Day 26 Senegambia

We left the beach and went cross country for a couple of kilometres until we rejoined what we thought was the Diama piste. We were now driving in the changing scenery and now into savannah with low trees. After another detour getting lost for an hour or so we at last hit the very rough piste the final thirty odd kilometres to the border crossing river dam. We got there about eleven pm and after the usual ten euro police exit fee followed by the ten euro customs exit fee followed by the ten euro dam crossing fee followed by the ten euro Senegal police entry fee and finally the ten euro Senegal customs entry fee we were told we could go no further as we did not have a 'Carnet de Passage' The only way we could drive through Senegal was to have a police escort in the morning to our lodge at the Zebrabar just south of St Louis and in a couple of days time our police escort would return and escort us south to the Gambian border for one hundred and twenty thousand francs about one hundred and fifty pounds. After a relatively good sleep in the car we headed with our escort to the Zebrabar for a couple of nights of relaxing in a camping come beach hut site run by a couple from Switzerland. It was pretty basic in there with no electric or internet but good fresh food and the first beer for a while. We ended up in a hut on the beach for the best nights sleep in a few days and had an easy time there with a boat trip around the nature reserve. From we were collected about four thirty in the afternoon and drove the two hundred and fifty mile to the border in convoy with three other cars. Around eleven pm we dropped the other three cars and then headed the dodgiest 'road' of the trip following a car with the customs man and three young Senegalese men. After a an hour of wondering if we were about to be taken down a dark lane to be robbed we got back onto a better road and made the border in one piece about two am. My patience had gone and every demand for money was met with a firm no and we ended up sleeping in the car until five then we were finally in the Gambia. Twenty kilometres down the road we met our final hurdle of the trip crossing the Gambia river to Banjul. First ferry was at seven so after negotiating a three ferry tickets, one for the car one for Nora and one for our 'cargo' we boarded the overcrowded ferry to Banjul for the half hour crossing just as the sun was coming up. One of the best things on arrival in the Gambia is leaving my pigeon French behind in Senegal and suddenly everything being so much easier than the last few weeks. We had a look at a few hotels and headed to the freight company at the airport to ship my tools and camping gear back. Then round a few travel agents and airline offices for tickets home. We met Dan from another team by chance at the airport dropping his teammate Rose off at the airport and arranged to meet up back in town later. I ended up bringing way too much stuff with us even although we used almost all of it at some point well except maybe for the windscreen deicer! Nora is packing the bags just now and we are off to have lunch with Dan then drop the car with the charity then taxi to the airport for an overnight flight to Brussels then connection ton London to get there about nine in the morning. From there its throw everything in the washing machine sort out my tools and back to Heathrow to go to work leaving this trip as just a happy memory. Nora and I were talking about the trip this morning and agree it has been a great experience with only a few bad parts usually involving crossing corrupt borders. The highlights were definitely Marrakech and crossing the Atlas mountains, then seeing the all the birds including the pelicans and flamingos driving through the dunes and beach run of the National Park in Mauritania. If you are thinking of doing it we would recommend a car with the more ground clearance the better and a puncture repair plugging kit with electric pump even without any of that you will make it if a little harder. Off to enjoy the last few hours of the trip now.
*big grin verging on being a little smug!*