Possibly It is my first guess. My second is modern day boat refugees. My third is fishermen on a fishing boat. There was no sign so I really don't know. /Ake
Supposedly there's fish in the lake I didn't see any fish three myself, but I didn't look for it either. According to Wikipedia there are fish in the lake, fish that over generations has adapted to a saltier than average environment.
On floating in the lake: I couldn't stop myself from laughing.
/Ake
Very interesting post I've been to the Gambia myself, but I don't think we went to Senegal at the time. Slavery was a scourge on the world, but I don't think it was so much of Europeans jumping of the ships and kidnapping people as African themselves selling their captured prisoners to the Europeans, much in exchange for firearms. Slavery was already very prevalent in Africa before Europeans came there, just like in much of the rest of the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Africa I look forward to seeing more, this have made me want to go back to the region soon!
Youssou Ndour concert I would have been very disappointed about missing a chance to see Youssou Ndour too. West Africa is very close to my heart (I grew up in Nigeria where my parents were expats for 10 years), and I loved reading this post. Looking forward to the rest of the blogs :)
Slavery Lest we forget. Reminders of that terrible trade must be told over and over. Impossible to adequately put my thoughts in words. Sad to think that the James Island fort needs to remain in ruins as a reminder and not be destroyed to erase the memory. Human history it seems requires the memory as a reminder of man's potentially evil heart. Lest we forget.
The Gambia There is something about West Africa that excites us Ake & Emma. We have only spent time in Mali but that was enough to draw strong comparisons to East Africa where we have travelled in a number of countries. The vibe in West Africa is more welcoming and relaxed in our experience. The music and rhythms of Senegal makes it high on our wish list. Juldeh Camara, the virtuoso of the Gambian ritti (west Africa's one-stringed fiddle) has played with Justin Adams and Robert Plant (ex Led Zeppelin). May you weave a merry path through West Africa...fear I'm late to catch the ride...may its rhythm move you.
Interesting comment Thank you for the comment. We really know very little about music in general and African music even more so. I find your comment interesting to read because we can learn much when we know little. /Ake
Wow Senegal and Gambia! I've never considered either place but maybe now after reading a bit of the history and seeing your pictures, it might be worth a go.
Add for a gym we think We think there was gym inside the building and that the local artist, who obviously don't work out much, was hired to paint something to draw attention to them. /Ake
We are Emma Holmbro and Ake Dahllof. We live in Stockholm, Sweden.
We have travelled more or less regularly since the mid 1990-ies and it seems like the more we travel the more difficult it is to decide where to go next. Not because we are running out of places to visit but because we find more places we want to go to faster than we manage to travel to them.
Some of the things from our travel bucket list we have ticked off since we started this blog in 2006 are
Angel Falls in Ven... full info
Rainyb
Lorraine Brecht
Another great 'expose' !