"oh ! ... a frenchman"

I’ve been here for a month now and I still haven’t talked about the town where I live… nor about Gambia for that matter, but the country will wait.

  The Laico Atlantic hotel is in Banjul, Gambia’s capital city, home to over 40,000 people. The city is on St. Marie island and was called Bathurst up until 1973. Serrekunda, more to the South, has a larger population but it’s here that the king’s palace and the administrators are. From the hotel, you can walk to the city-centre in about 20-30 minutes and if you’re tired, you must hail a yellow-with-green-stripes taxi which offers very good fares. From the hotel to the market it’s D 7/pers. (€0.20) and only takes 5 minutes. Of course you mustn’t expect the taxi to be exclusively yours: These taxis are shared and if there’s still some place, they will stop and pick up or drop off others. It’s The public transport method with the mini-vans but the foreigner is welcome should they wish. No bus service here!

The city is vast and has some tarmaced and rather flat roads, some “who have seen the world go by”, and – like in the towns and villages – a majority of sand roads. This means that there is a lot of dust and you don’t need to leave your car unattended for 6 months for it to be covered in this orangey sand. Only a few hours are needed on windy days!

  Works are not always indicated so you must be aware of holes, people, other vehicles but also of the goats! We even saw a truck with a petrol-tank from… Allaman? Well no, as the volume it would occupy on a boat would make it far too expensive. It’s a local company who make them. There must be an international colour code which makes these also orange.

  The French population in Banjul has, I’m proud to announce, skyrocketed this last month thanks to the arrival of 2 French people. It’s gone from 0 to … you guessed it … 2 ! ! ! My Pascal and me, as you’ve understood.

   In the week following my arrival, we went to the French Embassy. Lucky people, we were in an actual embassy rather than just a consulate! The access road had suffered as the summer rains had been devastating!   

  We were very well greeted by the attaché in charge to whom we spoke. "Welcome, I’m very happy to see some new arrivals "."The pleasure is ours " Right, down to the important matters: Where are our future friends? Ok, we’re not going to be so direct eh? It’ll therefore be "So how many French people are there around here?". "Proper expatriates, there must be… about 30" Waow, can you imagine? And if we consider that children are included, that must make a grand total of 10 couples!!! Most live more to the South on the coast, 15/25 kilometers from Banjul

  We were lucky to have a very nice dancing meal at the Kairaba Hotel and was already acquainted with almost a quarter of the expat population ! ! ! Ok, it’s said that it’s quality over quantity. No let-down on that part, very friendly first contact, excellent evening in excellent company. We can only ask for more.