Janjanbureh, aka Georgetown, is two thirds up the Gambia river to its source. It’s a sleepy very basic village with little to do besides river travel. It’s incredibly hot here, all surfaces burn your hand, even my camera and smartphone were so hot I am surprised they didn’t shut down. There are hippos here but…

Gambia the country is essentially Gambia the river plus the land 10-20 km to either side. It’s said that the British steamed up the river and declared all land that their cannons could reach, theirs. That method of drawing borders must have seemed sensible at the time. I followed the road in the south side…

That’s a national park south of Kotu Beach, where I am staying. You must have a guide there who explains the forest, and points out eucalyptus trees (quite unlike those in Australia and North America), incense trees with burnable sap, giant termite hills, gibbons, and more. Some of the trees ans ahrubs have vicious thorns.…

Early in the morning, when it was still dark, I boarded a large old wooden pirogue boat at Niodior (pronounced something like Mordor) that would take me from Senegal to the neighboring The Gambia. It seemed inadequate to cross the open sea but got me there in three hours. The ride was a little bumpy…