38726. Breakfast: millet porridge with banana, soaked dry cranberries and mulberries, camomille tea, Malarone pill
Most images are approximately 683 x 1024 pixels in size, numbers in front of the picture descriptions are serial numbers of the original photo files.
Ayssa participated in many pictures of this page.Pictures photo and copyright (c) Primož Jakopin 2018.
38726. Breakfast: millet porridge with banana, soaked dry cranberries and mulberries, camomille tea, Malarone pill
38727. A snack: cooked vegetables from Kartong, cooked chickpeas, beetroot salad, bread, garlic, wonjo and baobab bio jam, black cumin oil, millet porridge with banana, aronia juice with hot water. Why there are no pictures for the five hours which passed since breakfast? The liquid funds ran out a week prematurely and so the use of credit card was called for. There are ATMs in many places in Senegambia so it should be no problem. There is one just west of the junction on Senegambia road and yesterday, January 28, it delivered 3.000 dalasis without problems. There was a message that there is a surcharge of 150 dalasis (some less than 3 euros) for every transaction, on top of other banking costs (close to 5%) and ... that was about all. But today an attempt to get 10.000 dalasis (some less than 200 euros) failed. And after that all smaller values, even 1.000 dalasis, also failed (later on it turned out that there is a 3.000 dalasi daily limit for machine withdrawal). Obviously an ATM was no more an option. A visit of the bank should solve the problem. There is one nearby, a branch of a large bank with branches in all major countries of the continent. After 35 minutes of waiting in the line an attempt to raise 400 Euros failed, too. And so did half that amount. And smaller amounts the bank would not process. How to solve the problem a colleague on the first floor of the adjacent building might know. He did, the problem is not on their side, it is the bank in the home country. Should be contacted by phone. Here another problem popped up. Phone conversation, even using the Gambian SIM card (an absolute necessity), is very expensive and the bank credit card department info has a line where, after you get through, you get an automated response that you are the customer number 3 in the line, accompanied by a relaxing up-beat music. Spending some 10 euros of credit got a lady which was kind enough to go see what the problem might be (there was a substantial credit left on the credit card) - but it will take a little. The line was cut off (maybe because of inactivity) and another attempt was required, 10 euros more. To cut the long story short - two facts the customer did not know before were revealed - that there must be at least 24 hours between two cash withdrawals from the credit card and the daily limit for Gambia is 200 euros. The time was 27 hours, enough, but still a no go. A visit of the bank, to which the ATM belonged, not so near, followed, another 25 minutes in the line, for the discovery that this branch only provides service to domestic clients, not to foreigners. Some travelling again, to the branch which does. And one more failure there. Due to communication problems they are out of service and expect to remain so for some time more (measurable in hours). When the hope for an exit out of this nightmare really dried up an advice from the lady moved things for the better. Next to the Senegambia hotel there is a shop with ethno clothes, bags and the like, and adjacent to it there is a small tourist office and travel agency. They could help you. So they did. They had a POS terminal which could also be used to withdraw cash. Besides usual banking costs and 150 dalasis surcharge there is an additional surcharge of 100 dalasis. So be it, close to 11.000 dalasis still came out of 206 euros. Mission accomplished, nerves tensioned like a violin bow.
38729. About a km to the east of the Senegambia Road - Senegambia Highway junction there is a self service restaurant with African food, also for take-away. A meal with rice and meat in vegetable sauce costs 75 dalasis.
38730. The birds were very shy but they were also not the photographer's main target so that he would devote special time to chase them for a good shot. This photo was taken at the Denton Bridge Resort parking lot, through the car window, just a little too late. The bird, with a wing span of about 70 cm, was obviously building a nest somewhere close to the resort's two storey building. Here he picked a large dry leaf at the foot of a large baobab tree (an excellent shadow despite sparse foliage) and parted with it over the roof from which he started his venture.
38731. Shrubs at the side of an industrial compound which borders the lagoon that separates the land tongue with Serrekunds-Banjul Highway and the Atlantic. Rainy season ends in November and there was no rain to wash the leaves after dry winds from the east covered them with a fine layer of sand.
38735. We were searching for a road that would reach the lagoon from the northern side of the Banjul-Serrekunda highway. Yet all ended at some compound. So we left the car at the gas station not far from the Denton Bridge and followed a small trail on the outer wall of a compound all the way to the lagoon with mangroves, where this picture could be taken.
38736. The gas station also has a lawn in front of it which is watered in the dry season of the year and so is nicely green with cultivated, trimmed grass. An oasis in otherwise rather poor, vegetation-wise, landscape. So a heaven for some poultry specimen such as this white cock, ...
38737. ... this white turkey hen ...
38739. ... and her two companions - one is shown here.
38734. Ayssa on the beach just after the sun disappeared behind the Atlantic clouds. There was no luck, despite quite a few attempts, to get a day when the sun would sink into the sea.
38740. Evening snack: baked potatoes, fish and tomatoes on onions, bread, yogurt, apple compote
Tanji, Gunjur, Kartong, January 28
Senegambia, Salagi, Bakau, January 30
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