Transcript The Gambia - Oulun normaalikoulu

A Photo Journal
Copyright of photographs: Riitta Leinonen
The arrival
 After a 10-hour-flight from Helsinki via Las Palmas, we finally arrived
at Banjul international airport. We were quite exhausted, but the sunny
and warm weather welcomed us.
 Carrier boys surrounded us immediately outside the terminal, and
unsuspectingly we let them carry our luggage. We shouldn’t have done
that, because they insisted for a vast amount of money for their
services. This was actually the one and only bad experience during our
one week stay in the country.
 Check how much you know about the Gambia in advance! Please use
the following link:
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The Gambia quiz
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The main facts about the Gambia
 1,6 million inhabitants
Area: 11.300 square kilometres
 Capital: Banjul (about 45.000 citizens)
Biggest town: Serrekunda (about 370.000 citizens)
The only neighbouring country: Senegal.
 Time zone: Greenwich Zone (- 2 hrs from Finland)
http://www.wordtravels.com/images/map/Gambia_map.jpg
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http://www.mapshop.com/Travel_Maps/Africa/African-Country-3
maps/Gambia-9780921463696.jpg
People
 About 90% of Gambians are
Muslims. The remaining 10% are
Christians and followers of tribal
religions.
 The most important ethnic groups
and simultaneously local languages
are Mandinka (42 %), Fula, Wolof,
Jola and Serahuli.
 The official language, English, is
spoken widely as a second language,
as well as French.
 The average life expectancy is 56
years for women and 52 for men.
Women
16.7.2015 at Albert Market in Banjul
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Geography , climate, plants
 The Gambia is characterized by the
Atlantic ocean, and the 1200kilometre-long River Gambia, 487
kilometres of which are inside the
the area of the Gambia.
 The climate is sub-tropical. Dry,
sunny season extends from
November till May.
 The landscape is fairly flat. The
vegetation cover of The Gambia is
savanna on the uplands, various
kinds of inland swamp in the lowlying areas, and mangrove swamp
along the brackish lower Gambia
River (www.britannica.com).
The Banjul harbour
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Economy
 The main sources of income are
agriculture (peanuts, cotton),
fishing, and tourism.
 The river has been an important
trade route between the interior of
the country and the coast for
centuries.
 The currency is Gambian Dalasi.
 GNP per capita: 290 USD in 2004
(www.britannica.com).
Fishermen on Sanuyang Beach
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Our tourist guide in the “brand jungle”
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Education
 Schoolsystem: total 12 years of
education. However, school
attendance is not compulsory.
 Annual fee is 50 Dalasis (appr. 2
euros), but even this sum is too high
for many families; they may allow
only one or two of their children to
go to school.
 Illiteracy rate is still high in the
Gambia: 63% for women and 42%
for men.
 Travel agents arrange visits to local
schools, during which tourists can
sponsor the schools.
 All the children wanted to have a
Finnish penfriend!
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History
 This part of West Africa has been
inhabited since around 2000 BC.
 The Portuguese, French, Dutch and
British started to trade slaves and
gold from the River Gambia area
from the 16th century onwards.
There were constant fights over
trading rights and territory.
 In 1765 the Gambia became the
colony of the British Empire. Still
after that the fights continued
between British and French forces.
 In 1965 the Gambia became
independent, and President Kairaba
was finally able to hoise the
Gambian flag.
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The colours of the Gambian flag:
red
= sun
white
= freedom
blue
= the River Gambia
green
= nature and agriculture
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Slave trade
 Fort James on James Island that
was built in 1651 was a British
trading post for over a century.
Slaves stayed there in captivity
before they were loaded to ships
heading for British colonies in the
American continents and in
Jamaica.
 Estimated 12 million Africans were
taken as slaves between 1510-1886.
Circumstances in the slaveships
were horrendous. Even 9 out of 10
slaves died before entering their
new ”home-countries”.
 The ancestral village of Kunta
Kinteh (Alex Haley – Roots) is
situated nearby the James Island,
on the bank of the River Gambia.
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There are still some ruins left on James Island.
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Animals
African long-tailed monkeys love peanuts!
 Few wild animals are native to the
region, and those that survive are
under pressure from the human and
domestic animal populations. In the
middle and upper river areas there
are warthogs, monkeys, baboons,
antelopes, pygmy hippopotamuses,
and crocodiles. (www.britannica.com)
A warthog
http://www.sa-venues.com/wildlife/wildlife_warthog.htm
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A monitor in the hotel garden
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Birdlife
 We saw several wonderful birds
during the week, most of them in
our hotel garden. Birds (as well as
monkeys) love these well-kept
A Barbary Shrike
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A Red-beaked Hornbill
gardens where they have enough
water and plenty of food available .
 In Abuko Nature Reserve there are
more than 200 bird species, and if
you are lucky, you can see some of
them when walking along the
footpaths.
A vulture having a sip of tap water.
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References
 Gambia. A tourist brochure. Tjäreborg.
 The Gambia Traveller’s map. Macmillan.
 www.britannica.com
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