Upcountry trip to villages of Gambia

Mungo Park
Seene, Idiboy, Usman, Myself













This is another famous historical site in the upcountry of Gambia, where Scottish explorer Mungo Park began his journey across West Africa in the 14th century. He started at approximately this location. The goal of his journey was to track the course of the Niger river and he was successful. He came back a second time and was attacked and killed by locals during his second journey.



I actually went to this location twice. The first time I had told my friends I wanted to ride the canoe up the river. So one of the locals offered to take me. We went for a mile or so up the river. We stopped and began walking through the woods. I was barefoot but enjoyed seeing the nature. We walked for about a mile through the woods till we reached this monument. On the way back we passed some rice farmers. They were all women, and they were interested to see a foriegner coming through, they playfully asked me to join them in their work. Maybe if I hadn't been barefoot I would have joined them for a little while to see what it was like. On the way back the guide who took me there explained to me life on the farm, as he was a farmer himself. He also asked me if there "was anything I could do for him" and "not to tell the others that he had asked me". But I mentioned it to my friend as soon as we got back and he advised me "not to give him anything" because there were not available ATM's in the upcountry and we needed all the money to make sure we got back okay. The jeep was leeking oil and we had spent more than we expected. We even spent time at a mechanic shop in the upcountry. Here are a couple pictures of the upcountry shop where we received maintenance for our jeep...



No child labor laws here....


That's our jeep behind us being repaired...

Anyway...so as I was saying I went canoeing up the river to visit Mungo Park. Then after reaching back to the location where we were staying that night. My friends also said they wanted to see Mungo Park. So this time we went by land taking a donkey ride through the villlages out to see it. The donkey carried about 6 of us on a wooden board with wheels.

This is the means of transportation for many living in the villages. The night before I had passed through a local village but it was pitch black, as there is no electricity. So I couldn't see anything, I was just following the others. But that day I passed through a few villages in route to Mungo Park, now in the daylight. On the computer I have seen old drawings by Mungo Park of 14th century Gambia, then called "Mandingo". The drawings in his travel journals are nearly identical to the way that it still looks today in those villages.














School in the upcountry of Georgetown... The name Georgetown comes as this place was the first English colony in the Gambia, attracting many historians who document the slave trade; slave dungeons can be found here.
















No.. the pic below is not me inside a slave dungeon, it is actually me at inside a home in Farefeen, this is the home of hospital staff, as the countries main hospital is in Farefeen. Farafeen is a crossroads in the Gambia's upcountry.
















Here we are at the home of Mouroba Shiek, his home is on the outskirts of the tendabba village, and his place attracts many people during the Gambian holidays. Their was some mystery surrounding this part of the trip, as the Mouraba Shiek's practice a brand of Sufi Islam, in which mystical or even "magical" practices that have been a part of the region for many centuries still exist. There are secrets here. You hear things in these parts like, "Gambian families are peaceful, we do not fight in the open, but there are secret unseen battles that go on amongst opposing families, tribes, where curses may be placed on a rival family, and Shiek's are often sought out for the purpose of having these curses lifted."
















There is a famous place in Senegal called Touba where a few Sufi Shieks I came in contact with had studied. Many Westerners and Orthodox Muslims may write off what they are doing as mere superstition. I tried to maintain a respect for the culture, and for the people that who follow it there is a use, purpose and meaning to what they do.














A poem I wrote at the time:

"A valuable custom is gold in one land..
useless trash in another
a tradition is vibrant in one time
old and dirty in a new time."


















When you believe something it puts energy towards it's attainment. For example, a Sufi might give you a long list of activities to partake in to obtain what it is you desire. Like, "wear this ring, then go to this man in this city and buy such and such garment, wear it for such and such days and no harm will afflict you or you will get this or that thing you desire". Some involve very elaborate agenda's that can take, days, weeks, and years. In America, life never slows down enough where such practices could ever take root, but here in Western Africa time moves about much differently; it is an unhassled life, and often achieving something great can take years or even generations to achieve, and people accept this as part of life.

















This was our dining room where I was staying in the upcountry. Those yellow things that look like gasoline canisters are now used to carry our water. My friend Seeni had slaughtered a goat for his Uncle. They washed it off in the river, cooked it and we were soon about to enjoy.
















Seene's car had a leak, so we had to take it to an upcountry mechanic. In the picture I look to still be enjoying myself, but I know at the time I was not. I knew we would make it back eventually, it was just the type of thing where I was somewhat reluctant about the upcountry trip to begin with, and then just like the year before, one thing after another seems to go wrong in the upcountry. All plans quickly go by the wayside. You really have to forget time, and forget about expectations and just learn to experience what is happening the way African's do.
















Breakfast at the hotel.