Village life in Sanyang

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In southern Gambia we stayed in Sanyang, a small fishing village. Its three mile sandy beach has attracted a few passing tourists over the years and now there are a couple of beach bars with half a dozen rooms out the back.

The fishing village is impressive. There are, we are told, over 300 fishing pirogues.- long brightly painted mahogany boats that go out to sea before we are up in the morning. All afternoon they return in ones and twos, full of fish. Ugly sea snails; shiny black snapper, bongo, butterfish and ladyfish; small sting rays. As the boats return, their crew beach the boat and await help. Slowly, other fishermen wander down the beach to the water's edge, pushing a few old logs which will act as rollers under the boat.

Once there are ten to twenty men on each side of the boat, the task of heaving the boat up the beach begins. These are big and heavy wooden boats and it is hot, very hot in mid-afternoon. Slowly the boat is moved up the beach, the rollers are moved from back to front as the boat progresses. Once it is high enough, in line with the other boats, it is chocked up and everyone takes a rest, chats a little and then starts to wander back down the beach to help the next boat's crew. There is no payment for helping other boats – it is just what you do. They help you, you help them.

Fishing and heaving boats is men's work. Women, often with an infant tied to their back, get the task of processing the catch. Gutting is immediate and done on the beach, much to the gulls and terns delight. Smoking, salting and chilling takes place in the sheds at the back.

While infants are with their mothers, older children mill about and try out their English on us. School in Gambia cost money and these are not rich kids so most get no education. As they get older, so they get jobs to do and, thus, they start to work with their family.

Our room at the rear of the beach bar, is part of a traditional round house. At £10 a night it is basic but adequate with electricity and hot water, sometimes. We eat, drink and chat at the ocean's edge. Local beer; freshly caught and cooked fish; the sun setting into the Atlantic. It is pretty idyllic.

During the day we walk the beach – it is two miles to the other end and we have just birds and crabs for company. On the way back, ours are the only footprints. There is also a fresh water lagoon at the back of the dunes. Here osprey and kingfishers dive for fish and pelicans sit and do very little.

The days start warm, with a wind off the sahara – the hamseen, or fifty day wind. By noon, it is too hot to do much more than laze about. In late afternoon the wind changes and a sea breeze springs up to cool us down.

So now we are heading north. Tonight we are in Banjul, the dusty capital of the Gambia, before we take the 7 am ferry across the river en route for Senegal.

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