Banjul, Gambia 7

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 has a range of approximately 3,550 nautical miles (6,570 km). This allows it to operate on medium-haul and some long-haul international routes, thanks to its improved fuel efficiency compared to previous models.

Definitions:

Medium-haul 1,500 – 4,000 km

Long-haul more than 6 – 7 hours and more than 4,000 km.

My flight from Banjul to Istanbul will cover a distance of 5,367 km. It is a long-haul flight. This particular aircraft with reg. TC LCN is the very one I will be flying on. It was delivered to Turkish Airlines in June 2021. This is the first time I'll be flying on such a long flight, 7 hours, in a mid-sized airliner, although I've previously done 4 – 5 hour flights on the 737-800, and 5 hours on the even smaller Embraer ERJ190 regional jet from Abuja to Nairobi. 

The world’s longest scheduled commercial Boeing 737 MAX 8 route is operated by Brazilian carrier GOL Linhas Aéreas, flying nonstop between Brasília International Airport  in Brazil and Orlando International Airport in the United States - Distance 3,777 miles (6,079 km), Flight Time approximately 8 hours and 15 minutes. 

Banjul, Gambia 6

Anne-Marie Javouhey, SJC (November 10, 1779 – July 15, 1851) was a French nun who founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny. She is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church. She is known as the Liberator of the Slaves in the New World.

In September 1823, at the request of the British government, she left for St. Mary's in Gambia, a holding place for about 400 slaves taken from Moorish vessels. (Gambia's capital, Banjul, was then known as St. Mary's. This name was later changed to Bathurst, and, during my lifetime, changed again to Banjul). Here she worked tirelessly to help the victims of an epidemic in the area. The governor then asked her to go to Sierra Leone. Again she focused her efforts on tending to the sick and injured. After three months, there was an outbreak of yellow fever; again Javouhey recovered, but was so very weak that she returned to France.

This building in the photos is the remains of the hospital where she worked when she was at Banjul (St. Mary's). The building stands in a corner within the premises of the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, a tertiary referral hospital and the largest in the country originally founded by the British colonialists in 1853.

The street that runs alongside this modern hospital is named after this French nun who nursed sick slaves.

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Banjul Central Mosque, Banjul, The Gambia

King Fahad Masjid is the most prominent masjid in Banjul, the capital city of Gambia. The two minarets of the masjid grace the skyline of the city and the architecture of the masjid represents the variation in the Islamic architecture in Banjul.

The modern architecture of the masjid has given the traditional style a new meaning. The entrance is hemmed by an open round arch and the minarets are octagonal. The bright colours of the masjid offer a pleasant feel. The masjid was built in 1988 and replaced the 1930 masjid as the main masjid of the city. It can easily accommodate up to 6,000 worshippers.

Article 7 of the Gambia constitution identifies Sharia as a source of law in matters of personal status and inheritance among members of communities to which it applies.

Islam entered the country in the fourteenth century AD, because the Arab merchants and Berbers who came from Northwest Africa through the Sahara to market their goods were originally Muslims. They were able to spread the Islamic religion among the indigenous populations.

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The Catholic Cathedral in Banjul

Christianity came to stay in The Gambia with the establishment of a British garrison and settlement in the island of Banjul in 1816. Different church societies were invited to provide the spiritual needs of this growing settlement.

Hagan Street 1900

Anne Marie Javouhey (1779 - 1851), foundress of the sister of St Joseph of Cluny, was the first Catholic Missionary to come in modern time to the Gambia - she came with two sisters with a laywoman in 1821 and worked and lived in the hospital. She however could not stay long in the country. Only the Methodist Church was active in the Gambia during those first years.

It was after the establishment of the church in Senegal that an uninterrupted presence of Catholicism in the Gambia could also be seen. The migration of the people to the settlement since 1816 include Catholics and others open to becoming Catholic. Two Priests took residence in Banjul by 1849 to serve this population and Church began its slow but steady growth. The Banjul mission was under the Apostolic Vicarate of Dakar. It was concentrated in Banjul but around 1876 it began looking beyond to the Kombos and provinces

By 1905, Fr. John Meehan took up his appointment in the Gambia. It was his destiny to maintain and give quiet growth to the church. In 1931, the Holy See declared the Gambia “Sui Juris” and Fr. Meehan as ecclesiastical superior. Under him , the church was to develop towards an independent mission and diocese. In 1951, Fr. Michael Maloney was named Prefect Apostolic and consecrated first Bishop of the diocese of Banjul on 6 May 1958.

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Arch 22 is a commemorative arch on the road into Banjul in the Gambia. It was built in 1996 to mark the military coup d'état of July 22, 1994, through which Yahya Jammeh and his Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council overthrew the democratically elected Gambian government of President Dawda Jawara. The arch was designed by Senegalese architect Pierre Goudiaby, who also designed the Yundum International Airport at Banjul and the African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal.

Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, Banjul

Banjul, Gambia 4

The River Gambia is not entirely saltwater, but it is a mix of freshwater and saltwater, making it a tidal estuary in its lower reaches and freshwater further upstream. The water is saltwater or brackish in the lower part of the river for about 250 km from the mouth, especially during the dry season, while the upper sections remain freshwater.

Lower River: In the lower, coastal part of the river, saltwater intrudes and can make the water brackish or saline, particularly during the dry season.

Upper River: Further upstream, where the river is no longer influenced by the tides, the water is freshwater. The point where the freshwater begins varies, but it starts around 120 km from the mouth and extends for hundreds of kilometres inland.

That the water is saline up to 250 km from the mouth of the river, which corresponds to the western half of the country, where most of the people live, makes the Gambian population particularly dependent on fresh groundwater, which is found at shallow depth throughout the country.

As an aside, I have been impressed with the ample pipe borne water supply to homes here in the Gambia. People have water meters and pay water bills. One might think this was a rarity if one's experience was limited to the DIY water supply situation in Nigeria, my home country. But this, in fact, is the more common case across the continent.

Swimming

The River Gambia is known to have crocodiles, which are common along the length of the river and in tributaries, and hippos, which reside upriver in the central regions. One should avoid swimming anywhere along the river, as well as various streams as one could encounter some of these animals.

Swimming in freshwater creeks can hold other risks such as contracting various diseases. Tiny flukes released by freshwater snails harbour the disease schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, which can be passed onto one by the parasitic worms, which enter through the skin.

Banjul, Gambia 3

Waking up early in the morning in Banjul is like waking up in Ibadan or Port Harcourt in Nigeria in the 1970s. The bird morning chorus is exactly the same as it used to be in Nigeria. In 2025, in Banjul, you will still likely hear a variety of birds including common species like the pied crow, laughing dove, and red-eyed dove, as well as others such as the common bulbul, African thrush, and the village weaver. You might also hear birds of prey, like the black kite, and other common garden birds depending on your specific location.

Nowadays Nigeria has changed considerably from what it used to be. In urban spaces most trees have been cut down, areas previously reserved for nature have been sand-filled or concreted over and built on. There's hardly any nature left anymore, and the same change is occurring even in non-urban areas, albeit at a less rapid pace.

I enjoy the dawn chorus. It's the highlight of my early morning. Listening to the birds this morning took me straight back to 1970s Nigeria. I realised then that I had not heard this in Nigeria for a long time, this distinctive 'koo koo, kukukuku' of the red-eyed dove in this clip.

Banjul, Gambia 2

In avoiding heavily touristed areas and touristy things, I have often gone out of my way to seek out quiet, less travelled spots in every travel destination I have newly arrived at. The belief is that hanging out with the locals is a good way of getting a more authentic and unvarnished experience of whichever location I'm visiting. This approach has worked out positively, and not only in the experiences which I might not otherwise have had if I was cocooned in some tourist enclave, resort or hotel, or if I moved around the place as part of a tourist excursion group. And this especially in my travels across the African continent where meeting local people, eating local foods, using public transport and so on, and making new friends I have found to be more enriching, and more to my preference.

The Gambia is a major destination for tourism, with tourists mainly from Europe. So beach tourism is a big thing here, as are the organised curated boat trips up and down the Gambia River. There are also river lodges along the river targeting those foreign tourists. And while I understand the economic reasons behind these activities, and have nothing against any of them, for me personally, it has not come naturally to think of myself as a foreign tourist. I have always wanted to experience the places I visit in the same way as the locals would experience it. On this trip I stayed in a Gambian home located in a fairly densely populated residential district of the capital, ate Gambian meals, drank Gambian 'green tea', enjoyed Gambian jokes, and learned a lot about the different Gambian peoples. 

Of course there was the beach too, this is after all a big part of the lifestyle here. I sought out the beaches frequented by the locals, not being keen on the stereotypical tourist beach experience that, in my opinion, is the same, whether in the Bahamas, in Bali Indonesia, or in Mombasa. I wished for something uniquely Gambian.

Brufut Beach

Tanji Beach is an area for the local fisherpeople, traders and merchants of fish and other seafood; suppliers of fishing equipment and fuel for the fishing boats, and so on. It is not a tourist area.

So while everyone else was braving the waves and splashing around in the Atlantic Ocean, there I was resolutely remaining on dry land, utterly convinced that I am not an aquatic creature. This beach, though, is heavenly. If I lived anywhere nearby, I would be here every single day. At Brufut Beach,

Banjul, Gambia

Banjul was founded in 1816, when the British Colonial Office ordered Captain Alexander Grant to establish a military post on the river to suppress the slave trade and to serve as a trade outlet for British merchants ejected from Senegal, which had been restored to France. Grant chose Banjul Island (ceded by the chief of Kombo) as the site, which he renamed St. Mary’s. He named the new settlement for Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, then colonial secretary of Great Britain.

Bathurst became the capital of the Crown Colony and Protectorate of The Gambia in 1889 and was granted city status in 1965 when The Gambia gained independence. The city's colonial grid layout and architecture reflect this period.

In 1973, the city was officially renamed Banjul. The new name is derived from the Mandinka people's word "Banjalu" referring to the fibres they used on the island to make ropes.

After a period of decline in the 1980s, much of the population moved to surrounding areas, forming the Greater Banjul area. Today, it remains the political and economic centre of the country, with infrastructure reflecting both its colonial past and modern development.

Banjul city is an island in the estuary of the Gambia River, and it is the central business district of this capital city most of which is however, located in Kanifing/Serrekunda, on the mainland.

Banjul island has the State House, National Assembly, the Supreme Court, in short, the seat of government. It is also where the Police Headquarters and the Port of Banjul are located, and some government departments, major banks and commercial enterprises, as well as the popular Banjul Market. It's a bustling little island, and like in most places in Africa where people gather in numbers, is lively and full of life.

We visited the ferry terminal from where the ferry from Banjul to Barra on the north bank of the Gambia River carries those whose intent mainly is to travel onwards to the Gambia/Senegal border, and then have a direct run to Dakar, Senegal from the border. We were still undecided whether to use this ferry to cross when we embark on our journey to Dakar, or whether to travel by the longer, 12-hour more scenic land route, which would guarantee that we pass through Senegalese towns like Kaolack, Fatick and Thies. I personally preferred the land route, but it wasn't I alone to make the decision.

Last Sunday we drove again to Banjul island, also sometimes known as St. Mary's Island, This island is the central business district and the seat of government, but only on weekdays. At the weekend the island turns into a quiet, beautiful, quaint little treasure trove of history for enthusiasts like myself. I was so lost in enchantment as we drove through the quiet narrow streets that I even forgot to take photographs, with my mind replaying its imaginations on a loop of what the island might have been like two hundred years ago, and then drawing a connection between that time and what my eyes were seeing. I vaguely remember involuntary gasps of "Oh wow, Oh wow".