The Glynns 1999

In a strange way, this started nearly 20 years ago with ROOTS and Kunte Kinte, my wife and I were so moved by the Alex Haley story that we named our first son Toby, ‘Roots people’ will see the connection.

Then 20 years later and ready for our first ‘foreign’ holiday, we booked for the cheapest holiday we could find, for us and 3 of our 4 children.... to the Gambia, ironically not Toby, who is now studying at University. It was only after getting travel brochures that we recognised "The Gambia" as the home of Roots... it brought the hairs up on the back of our necks.

We knew nothing of The Gambia, except that it was around 30 degrees in December and that there were a variety of recommended vaccines, which for the 5 of us seemed to cost as much as taking another person. We over packed not knowing what to expect and left Gatwick airport UK, with rain lashing & wind blowing extremely cold, really typical English winter weather... the plane punched through the cloud within minutes and from then, with the exception of starry nights, we saw nothing but sunshine for 14 incredible days.

We had changed some pounds into Dalasies and the rest into travellers cheques before leaving, there was really no need, the Gambians are more generous than our own multinational banks and agents, most prefer sterling.

We arrived on a 30 degree Gambian evening, at the very modern terminal of Banjul International airport, with the sun just preparing to set, and from there by coach through the villages and Serekunda centre on our way to the Holiday Beach Hotel at Kololi. The travel rep. spoke but we were silent transfixed by the sights and sounds of an African evening that I was just totally unprepared for.

The villages were what we call ribbon developments and nothing much more than the simplest of mud or concrete block huts covered with a low pitched tin roof, all looked to be painted a deep and dusky red, but later I realised this was dust of the red Gambian sand, December is well into the dry season!! Outside each building people were standing talking and as we approached and past, waved and smiled at us, as if we were long loved relatives returning from some distant place, not just one or two people waving, most of them and all of the children. This really is the smiling coast of Africa.

The Holiday Beach Hotel is very clean and very basic, the bungalow type buildings we were in had a large living room opening from a good sized covered veranda, there was space for a cooker and fridge and eating area at the far end, but only the sink was in position. There were 2 very basic double beds, clean sheets and not very soft pillows. A loo and shower completed the accommodation, plenty of hot water, and UK type plugs and switches for the electrics. Our arrival was accompanied by exactly enough people to carry one case each and with the absence of anything less than 50 Dalasi notes (3 UK pounds) each case carrier was tipped with a UK pound coin. Half board meant eating at the "Scala" restaurant, a few hundred yards from the hotel’s main entrance.

It would be difficult to get better food in the UK without paying a lot of money for it, the evening menu was limited for us 'half boarders' but Wow!!, beautiful fish and wonderful meat served at a very leisurely pace, most evening meals took over an hour but with the inside rooms air conditioned it was a very pleasant way to chill in the early evening. If you get the offer of half board at the Scala, take it!!.

Kevin and Lamin, two locals introduced themselves as we strolled back to the hotel, we took them for bumsters, they were pleasant, friendly and welcoming, they didn’t ask for money, they didn’t try to sell us anything. Lamin had a shop in "Happy Corner", a right angle of about 6 small covered stalls, immediately outside the hotel, some were open till late at night, Lamin’s sold bead bracelets, polished stones, incredible shells not very commercially presented. We chatted and promised to come back to look round properly the next day.

Helen looked very pale, it was hot and stuffy, Helen looked even paler, she made it to the door then went headlong onto the stony sand outside..... she had totally passed out, dead weight, .... all around came to help, chairs arrived from nowhere, a fan was produced, Helen was there but like they say ‘curtains drawn - no one at home’, the kids were brilliant so were the Gambians and within 10 rather scary minutes, a weak and wobbly Helen was making it back to the room, feeling a bit embarrassed and shaken but basically OK.

Electric fans and fringes and strong boxes, are available from the hotel at around 250D a week each, we did without the electrics and managed fine without the strong box, we didn’t have much to be stolen, but in retrospect, I think there was more risk from our fellow travellers than from the local people.

The sun, never failed to appear in a blue sky to brighten our breakfasts in the hotel’s open sided dining area, even at 7.30 in the morning it was pleasant to be outside, breakfast was bread, ham, cheese and a variety of fresh fruit, you could pay more and have bacon and eggs!!! We missed making a hot drink in the morning or late at night, next time we’ll take a small travel kettle. The pool was clean and open for swimming at 10.00. The first morning, the travel rep. was calling to brief us. The night before Lamin had said he could take us round and about , we liked him, but were a little unsure.

The rep. offered a trip for every day, most were 25 to 30 pounds sterling per person per trip and with 5 of us we reckoned we could maybe make two trips, but have nothing else left to spend. Coke etc outside the hotel was 3D, in the hotel bar 10D, Julbrew the local beer was 5D out, or 15D in, mostly we drank out. Cards were 4D and stamps to the UK 2D. To send an ordinary letter from the UK to Gambia is almost 1 pound, 17D, I guess Gambian visitors to the UK don’t mail a lot of postcards!!!

The rep. also said the way to see the ‘real’ Gambia was to make friends with one of the locals... we had a family discussion.... we all pretty well felt the same way, we had so much to spend and when it was gone it was gone, the air company, tour operator and hotel had already had their cut, anything else we had should be spent with the locals.

We bumped into Lamin outside his shop. It was OK though, Abraham would look after his shop, he could take us round. Were we happy to travel on the local bus, or bush taxi, or did we want the diamond tourist taxis? Local bus was the cheapest, for the main journeys Kololi to Serekunda 2D per person, Serekunda to Banjul 3D per person. Bush taxis varied, but for 5 of us, plus Lamin we never paid more than 25D. On one day, we hired a large car for the 6 of us, from early in the morning to 8 in the evening that was our most expensive single item it cost 800D (50 pounds sterling) maybe we could have got it cheaper, but a day out on a tour would have been almost 2000D, so it seemed a bargain for our large party, Lamin and Abraham looked after us from 9 in the morning till whenever we liked, early some evenings, the early hours after a night at the Bahamas beach club.

I don’t want to describe the sights we saw, the places we went, the things we did, the foods we ate, the people we met, because it may spoil it for you, the Gambian experience is a two way thing like most experiences, what I will say, is that it was a real treat, I have never met nicer people, never felt so at home away from home, never experienced friendship so intense, I feel I have known Lamin and Abrahim for 10 years not 10 days. At the "Happy Corner" of shops they called us the ‘Happy Family’, it would be hard not to be happy.

We returned to England all feeling homesick.... for The Gambia and months later, we still felt the same. If anyone reads this before visiting Kololi, please visit Happy Corner and give our warmest regards to Ousman, ‘the boss’, from the ‘Happy Family’ who visited them just before Christmas, and if you see Lamin or Abraham remind them that we will be back to see them all again. Take pens and little note books for the kids you’ll meet, take clothes that you can leave behind to make room in your bags for the fantastic batiks and woodcarvings that you’ll want to bring home.... Have a great time.....