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Journal of African trips

Africa, spring 1999 part II

Agelasto
2004-05-21 18:00:16

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Gambia

A hundred years of British influence in The Gambia (TG) has taken its toll. Compared
with the surrounding countries, people in the service trade are more differential and classconscious
(like in Britain, not France). The food in TG lacks the nuance and
sophistication of that in the surrounding francophone countries. In fact, it?s difficult to find a decent meal in The Gambia or Ghana. There are a lot of take-out joints, mostly run
by Indians and Arabs. The transportation system in TG is much more chaotic than that in
the neighboring countries. In other words, the busses in TG are even less appealing than
the bush taxi system of the surrounding francophone countries. I don?t have an
explanation for this that relates to colonialism, for I have found the transportation systems
of neither France or Britain to be especially chaotic. Nevertheless, TG?s system so chaotic
that one imagines that the Devil is surely behind it.

The widow and I are experiencing sheer madness as we try to get a minivan to take us out
of Banjul, TG?s capital, and back to our hostel nearer to the beach. And we don?t even
have our rucksacks with us. There is no queue (definitely not a line) at the bus-stop, a
terminus which is unsigned in any case, and at least a hundred people are waiting for vans
(school has just let out and it seems the country doesn?t have school busses). Every time a
public minivan is seen coming up the street, a crowd intercepts and surges around it,
forcing it to let out its passengers away from the bus stop. And, of course, people
wanting seats try to rush into the van before the departing passengers can leave. After the
bus pulls up, some of its passengers don?t even alight, which is a bit strange as this is the
terminus. What is also eerie is that all this confusion is not accompanied by much sound,
as if someone had turned off ...