Not a lot of real interest to say for this day. After the wake up routine, I spent the morning working my way through the mountain of washing that needed to be done. Later I done some other odd jobs, and spent most of the afternoon chilling out reading. Late afternoon we decided to go do some shopping and pop down the fish market in Bakau. We stocked up on good quality fruit and veg, and each bought a nice big fish for dinner. I bought a Mackerel and Emiel and Mirjam bought a Tuna fish. Later that evening we cleaned and stuffed the fish with vegetables and spices, then BBQ’ed them. We had so much that we invited a German couple to join us for dinner. Feddie and Rita Reck (www.reckfilm.de) who are also travelling overland with a massive truck. This truck had everything you could image. Just as well as they plan to spend 6 years travelling around the world in it. The fish turned out great and the beer went down well, and so we spent the rest of the night chatting until late.
After breakfast, the first thing I done was a money check. To see what exact amount I had left. Then I walked into Sukuta, and along the way met a couple of local lads. We got chatting and they decided to hang around and help me find the places I needed. After a bit of a wandering we eventually found a shop with a working photocopier. Where I photocopied my passports and other documents. Then on the way back to the campsite I stopped at a telephone shop and called home. As usual the time you have is all to short, but it was nice to hear news of family and friends at home. Once back at the campsite I chilled out for the after noon working on stuff for the website. That evening we had another slap up meal pasta with chilli sauce. Before sinking a couple of beers and off to bed.
After getting up and having some breakfast I headed on down to the Land Rover garage. Like we had arranged earlier in the week. The guy (Dav) who does the welding was out, and so I made myself busy for a couple of hours with getting other jobs done. These included going to the bank to change money, which took ages. Going to the post office to send some documents home and checking my e-mail in the internet café. By the time I returned to the Land Rover garage Dav had returned and he welded up the cracks in the rear door. I spent the whole of the afternoon driving round all the car parts places and electrical stores I could find to try and get a replacement split charge relay. As the split charge relay had become unreliable because of all the vibration on the piste. Frustrated I returned to the campsite empty handed. I then connected the solar panel to the battery, only to find that the regulator had decided to break. I quickly jumped back in the Landy and went back to the place where we had bought it. They were very understanding and after testing the regulator for them selves gave me a replacement on the spot. Satisfied, I returned to the campsite and set about cooking dinner. I just spent the rest of the evening relaxing and it was still quite early by the time I went to bed, but I was nackered after an eventful day.
After breakfast I sent out again to find and replacement for the split charge relay, but to no avail. But on my travels I did find another place that sold used parts from broken Land Rovers. So I stopped and asked if they had a driver side window winder mechanism. This hand just worn out over time and was now slipping. After much messing around we found one that would fit. So there and then, out side the shop, I stripped down the door and put the second hand mechanism in. That done it was time to return to the Land Rover garage and see if the front brake disc shield had arrived. Indeed it had, and it only took 5 min to put on. The old one had fallen in half dew to rust and vibration. But still there was no joy with the spare wheel carrier as the guy who was selling it was still insisting on a stupidly high price. So I arrange to return Monday to see if he would change his mind. I then went round to the fish market in Bakau and this time bought a nice red snapper, which I later BBQ’ed for dinner. The fish was again lovely and I spent the rest of the evening reading for going to sleep.
I spent the morning spraying up the area’s of the rear door which had been welded, and fixing the number plate to the winch cover. As I had had some hassle from the police a couple of times, about the number plate being sat in the front window and not attached to the bumper. This was just there way of trying to get money out of me, but I thought I would moving it just to avoid hassle in the future. I then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon finishing the updates for the website. Then went with Emiel and Mirjam in there Landy to the interent café to send the updates. This didn’t go very smoothly, but we got there in the end. We then went on the hunt for Velcro to attach a cover which the Dutch couple had made for there solar panel. It was not too long before we had found some Velcro and just down the road we found some one to sow it to the cover. Job done, we returned to the campsite and got busy peeling pawns for dinner. We fried the prawns and had them with spaghetti, salad and red wine. A big feast for our last night at Sukuta camping.
After breakfast I packed the Landy, settled the bill, as well as fill in the guest book before saying our goodbyes. We then left and headed round to the Land Rover garage, to check on the spare wheel carrier. Unfortunately, the guy was not going to move on the price, so I left it. We then stopped by the market in Bakau to stock up on fruit and veg, and then headed onto Banjul to catch the ferry. Even though we had been given directions, which got us most of the way, we still ended up doing a couple of rounds of the bloke before we found the ferry terminal. Once in line it was straight forward to get a ticket and it was not long before we were ushered through to wait on the key side. When the ferry arrived it was organised chaos, as it was unloaded and reloaded including us. Once everyone was squeezed on board, we set off across the mouth of the river to the north side. Once there we were unloaded from the ferry in the same chaotic manner and were soon on our way out of town. After a bit of back tracking and some careful Nav we were on the right piste, heading east only the north shore of the river. We kept driving until early evening, when we stopped and bush camped west of Farafenni. The last stage of road was quite pot holed and slow going. I then topped up the fuel in the main tank from the jerry cans, before making dinner and
We woke early with the light and were ready to go by 08:00. We set off along the rough piste and stopped in Farafenni to pick up some fuel and bread. The fuel station was a bit of a bump and the guy had to pump the fuel by hand, using a big winding handle on the side of the fuel pump. I didn’t really have much choice as it was the only fuel station in town and I really needed fuel. We then headed on east along the main piste until we arrived at the ferry crossing to George Town around late morning. After honking the horn to get the ferry to come over to our side of the river, we were greeted to a very new and shiny looking small ferry. We could just fit both Landies on board for the short trip across the river. After landing on the other side and having to hang around for the change from our ferry tickets, we made our way to the Bird Safari Campsite. This is a couple of km west of George town on the north edge on the island. It turned out to be quite a nice place and even had a swimming pool, which was OK to use and as long as you didn’t mind swimming with the bugs. So we spent the rest of the day chilling out reading and relaxing before having a really nice dinner in the campsite bar. Where we stayed to have a few drinks before going to bed.
It was a hot a sticky nights sleep and I was awake early as the dawn chorus was really loud with all the bird life around us. Once we had packed up, we headed back into George town and spent a couple of hours walking round the place. George Town is famous for being a major slave trading post, which changed hands between a few European countries, including England. So we saw the old slave house and ware house where they were kept until the boats arrived to take them away. We also saw the Triangle of Freedom. So called because if a slave escaped and made it to the tree in the middle of the triangle they would be set free. We then left George Town and took the short drive to reach the ferry on the south side of the island, where we crossed to the south side of the river. It was then a quick drive along mostly good road to Basse Santa Su. Where after some driving around we found a place to stay called Traditional. This is a guesthouse right on the river, where you can also camp in the garden. We had lunch there during which we talked to the site owner and site manager. They explained that they we trying to put together a broacher for the place. Emiel then offered his services with his camera, and after lots of negotiation bargained us a 75% discount on the cost of our stay in return for the pictures. We spent the last half of the afternoon walking around town and I commissioned to pairs of cotton trousers to be made. I picked the material I wanted and after dinner returned to the tailors to pick them up later that night. They fitted perfectly and it only cost 300 Dalasi (less than 9 Euros). On our walk around town we had also managed to find small 12 volt electric fans. We bought two and they are now used it the roof tents at night, which makes sleeping on hot sticky nights that much easier.
It was another hot and sticky nights sleep, and I was awake early with the light. After having breakfast we headed into town and had a look around the market and bought some bread. On returning to the campsite we settled the bill, which was not very much thanks to the photos, and left Basse heading for the border with Senegal. It was not long before the road stopped and the piste started. All the border formalities at the Gambian and Senegalese border posts were straightforward with no hassle or demands for money. But the piste between them got a bit rough in places. We soon found your selves back in Senegal and in the town of Vaelingara. Where we turned and followed the main road northeast to Tambacounda. We arrived around lunchtime and so first popped in one of the local restaurants for some lunch. We then popped next door to use the internet before heading down the road to the bank. I then spent the rest of the afternoon going between the bank, internet café and a telephone boutique as I had great problems trying to get a cash advance on my MasterCard. In the end it would not work and I had to cash some travellers cheques. We then went and found a place to stay for the night, which was called Chez Desert, but it was along the main road. The parking was limited and we just managed to fit the landies in. We also had run into Matt earlier that day and he was staying there as it is the only place to camp in town. It was not the nicest place to hang around for the evening so we walked a short way down the road and had dinner in one of the local restaurants recommended in the Rough Guide. It turned out to be a good place and we had a nice meal and a fun evening chatting to the locals. It was late by the time we left and made the short walk back to Chez Desert, where I had a shower and not long after went to bed.
After another hot and sticky nights sleep I woke early as the traffic along the main road was making a lot of noise. After breakfast I went back to the bank to try again to get a cash advance on my MasterCard. I spent the whole morning going between the bank, internet café and telephone boutique to try and resolve the problem, but with not much luck. So I again cashed more travellers cheques to give me enough money to see me through to Bamako. By this time it was midday and I went to the fuel station and filled up the tank and the jerry cans, as fuel in Mali is more expensive than in Senegal. I then popped round to the bakery and got some bread for lunch. As I was stood at the side of the road having my sandwich, a guy came up and started chatting to me. I explained were I was from and what I was doing, and asked him if he knew of any where better to stay than Chez Desert. He then said I could camp round his place, which was just on the out skirts of town. So he jumped in the Landy and showed me the way to his house. There I spent the afternoon meeting and chatting to him (Fallou) and his friends and ate lunch and dinner with them. Late that evening I set up the roof tent just out side of his compound and settled down to a nice nights sleep. Around midnight though it decided to chuck it down with rain. Which meant I had to batten down the hatches before going back to sleep.