BirdManBob: The Gambia: The Banjul Ferry

For the most part, the highway/road system in The Gambia is reasonably good, especially in the coastal area. However, since the country is so narrow, there are only two main roads heading inland, one north of the river and one on the south side. Our itinerary for our tour included five days/four nights in locations up to perhaps 200 miles inland. Given the fact that the north highway is the best option for heading inland, we would have to cross the mouth of the Gambia River to the town of Barra to take this route. And so begins a VERY interesting morning ferry ride across this 3-4 miles body of water.

There was no guarantee that an early arrival at the ferry terminal would ensure that our mini-bus would be able to make in on board because of the long lines of vehicles that form extremely early. So our enterprising guides and driver arranged to have our bus take the ferry the previous evening, and then the driver would sleep in the bus and wait for our arrival the next morning. So very early on the appointed morning, we - and our luggage - were were transported to the ferry terminal on another mini-bus and dropped off so that we could walk on to the ferry. On our arrival at the terminal about 6:30am, there were already lines of vehicles waiting and throngs of other folks waiting to load on one the the several

ferries that make the run. As we departed our bus, our guides seemed to have some "pull" with the local enforcement folks and we were allowed to move closer to the gate that held the vehicles and people at bay.

We waited for perhaps a half hour for the ferry to arrive and begin loading. As the large metal gates were opened, there was a made rush of bodies surging forward to get on the ferry.

We were warned beforehand to be careful of pick pockets, but in the mass of pushing and shoving people, that was difficult and one of our group had some money picked from his pocket.

On the ferry, we made it to the third tier where the crowding was not too bad, and we had a good view of the boat and surroundings.

Passing by other ferries, we got a good view of the crowds of people that they carried. Also, it appeared that there was another type of ferry service that some of the residents used. These were large pirogue type boats that were the same type used for fishing and other purposes. They were no less crowded that our large ferry boats.

The trip across the river mouth was uneventful, although thoughts of what a rouge wave washing over the un-gated bow of the ferry might due to its seaworthiness did enter my mind. And looking around the ferry did not reveal any obvious, readily available store of life jackets.

The process of disembarking the ferry at the Barra terminal was not nearly as chaotic as the boarding process.

It was interesting to note that there was a flock of 50+ sheep waiting to be loaded on the ferry for the return trip to Banjul.

Our mini-bus was waiting for us several blocks away and our luggage that had been loaded on a large cart made the trip with no problems.

The streets of Barra were quite crowded with vehicles and people and we were inundated with peddlers and a few beggars while we waited for our luggage to be loaded on the bus.

But it didn't take too long to get out of town and on to the relatively good highway with little traffic. While this ferry experience was a bit unnerving for some, it was one of the more memorable aspects of our travel in The Gambia.

After a long day of travel and birding, we had one more ferry to take to an island where our lodging for the next two day was located. It was a two-vehicle ferry and posed no problems.