The road to Janjangbureh is a long bumpy ride. It took about 6 hours in this small coach with 11 passengers.
The road leaving Banjul is interesting. For the first hour or more the buildings are built of masonry, with the occasional thatched outbuilding like this one.
It was still early in the morning, and people were walking to work.
There is a great deal of this woven fencing used.
The corrugated iron roofs use a single pitch for both the main roof and the veranda.
There is a great deal of wandering stock along the road, mostly goats, donkeys, and cattle.
More woven fencing.
Travelling east on the road from Banjul to Janjangbureh. These village wells usually have two hand pumps.
The fence made from upright logs in the background is typically African.
Unfortunately not the best photo...but these termite mounds are everywhere, some several metres high.
Travelling even further inland, perhaps 150 Km or more from Banjul we see the first traditional housing made from mud brick and thatched roof.
Suddenly this becomes ubiquitous. We know we have arrived in rural Gambia.
The countryside is quite intensively populated with a wide variety of crops cultivated including rice, peanuts, sesame seeds, and vegetables.
We arrive at an important crossroad. The east-west road we are travelling on crosses the north-south highway from Senegal. The bustling market town of Soma is strategically situated to take advantage. If you enlarge this photo you'll be surprised at the variety on sale at this one stall.
These kids are riding on a two wheeled cart drawn by a donkey.
The stalls along the roadside offer a wide variety of goods. Here there are brightly coloured kapok pillows and cushions.
The vehicle parked here is a local bush taxi. Very cheap, quite slow, and you share them with anything and everybody including the chickens belonging to the passengers.
A local bush taxi, a donkey cart, and the market stalls make a colourful sight in Soma.
These carts are a very common sight in the Gambia, especially in rural areas. Most are pulled by one or two donkeys, but there are some bullock drawn carts and (like this one in Soma) a few pulled by horses.
These people and their goats are sheltering from the midday sun at the eastern edge of Soma.
This is not just a boring shot of the roadside. The grain has been harvested (we think millet) and threshed and the hay piled up. Everything is done by hand by family groups.
The shade under large trees is a premium spot in the middle of the day with the temperature in the mid-30's, the sun almost dead overhead, and not a cloud in the sky.
We returned via Soma the following day, and the market was not running. It almost looked like a ghost town in comparison.
Cattle crossing the road.