Plymouth to Dakar Challenge : Team Spitting Llamas

Day 20 21 22 23 - Kaolack(SN) to Banjul(GM)

Posted by Aaron on January 22, 2008 11:20 AM

Leaving Koalack(SN) we drove to the border of Senegal and The Gambia, it was the last boarder crossing and a real mile stone bringing a conclusion to the trip. Team speed were up and on the road in true efficient fashion with us in tow. With the sun bearing down, we could easily see the terrain changing again, getting much greener as we got to a more tropical climate. The road however got so rough at times we left the tarmac part and drove on the dirt beside. The dirt track was in far better condition and even the locals were using this "other" road. We just took our time and there where no drama's. Along the way, Dave and Darrel were pulling over to give away t-shirts and various equipment that was no longer needed. It was great to see the massive smiles on some of the people as the got some discarded items – except for the poor guy who got the fishing rod – he didn't seem that impressed.

Then before we knew it we came up on the boarder. The boarder crossing was easy; the event organizers had finally done something right and talked to the boarder guards in advance. As you get into The Gambia, there is a small drive to a ferry which takes you across the river to Banjul on the other side.

We had read and heard horror stories about this crossing, the constant pestering and begging apparently gets very violent and dangerous as the locals start trying to steal everything off and from inside the cars. We had timed it to cross in the middle of the day, and we got across with only minor annoyances and no real incidents. It was a great feeling to get on the ferry and know we were only 10km from the end.

Some of team speed were thinking about selling their cars privately to pay for the costs of their trip, so as we entered Banjul they went off and hid in their hotels while the rest of us signed into the Safari Garden – the meeting point and the hotel recommended by the organizers. What a rip off, we were very disappointed; it ended up being way over priced and we suspected there could have been some back handers involved.

After the first night we checked out with the vast majority of the other teams and looked for new accommodation. We ended up in a great simple hotel right on the beach with hammocks over looking the ocean – and for HALF the price. The Gambia, was again another example of corruption everywhere, in my mind there was no reason for it to be so poor and it really does wind me up to a degree.

There was a huge amount of tourism along the beach and what seemed to be a thriving sex tourism by the number of old men and old ladies with young local boys and girls on the their arms.

It turned out that the rest of Team Dither had decided to make tracks and arrived in The Gambia the next day. This was mainly due to a very anxious Aussy with no visa and not wanting to spend several years in jail if he got caught in Senegal. He was more than happy to sneak out of Senegal to The Gambia as fast as possible. But there was a causality on the way – Edward, the girls car cracked and broke its sump after playing a large pot hole leaving it stranded a hundred miles away from Banjul. While they were very sad, I found a certain irony in it after all the grief they had given us about poor Rusty probably not going to be able to make it.

We had a final team dinner with a few drinks – no one was really up for a big one being totally exhausted and ready to collapse. We went back to our hotel and hung out on the beach sharing stories about the last 3.5 weeks on the road. On the final day, we drove to the airport and said good bye to Rusty. We were both very proud of Rusty after all she had been through and it was a nice feeling to know we made it. We handed the keys over to the girls to use until they left The Gambia a week later and flew back to London taking with us some amazing memories of our trip.

More Photos of Day 20
More Photos of Day 21 D22 and D23