Another hot day in Gambia - 11 Nov
After 2 days at Bird Safari Camp I already felt I'd pretty much done whatever there was to do as I wasn't as keen on bird watching as some. So Ibraham was thinking that maybe we could all go to the rice paddy fields and observe birds there. The *plan* was to go to Georgetown by boat, buy some water and then walk on and boat it back to the camp. Sounded good --- in theory.
Of course, nothing is ever what it seems in Gambia so we ended up all busing it to Georgetown and then got dropped off outside the paddy fields. Well, I thought we'd stay on the edge but we actually walked along the edges and I was wearing shorts and got scratched with grass cuts here and there... I wasn't happy venturing out so far... and I thought we'd be 45 mins but we went on and on and on and on and on... and it was a good 2h30 before we were able to stop and walk back to the ferry point to await for our bus pick-up. I had no water on me at all (for once!) as I assumed we'd have bought some more beforehand... we then had to wait almost an hour for pick-up (late, of course) and so it was 4 hours before I could have a drop of water... by then the temperature was soaring and I just thought it was almost irresponsible at this point to be so exposed for so long. Thankfully I had my safari hat but not much else as you kind of want to wear the bear minimum. I really wasn't impressed. W hite skin reacts so differently to the sun than black skin does. I always had my SPF50 on me though so I kept topping up.
We eventually got back to the camp at 1 pm where I drank 1L of water and 2 cokes to make sure I wouldn't have a sun-stroke (having had one in Israel in 1993, never again... it's horrid). Then hopped into the pool for a few lengths and then had a shower to cool down. I'd dreamt of this moment for the last 4 hours, it was bliss.
More guests were around this time and they were all quite interesting, being even older and more travelled than I was. It was interesting to swap stories and hear of people's experiences. At 4pm we all decided that the best way to spend the evening would be to go back on the river but ideally on the Lady Hippo as it had an upper deck where you could lie down on foam mattresses and watch the world go by... it sounded even more civilised than the smaller boat used yesterday.
So we did that, though some people had been told it'd depart at 4.30pm and others 4.00pm so half of us had to wait for the 2nd half to arrive... but I'd learnt to 'let it be' by then. Once again the birds were a bit too far to be pictured properly though and we actually didn't see many at all. It was quite a different experience from the day before and not as rewarding in some ways though the sunsets didn't disappoint. They remained picture-perfect every night.
We had a nice dinner again on arrival.... 8.15pm, not bad.... more carbs though I don't think I could have stayed a whole week for fear of ballooning too much (it all goes in my chin ! who wants a double chin @ 45 ?).
After 2 days at Bird Safari Camp I already felt I'd pretty much done whatever there was to do as I wasn't as keen on bird watching as some. So Ibraham was thinking that maybe we could all go to the rice paddy fields and observe birds there. The *plan* was to go to Georgetown by boat, buy some water and then walk on and boat it back to the camp. Sounded good --- in theory.
Of course, nothing is ever what it seems in Gambia so we ended up all busing it to Georgetown and then got dropped off outside the paddy fields. Well, I thought we'd stay on the edge but we actually walked along the edges and I was wearing shorts and got scratched with grass cuts here and there... I wasn't happy venturing out so far... and I thought we'd be 45 mins but we went on and on and on and on and on... and it was a good 2h30 before we were able to stop and walk back to the ferry point to await for our bus pick-up. I had no water on me at all (for once!) as I assumed we'd have bought some more beforehand... we then had to wait almost an hour for pick-up (late, of course) and so it was 4 hours before I could have a drop of water... by then the temperature was soaring and I just thought it was almost irresponsible at this point to be so exposed for so long. Thankfully I had my safari hat but not much else as you kind of want to wear the bear minimum. I really wasn't impressed. W hite skin reacts so differently to the sun than black skin does. I always had my SPF50 on me though so I kept topping up.
We eventually got back to the camp at 1 pm where I drank 1L of water and 2 cokes to make sure I wouldn't have a sun-stroke (having had one in Israel in 1993, never again... it's horrid). Then hopped into the pool for a few lengths and then had a shower to cool down. I'd dreamt of this moment for the last 4 hours, it was bliss.
More guests were around this time and they were all quite interesting, being even older and more travelled than I was. It was interesting to swap stories and hear of people's experiences. At 4pm we all decided that the best way to spend the evening would be to go back on the river but ideally on the Lady Hippo as it had an upper deck where you could lie down on foam mattresses and watch the world go by... it sounded even more civilised than the smaller boat used yesterday.
So we did that, though some people had been told it'd depart at 4.30pm and others 4.00pm so half of us had to wait for the 2nd half to arrive... but I'd learnt to 'let it be' by then. Once again the birds were a bit too far to be pictured properly though and we actually didn't see many at all. It was quite a different experience from the day before and not as rewarding in some ways though the sunsets didn't disappoint. They remained picture-perfect every night.
We had a nice dinner again on arrival.... 8.15pm, not bad.... more carbs though I don't think I could have stayed a whole week for fear of ballooning too much (it all goes in my chin ! who wants a double chin @ 45 ?).
posted by Sylvie at 9:06 PM
<< Home