Steve Becker's fascinating, sometimes hilarious
trip to The Gambia. Bring your own calabash. by Dr Steven Becker, 31 Westfield Grove, St. Johns,
Wakefield, Yorkshire, U. K. Chamaerops No. 14, published online 23-08-2002
Left: Oil palms & Rice paddies, Gambia
Idly perusing the holiday literature, in the small
print, I came across the fact that the nearest piece of rainforest
to Europe is located in The Gambia. Without further ado, a flight
was booked, the family inoculated against diseases that had once
made this part of the world the White Man's Grave, and currency
was ordered. The latter came in the form of Dalassi and, much to
the children's amusement, Bututs. After delivering an incisive lecture
on the dreariness of this strain of English lavatorial humour, I
sent them to bed with a copy of Mungo Park's 'Travels in the Interior
of Africa' in order to induce in them a sense of perspective. Having
a more mature outlook, I dug out Genera Palmarum, my new passport
and a map, and made plans. Gill was astounded that we had actually
made a decision on a holiday destination.
Two weeks later we landed in Yundum. Customs couldn't
understand why a tourist had several thousand pounds worth of medical
and surgical items in a shoulder bag the size of a hippo. I thought
we were going to lose them but reason prevailed. Eventually we were
admitted to the country. Homebound tourists pestered us for news
of the Test Match, hustlers hustled, large birds circled in thermals,
and vultures called porters squabbled in unseemly fashion over our
luggage.
The seashell and bitumen road from the airport took
us towards Serekunda. We passed huge termite mounds, breeze block
and corrugated iron dwellings, monster Chinese trucks, massive roadside
puddles in the red laterite mud, women skilfully balancing all manner
of articles on their heads, gangling men repairing battered vehicles,
hawkers and traders, market bustle, very large hardwood trees and
throngs of people everywhere. All this and the fact that we thought
we had stepped inside a furnace made an immediate and decisive impression
on us all that took several days to decipher. We had arrived in
sub-Saharan Africa.
The Calabash & the Wonjo 
