38450. View of the front part of the taxicab, a seasoned Mercedes Benz W201, 190 D, during the ride to Brikama. Renting a car is not straightforward here, at the Bajul airport there are no rent-a-car booths like, for instance, in the Canary islands, despite the more promising information on Internet. Connecting to Avis Banjul web site yielded the response of no available cars, even one month later and even two months later. So some emergency steps were called for. At the airport there are guys waiting for tourists who need any kind of service and the most outspoken of them declared that he can get the author a suitable car for rent in no time. Albeit not at the airport, somewhere closer to Banjul. So he called a friend, a taxi driver, and the party drove off north. The price of either the car nor the taxi ride was not known - it will be settled, so was the information, as soon as we get the car for rent. We drove north through Serekunda, with its 20 minutes-long-to-pass market, and from there to Bakau, at the continuation of the Senegambia Road - so it turned out later, when you get more acquainted with the place. The place to rent a car was a used cars shop and there were 3 cars available, a large SUV, a Mercedes Benz A 170 and a Peugeot 206. The first was out of range, the latter two would cost 1500 dalasis per day (about 27 euros), if rented for a week and paid in advance. The Mercedes did not make the best impression - the front fenders were not well aligned with the car body, there were slots of different widths, the windows were hard-to-see-through. Peugeot was, so said the shop owner, just 3 months old - brought from the Banjul docks to where it was transported from Holland where it served previous owners for close to 20 years. Kilometer counter was showing the figure 238.000. The car looked suitable, only the driver's outside mirror was hanging on the wires - the support was broken. The owner said it is a minor glitch, can be fixed in half an hour. They would fix it and bring the car to the hotel or other place in Senegambia where where we would stay. A modest deposit of 1000 dalasis (18 euros) was given and the party left towards Senegambia. The first stop was at the Apartments Plaza, at the NW side of the Senegambia Road/Senegambia Highway junction. Not as splendid as on the site http://www.apartments-plaza.com/ but nevertheless nice apartments, with kitchen, yet out of reach for the author's pocket. Even the single-bed ones. After some fruitless haggling we departed to the nearby Taf Annex appartments, http://www.tafgambiatours.com/taf-annex in the side street, more battered but more accessible (2000 dalasis per night, payable for a week in advance). If the own car was already at hand there would be some more energy left for the search of a (far) more suitable solution (as will be described towards the end of this reports) but the prospect of mounting taxi costs and also the hungry airport helper's eyes were all in favor of Taf Annex. 250 euros and the party had where to stay. Taxi costed another 1000 dalasis (instead of 300, if agreed in advance), and the helper 200 (plus additional 200 some time later). The problem with the car was that the owner brought the car at around 8 in the evening. The mirror was OK and 10.500 dalasis changed hands. Yet, as the owner was about to leave the author asked where are the car's documents. In the car's glove compartment, was the answer. A quick check revealed an empty compartment. The owner had a ready solution, we can use the car as it is, nobody will ask you for the car's papers, the police does not stop tourists, but anyhow - he will bring the papers some time later and leave them at the night guard in front of the compound entrance. Well, he did not. The next morning at 10 we (Ayssa, Pubby and the tourist) left for Brikama with taxi (400 dalasis one way, agreed before the ride).
