The Gambia

With the successful completion of my job, along with the end of my french classes, I found myself with some time on my hands again. So the last week has been a time of exploring the southern Senegal region of Casamance, and the tiny African state of Gambia. I sailed down overnight on a large ferry, and worked my way back north overland.

The landscape is certainly a lot greener than in the north with lots of trees and gardens, and great long beaches. These usually pull the tourists, but I seem to hit the low of the low season and the all the atlantic resorts spots were deserted. So I hung out with the wildlife instead, the crocodile pool at Bakau, and a forest reserve teeming with monkeys.

I found the Gambia an intriguing place. It was one of the longest uninterrupted democracies on the continent until a coup in 1994 placed in power a man who is still at the top. The unusual thing is that he seems to have been able to win two organised elections since, along with convincing the population he can cure AIDs?

This is a good thing as the other unusual aspect of the country is the prevalence of white middle aged woman on holiday with local handsome muscled young black men. Turns out that this reverse sex tourism is very popular here and has woman returning year after year.