Today I went riding around the local area. In the nearest village there was a market, so for a while I wandered around aimlessly amidst the noise, colour and the smells of freshly cooked food. At one point I started taking some pictures of an array of brightly coloured food and the next thing lots of women started shouting at me. They thought I was photographing them, so I showed one of the women the pictures I had just taken and all was okay. She told the rest of them – but they still looked a bit frosty so I wandered away – quite sharpish incase they changed their mind…
After that I went to the local reptile farm. Yes, there are lots of wild animals in The Gambia – including reptiles. Apparently the farmers find them and sometimes they contact the reptile farm who will come and collect them, either taking them to the farm or repatriating them in a less populated part of The Gambia.
I was shown around the farm by a young woman, who although she looked about 20, was very knowledgeable about the reptiles. I saw a Python, Mamba, Viper, Grass and herald snake, Chameleon, Nile Monitor and the Nile Alligator. It was very interesting and besides being able to get quite close to some of them, I even had the opportunity to hold some of the snakes. I’ve never held a snake before and I was a bit nervous at first, but when she held up a small python and put it on my head I had no choice…
After that I headed to a local shop where I bought some food, some drinks and some snacks – as when I got back to the Lodge I spent the rest of the day on the beach underneath a large shade reading my kindle, snoozing and gazing at the sea. Life couldn’t get any better…
