Down South

Today, Sarjoe and I headed down “south” (insofar as the Gambia has a “south”) along the coast -- all the way to the Gambia's southern border with the Casamance region of Senegal. The border river (pictured, with Sarjoe) and the beaches in the Kartong area were both beautiful, serene and almost unoccupied.

Working our way back north, we stopped to see (and hold!) the snakes at the local Reptile Center. The woman who gave us a tour said that there are serious misconceptions about snakes in Gambian folklore that can even lead to unnecessary deaths, so part of their mission is to teach several thousand Gambian schoolchildren per year what there really is to fear and not fear from the local snakes. Unrelatedly (I hope), she had a simultaneously understated and lewd sense of humor -- telling us about one kind of snake that allegedly has two penises and can go at it for 24 hour straight; cracking jokes about tortoise polygamy; and ending the tour with the question "What is the most dangerous snake in the Gambia?" with the unexpected response "The one in men's pants."

At around 5pm, we watched the fishing village Tanji in full swing, with boatloads of fish pulling up and a sophisticated ladder of distribution in deployment. From what I could tell, it works something like this: Wholesale brokers take their teams of teenage boys out to the boats, buy fish in bulk, and have them carried back to shore in enormous buckets. Those fish that are to be dried are then carted away from shore in wheelbarrows to the smokehouses just a few dozen meters away. The fish that are to be sold fresh, iced or salted are bought on the beach from the wholesalers by small-scale distributors on the shore, who then take them to market in Serekunda or wherever the next day (presumably) -- or possibly resell them to the people who are actually going to take them to market, taking their own small slice of profit at each step of distribution.

Also today: We had lunch at and a very interesting briefing on the stunning Sandele Eco-resort, which we were checking out on behalf of Avaaz as a possible retreat venue. We also went to the Tanji museum on the history, culture, flora and fauna of the Gambia. And we visited with Sarjoe's sister and his former boss (a retired UNICEF professional).