C A Brackett Photography

Images from Banjul, The Gambia, November 2005

View these images for the story they tell of the people and culture of Banjul, at the mouth of the river Gambia. Totally surrounded by Senegal, a former French colony, The Gambia is a former British colony and the signs of that are everywhere in the place-names, their English language proficiency, building signs and advertising. It is also very poor. Have a look at these few street scenes and see some of the Gambian story for yourself.

Although not overly obvious in these images, there is a mixture of the traditional and the modern: clothing and dress, religions, and languages. The young people are enthusiastic; take a look at the girls in the school yard and the boys soccer team. They are having fun. The three boys standing together were looking for a gift but were extremely polite about it. I missed the cue but our guide took them aside and gave them something. The sophisticated man leaving the bus and the woman carrying her baby in a sling on her back are strong models of the traditional, while many others are in western dress. Notice that little fellow watching me.

Of all the places we visited in Atlantic Africa, Banjul seemed to me to have the most friendly people and the one place where we felt like we actually met a few. Still, the crowding in the old marketplace, the ever presence of hawkers and people selling to the tourists, the crowds milling about, sometimes sullen, the worry about pickpockets and other petty crime, made it difficult to relax and explore.