Monday 1 February 2016

The Gambia Days 7 & 8

My week in Gambia was a hectic one and it was nice to have my last two days in the country be a little more peaceful and relaxing. By this point in the trip I was starting to wish we had extended our stay, I could have easily done with another week just so I could explore a little more.

Day Seven  
Sunday was one of my favourite days because it was so funny. I started the day off on a bad note, some how Tara muddled up the mosquito repellent cream and my Oral B toothpaste (they both look identical) and I accidentally brushed my teeth with the mosquito repellent, which isn't fun! It's even worse when you only have a mouth full of bottled water left and you can't use a tap because the water isn't "safe". We had a laugh about it but it wasn't the best start to the day. After this mishap I headed to breakfast.


This was our last scheduled day so we had one more activity to attend too, it was the Turtle SOS The Gambia presentation. During the presentation they told us about the things they've done in the past including helping new born turtles, doing night walks to find where the turtles hatch their eggs and stopping people from selling turtles for meat as they are endangered. Turtle SOS The Gambia's mission is to "establish a sustainable turtle conservation and related community based eco-tourism programme in The Gambia." Make sure you check out their Facebook page to find out more. After the presentation everyone did the turtle dance which was so much fun and I'll try and upload a video with in the next few weeks.
After the turtle experience we all headed down to the beach where Tara got her hair done, she was quoted 2 hours maximum and it actually took 10+ hours! Because it took so long she missed out of most of the festivities that day. We stayed at the beach for a couple of hours before heading back to our room to have shower and change out of our swimsuits, once changed we had lunch before Zdenka and I decided to face her fears and go across the road to the snake farm. One of the boys who worked at Sandele said they'd come with us and it was great to finally have our own little adventure and have someone show us around.
 The snake farm was only small but for 200 dalasi you can't really go wrong. There were loads of snakes, lizards, crabs and a few crocodiles as well as tortoises. It was fun to touch a few of the snakes and hear about them. We found out that Gambians are extremely afraid of snakes even-though there isn't a single poisonous snake in The Gambia

After the snake farm it was pretty late so we went back to the room for a while before dinner where we played UNO for a while, had a laugh and showed off our snake pictures and reminisced on the week we had. Once we had finished dinner it was time for the beach entertainment, we headed down the to beach where there was a fire and women singing and dancing. It was so much fun watching them sing and dance and some of the girls got up and danced too. It was the last time we were seeing one of the Gambian students as he had college the next day so it was a little teary to be saying goodbye, it made it feel even more real that we were going home.

   Once we said our goodbyes and the beach entertainment was over we changed into our party gear and two of the boys took us into the village to see authentic Gambian night life. It was crazy, it was a small room, with hardly any lights filled with men drinking and smoking. We had such a laugh though and it was super cheap and luckily Tara and I love reggae music. 

 
Day Eight  
Day eight was home time and it really hit me that I'd be leaving this beautiful country behind and heading back to the cold, rain and sadness of London. We all tried to sleep in on the last day especially after getting in around 3:30am but we woke up pretty early like every other day. We finished packing our bags and headed to breakfast. After breakfast we went straight to the juice shack to have our last juices of the week before going to the beach and relaxing for a few hours, it was finally time for me to try and catch a tan. I slapped on the tanning oil and sat in the sun while the girls went for a walk. 
After a few hours at the beach we headed back to the room, showered and changed ready for our transfer to the airport, before the transfer we couldn't leave without swapping Facebooks and taking some group pictures. 


Overview of the week
The Gambia is a beautiful country, everyone we met was so welcoming and it was refreshing to see so many happy people who genuinely love life. The week had its ups and downs and that's partly due to my lack of concentration and the fact I was missing my home comforts but The Gambia took me out of my comfort zone, I faced my fears (snakes, spiders, tiny boats) and I learnt so much about sustainability. This was a trip of a lifetime and honest Gambia isn't a country that would be on my holiday list but it really does have a place in my heart. 
  
What do you think of days seven and eight?
Would you travel to The Gambia? 

25 comments:

  1. Wow looks like you had an amazing time, am so jealous (apart from the snake)

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  2. It sounds like an amazing experience, it's always good to get yourself out of your comfort zone, well done for facing your fears! Ray x

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  3. It sounds like you are having an amazing time but is not be too happy being so close to that snake!

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  4. Lol. Braids do take time. Looks like you enjoyed Gambia.

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  5. This looks amazing, I hope you're having a fab time! Although the snake is quite scary... do love the braids though! xxx

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  6. Your trip sounds amazing. Gambia is beautiful we actually went for our honeymoon there.

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  7. Well done for getting out of your comfort zone you are so brave! That snake looked terrifying!

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  8. I would love to travel there and experience what you did. Looks incredible! x

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  9. Sounds like an amazing trip! Brushing teeth with mosquito repellent is exactly the type of thing I'd do too!

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  10. I've enjoyed this series, it's been really insightful!

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  11. You write so well about your trip. Sounds like you had an amazing time and those memories will last forever-I'm still in touch with people I travelled to Cuba with on a similar trip.

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  12. The turtle experience sounds awesome, but brushing your teeth with mosquito repellent doesn't quite sound so much x

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  13. Love this post and all the pictures, they just exude joy, what a wonderful place Gambia is!

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  14. Oh no, what an awful way to start your day, but at least you had a laugh about it.
    I wouldn't have been able to go near that snake - I am terrified of them.

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  15. What a fantastic experience, I have loved reading all about it x

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  16. Chuckled at the thought of you mixing up toothpaste and mosquito repellent! Hope you're not too sad to be bad in sad and dreary England - looks like you had a fantastic time!

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  17. it looks like you totally amazing time and what an amazing experience to have

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  18. Yikes to your "toothpaste" incident, but what a fun memory that makes! You're so brave to go to that snake farm too. Ugh!

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  19. Wow looks like you had so much fun in The Gambia! I love the look of the turtle place and seeing the snakes would be right up my street hehe!

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  20. It just seems absolutely incredible. What an amazing experience to have, thank you so much for sharing. x

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  21. Awww, it sounds like you had an amazing time! What a wonderful experience (minus the toothpaste incident, haha)The beach entertainment sounds and looks like a lot of fun! xx

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  22. That looks wicked! Can't believe the hair took over ten hours - that's crazy! x

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  23. The words wow, amazing, incredible, my god the size of that snake were all running through my head as I read this and it does genuinely seem like you are having an amazing time x

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  24. Gambia sounds like an amazing place. You are very adventurous travelling there. Memories that will lat a lifetime....

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  25. Gambia sounds like such an amazing place. xx

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