Wood Carvings

Serrekunda market also has a special market for tourists. These items you are seeing are locally made by wood carvers and brought to the market here for sale. There are very nice and interesting items are sold here.

Tie Dye

These are locally made Gambian Tie and Dye clothes that are sold in the tourist market. There are many different dresses available in many colors and patterns.

Bank PHB

This is the Bank PHB building. Formerly known as IBC Limited, the bank launched its new brand identity on August 25, 2008 following the 100 percent acquisition of IBC by the Management of Bank PHB (PlatinumHabib Bank (Plc) Nigeria). For more information,you may click on this link: http://www.bankphb.com/gambia

Denton Bridge

Denton Bridge is the only bridge between Banjul and Serrekunda so it has a police check point to provide tight security. It crosses over Denton Creek which is really just an offshoot of the Gambia River. People do surf fishing from the nearby beach and it is also safe for swimming. This photo shows the old bridge which is no longer used except by fishermen and, to the right, the newer bridge.

Sandikarr

This place is called Sandikarr. It is a place where farmers bring their crops to sell. Different kinds of crops and fruits are sold here. As you can see in the picture, men with wheelbarrows are also selling different kind of things. People come here to do a lot of business.

Banjul to Barra Ferry

This is the Banjul to Barra Ferry which crosses the Gambia River near where reaches the ocean. The cost for a one way journey is D5 for individual passengers and D150 for cars. As you can see this is a very busy place. The ferry operates from 7am to late evening.

Taxis

Here you see a lot of taxis on the streets because most people do not have their own car. Taxis travel regular routes and you can get on or off anywhere by flagging them down. If you want to have a taxi all to yourself and go to a special address you can hire one but it will cost you more. As you can see, all taxis in The Gambia have to be painted yellow and green.

Arch 22

This is called Arch 22. It stands over the highway at the entrance to Banjul.

On July 22, 1994 Banjul was the scene of a bloodless military coup d'état in which President Dawda Jawara was overthrown and replaced by the country's current President Yahya Jammeh. To commemorate this event, Arch 22 was built as an entrance portal to the capital. The gate is 35 metres tall and the centre of an open square. It houses a textile museum. (From Wikipedia)

Latrikunda Market 2

This is a different side in Latrikunda Market. In this entrance, there are rows of tables owned by market women who sell different things like second hand shoes, bags, necklaces, etc. Here you see women going in to the market for shopping with their baskets.

Street Dogs

I was just walking down the street and I came across these three dogs and it reminded me about a dog that we used to have named Gimpy. These dogs are street dogs that are usually seen all over the street. Some are harmful and some aren't but with a stone they are all gone.

Basse Garage

This is called Basse Garage because here you can only get cars going to Basse. Basse is part of the Gambia but is located far from the capital, Banjul, about 320 kms distant. Wheelbarrows with different kinds of items for sale are usually found in this kind of place as well.

Cows

Cows of this kind are only for feeding and sometimes for producing milk. Some male cows are frequently used for farming. In this time, it is very hot and dry so they are sometimes left roaming in already harvested farms to eat the leftover hay.

Latrikunda Market

This is at the entrance to Latrikunda Market. Market women are preparing to pack together their tables and get things in place before customers start coming. It is always busy and crowded in the morning since it is a place where many people come to earn their living. Tables, frying pans and chairs are all over the place but will be arranged by the women early in the morning.

Food Sellers

This was also taken very close to the Banjul Ferry terminal. It is a place where people meet to have breakfast. As you can see, here are Gambian women with their coffee table selling different kinds of food. What they mostly sell in the morning is coffee, tea, bread and omelets, fried eggs and meat, etc. For all this they have their different prices. For example, a cup of coffee is D6.00. In the afternoon, there are different kinds of food like rice brought to this place.

Breakfast

For me, this is my favorite moment sitting with my friends eating breakfast. We sit together under a mango tree and have breakfast together. Bread and beans and a bottle of cold juice called "WONJOO" is what I enjoy eating in the morning. On the right side is my friend - his name is Lamin Jammeh, who lives in the same compound.

Donkeys and Mangoes

As always during the dry season, animals are free to move since there are no crops to destroy. At this time there is less hay for these animals to feed on. This is why they are free to feed on mangoes and other fruit available to them.

Market Woman

Gambian women are very much involved in daily business. Most of these Gambian women are involved in business like selling vegetables or fish, etc. but most sell fish like Bunga, Kong, Butter Fish and Lady Fish. They buy these from fishermen and bring them to the market for customers.

Banjul Ferry Terminal

Banjul Ferry terminal is a very busy and crowded place where different people meet for work. The ferry crosses the River Gambia from Banjul to Barra. Specially those that work or have boats that also cross to Barra meet under these coconut trees for rest. Along the side of the beach, there are many coconut trees that provide shade for people that wish to come to the beach for relaxing and swimming.

Along Bone Road

This is along Bone Road which is also an entrance to the capital city Banjul. Along the sea bank, there are many boats which are locally made by carpenters. These boats are locally known as gals in Wolof language. These gals are commonly used by nakapats (fishermen) for fishing. In the Gambia,the tribe well known for fishing are the Serer.They use these gals to go out to the sea for fishing.

Albert Market

Down the road on the right just past the red building is the Albert Market, the main market in Banjul. Banjul is the capital of The Gambia and is about 10 kilometers north of Serrekunda.

Horse

On my way coming from Brikama, I came across this horse under the tree resting and chewing hay. These horses are sometimes used for transporting goods like palm trees for roofing from one place to another. They are not so common now since we have many cars moving from everywhere but they are very useful because they are cheaper.

Street Vendors

Around here any busy street is going to be lined with street vendors. You can buy almost anything on the street. This is outside Albert Market in Banjul.

Serrekunda Market

Above is the Serrekunda main market from the outside. It is always very busy in the street as you can see in the photo below.

Serrekunda

This is a busy street in downtown Serrekunda.

Food Preparation

We're at the end of rainy season now so there won't be any more rain now until next June except maybe once or twice in the next few weeks. That means that most food preparation and cooking can be done outdoors, where it mostly takes place anyway.

House

This is my family's house. As you can see it is made from local building materials. The walls are mud brick and the roof is from palm leaves. It leaks a little in rainy season so it has that blue plastic on top.

Small Boys

Well, it's very hard to get these small boys to be serious. Like I said earlier, there are usually lots of kids in any compound in this place.

Compound Work

Everybody's always interested in preparing food and here are some of the people in the compound fixing some beans to eat with supper.

Compound Kids

One thing you find in most Gambian compounds is lots of kids. Here's just some of the kids in my family compound. Their names are Demba, Jainaba, Jabou, Jabou, Musa, Issaka and Abdoulie.

Compound

In the Gambia we always like to greet someone before we start talking about anything else. So, Salaam Aleikum! I hope you are well.

While this blog is called Serrekunda Daily Photo, this first photo is not in Serrekunda. It is in Brikama. It is a village close to Serrekunda. I went there to visit my family and this is their compound.

The young girl is my younger sister's daughter. Her name is Jabou.