Bot flies and more

The  tourist season is getting started again in The Gambia.  I have seen early arrivals and have started to be approached more than I had been in the off season (downside).  However, tourism is a big part of the Gambian economy, so I guess it is worth being toubob'd more than usual. Cape Point, in which the UN House is located, has a number of hotels and restaurants that cater to tourists.  One of these is the Bakau Guest House which is both a restaurant and hotel. The restaurant  overlooks the fish market in Bakau where the fishermen bring their catch at the end of the day and people come to buy. It also has a tower with a winding staircase to a lookout that gives a panoramic view of the surrounding area. The photo below is facing inland and gives an indication of how closely packed in the houses are. As you can see the roofs are multi-colored.  This is because they are mostly corrugate roofs and have panels in different stages of rusting out.  They will replace a leaking panel with a new panel so you end up with the patchwork effect. You can see the football (aka soccer) stadium in the background on the right.

The next picture shows why the tourists come. The Gambia has a coastline with a lot of usable beach. Taking a beach walk is one of my more favorite activities.  On a hot day there is usually always a nice breeze coming from the Atlantic.  You can see some of the fishing boats in the foreground of the picture.

  

I recently participated in a class in Geo-Mapping along with Gambians from various government agencies. This class was sponsored by the World Bank and  held at the University of The Gambia, Faraba campus.  The University has a large campus in the metropolitan area close to where I live, however the Faraba campus is out in the countryside.  When we were taking the class in a well equipped Microsoft computer classroom, we were the only class in session at the school. There was another computer lab next door equipped with brand new Apple iMacs that were still covered with foam wrap. But there were no other students taking classes.  In the area for teacher offices all of the offices were empty except one that had a name tag and some books.  I think the idea was that if you build it they will come, but it hasn't happened yet.  The other interesting thing is that the campus itself is fenced and you have to be granted access by an armed soldier holding his rifle.  I would have been a little more intimidated by this, but there are roadblocks with armed soldiers throughout the country so I have gotten used to seeing this. Can't say that I will miss it when I come home, though.

I thought I would introduce you to another one of the joys of a tropical climate, the bot fly.  Luckily I have not had an up close and personal experience with them yet, however many of the other PCVs have had one.  The bot fly lays its eggs in your laundry.  If the clothes are dried in the sun that is enough to kill the egg, however if it is a cloudy day the eggs survive. When they hatch in your clothing the larva burrows into your skin to mature, leaving what looks like an nasty pimple.  When they have fully matured they emerge from your body.  This is not just a Gambian pest.  You Tube has many videos of emerging worms, many provided by PCVs. In the picture below the bot fly larva has not yet made its departure. Another one of the PCVs from my group, who is married, had her husband remove a bot fly from her bottom. They said that if they ever renewed their vows they would promise to remove all bot flies from each other.