From Tendaba to Tumani Tenda

Weather: Hot

Woke early and worked on my journal until dawn.

In the early morning I went for a walk in the direction of Kiang West National Park in the hope of seeing an animal or two. I didn't need to go far to see the usual suspects: monkeys, that were in trees near the camp; and, birds, which were everywhere. New birds included a small, black bird with red breast (that I was unable to photograph because it flew fast and stayed within foliage), black & white starlings, pelicans and green parrots.

I turned back when the morning heated up as it was obvious that Kiang West NP was out of reach. The path meandered around a mangrove bay and although there were small paths leading to rice paddies in the bay, they were too muddy to navigate or else were cut off by tidal flows.

Back at Tendaba I had a final swim, showered & packed then shared a sardine sandwich with Kat & Stefan before departing with them to the main road. The ride that cost us a total of D100 (~Oz$5) was used by camp staff as well as students, returning to school after lunch, who jumped on & off along the way. A memorable sight was pelicans roosting in Baobab trees.

It was a long wait at the junction settlement that reminded me of an Australian desert town and we snacked on peanuts & watermelon bought from roadside vendors to pas the time. Minibuses were few & far apart and usually full of passengers traveling from Soma to Brikama. Over two hours had passed before a minibus stopped, but we missed out on seats as locals quickly squeezed into the few spare seats.

Our wait continued and we became the centre of attention of students on their way home from school. It helped pass the time, but they slowly left in small groups and we were left to wait alone.

After turning down a minibus with only one seat, Kat & Stefan insisted that if there was only a single seat on the next minibus to stop then I should take it. We had discussed traveling together to the next stop on my itinerary, a camp at the village of Tumani Tenda, but they had decided to return to Serekunda. I said that I would honour their request, but added that if their were two seats then they would get first preference.

The next minibus to stop had only a single spare seat, so after more than 3 hours I was on my way for the price of D50 (~Oz$2.50) plus D25 (~Oz$1.25) for my bag, aboard a vehicle headed to Brikama. As we bumped up & down and crawled along the 'worst road in Africa', I chatted to the drivers assistant especially regarding my opinion that this was the worst road in Africa. He didn't disagree.

It took over three hours to travel less than 100km, which meant I was dropped off after sunset. It took a quarter of an hour to walk to Tumani Tenda village and then another quarter of an hour to walk to the camp, in darkness guided by a torch-bearer who intercepted me at the village. There was a series of makeshift 'street lights' dotted along the path, but, as I was to learn later, there was no electricity because the generator was broken.

I was lead to a shelter and was asked to sit down with him and wait. We were soon joined by two other young adult males and one of them chatted with me at length about the camp and its facilities while I consumed a cold drink (from an ice-filled cold box).

My name was added in the drinks book, so that any drinks (soft drinks €0.50, beer €0.70 & 1.5L bottles of water €0.80) could be paid with my full board (€8 ~Oz$13 per day including meals) at the end of my stay. I was then assigned a room, provided with water for a bucket shower followed by a late dinner with the three youths before retiring for the night. Despite the absence of electricity and hence the absence of a fan, with the windows open it was cool enough to sleep, even beneath the mosquito net covering the bed.

Dec 7, 2005

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