Postcards from Africa

Hi Blog Readers – I’m glad to be back with you all after a 3.5 week journey that took us through France, across the English Channel and into the African bush. Marty and I arrived home this morning, a day later than planned, due to a technical problem with the airplane that was supposed to take us out of Gambia. We quickly forgot the inconvenience of this one-day delay when the airline put us up in an Executive Suite in a 5-star beachside hotel outside of Banjul. Needless to say, our accommodations up to that point had been significantly more modest, so we very much enjoyed this guilty pleasure.

(Marty threatened to send a picture of me lounging poolside at this elegant resort to the Peace Corps office. He was sure they would strip me of my Peace Corps laurels for such self indulgence. Fortunately for me, he is afraid of our digital camera, so there is no evidence of my transgression.)

We are largely intact, although we have increased the diversity of our intestinal fauna. This was expected, of course, and a dose of immodium got us home without any accidents. It will take me a while to digest our trip (or anything else for that matter) into blog form, but in the mean time, here are some of my favorite photos from the trip:

Seruba with Random Baby

(Seruba was a toddler when I lived with him and his family.)

Jenoba - Seruba's Mom
(and the first of Kebba's four wives)

Mani Hanging Out in Yona

Amadou and his wives Kenye and Koba




Mobile Phones in Yona!

Amadou and Marty

on our walk to visit neighboring villages

Fula Girl

(Marty likes the Fulas.)

Foday's Mom

Musa N'Jye

Hotel Egg Deliverer

(having ridden a motorcycle in Gambia, I admire the tremendous skill of this man)

Sarjo the Baby Baboon

Sarjo Biting Marty

Niokolo Koba National Park - Senegal

Flasher

Niokolo Koba National Park - Senegal

Niokolo Koba National Park - Senegal

Katchikally Sacred Crocodile Pool - Gambia

(Yes, it's real and alive. No, I don't have a powerful telephoto lens.)

Marty - Mighty African Explorer - on the Gambia River

Niokola Koba National Park - Senegal

Fields Outside of Yona

Sunset on the Gambia River