Salt

I would like to talk more about the benefits that we gain from our river.  One of the benefits is salt, which is produced during the dry season before the beginning of the rainy season.  Since I was born I've never seen them producing or making salt during the rainy season because when it rains everything will dissolve.  Mostly women who are living in the countryside of the Gambia near the rivers are engaged in producing salt.

Huts to rest in.

I will now tell you how salt is produced.  This is something I have witnessed and I am going to mention each step that they normally do.  The first thing they do is to go into the forest, cut some palm tree leaves and some sticks, strong sticks for that matter, to build small huts.  This is because they are going to work under the sun, so whenever they feel tired they will go and relax in the shade of the hut.  At the same time they cut some short sticks, which will be used to make a bench.  Four of the sticks will be placed standing in a square or rectangle shape, and then each pair of sticks will be crossed by another stick.  Then you will place the remaining sticks parallel to each other on top of the other sticks, so that whenever you put anything on top of it, it will stand.  So if you don't cover that bench and you pour water on top of it, it will drip down through the gaps in between the sticks.  They make up to five or six benches like this.

Filtering the dirt through a bowl placed on a bench.

Then after that, they look for some bowls, big bowls for that matter, which have holes in the bottom.  They also look for hessian potato sacks or empty sacks of rice because both these types of sacks have small holes in them.  Place the sack inside the bowl covering the holes in the bottom so that whatever you put inside the bowl will not to drop out.  Or if you want you can put the sack on top of the bench and put the bowl on top of the sack.  Then after that, they go to the riverbank, and find a place where there are no footprints of human beings or animals and the mud has dried and is encrusted with salt.  They will use sticks to remove chunks of dirt from the ground.  That dirt will be collected in a bucket and then put into the bowl which is on top of the bench until it reaches the top of the bowl but not above the top.

Gathering salt-encrusted dirt.

They will do the same thing to all of the remaining benches.  Then they will look for some big containers, and put them under the benches and leave them there.  Then they will go to the river and fetch salt water and put it inside the bowl which is on top of the bench, and fill that bowl with water.  And that applies to all the other benches.  So the water will drip through the sack then to the container which is under the bench.  So guess what this sack does?  The sack helps in terms of filtering so that the dirt will not drop into the container.  When the water has finished dripping from the bowl while the container is not yet filled up, they will add more water to the bowl until the container gets filled up.  So that water from the container which was under the bench will be put back into the bowl three times.  And then the dirt in the bowl will be removed and thrown away, and they will add more dirt.  Then they will bring that same water from the container, put it into the bowl, and start filtering again.  All this will be done up to three times.

Pools for making salt.

Finally, they dig a hole on the riverbank.  It depends on you how you make the hole.  If you like, you can dig a circular hole or a square hole.  The depth also depends on you, as deep as you want it but not too deep.  I advise you the best way to do it, you can use the dirt that you removed from the bowl to build a circular wall and then look for plastic bags which are clean and cover the hole with them.  After that you pour in the water that has been filtered.  When you pour the water, the plastic bag will hold the water which is inside the hole.  Then from there, it will start to make salt while it is exposed to the sun.

Fishing

There are many benefits that the people of The Gambia gain from their river, and the water is so important for mankind and other living things.  I tell you this, both day and night you will see people on the river.  First and foremost I would like to talk about fishing and the types of fish that the river has - maybe a few types, not all.

A lot of species of fish can be found in the river Gambia.

A lot of Gambians who are near the ocean or the river engage in fishing.  The fishing is done by men mostly, and the women do the marketing.

A man on his canoe fishing with a net.

Different kinds of fish are found in this river, and some of the types that are being harvested in the river are locally called in The Gambia chaalo (bonga), and yaayboy, as well as catfish, and tilapia. Yaayboy and chaalo are difficult for me to tell apart, but yaayboy has more oil than chaalo and chaalo has more bones and tastes nice.  Here is a link for you to know what chaalo look like: http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/t3536e/T3536E06.htm

The river also has a lot of oysters, cockles and crabs.  Here is a file which has a list of other types of fish in The Gambia river on page 39 and 40.

The catfish can be processed by smoking it – if you smoke it, it is more expensive than the fresh ones.  And through smoking, it can also last longer.  Tilapia also can be smoked.  If there are too many fish on the market, some people smoke it and sell the smoked ones.

Catfish undergoing the smoking process.

The fish caught in this river are processed in different ways.  For example, you can get smoked fish, dry salty fish, and also fresh fish.  I sure that the percentage of fish consumption in The Gambia is far higher than meat consumption.

Women collecting fish from a boat.

The benefits of the river Gambia

The Gambia is a small country located inside Senegal which is in West Africa.  In my blogs, I will talk mainly about the river Gambia, and a little bit about the people of The Gambia.

Aerial view of the river Gambia

The Gambia river is divided into two parts - one has salt water and the other has fresh water.  Part of the river is covered by mangroves, which makes it so colourful and you can find oysters on the mangrove roots. You can also find some interesting bird species along the river.

The river Gambia provides many benefits as well as opportunities for people to earn income, both for the government and for locals.  It also provides another means of transportation, where boats and ferries can travel within the country.  Along with the fishermen, who travel on the river for fishing, you can also find tourists traveling on the river to visit different places.

The reason why the tourists always travel through the fresh water section of the river is to watch the wild animals.  There are many different animals along the river, like the hippopotamus, the crocodiles, the monkeys, and different kinds of lizards.  You also have antelopes and hyenas, but they are very rare to see beside the river.  When it comes to birds, you can also see lots of birds there.  Rollers, kingfishers, storks, herons, vultures, darters, hammerkops, pelicans, and many, many more.  I can't finish counting all of them, both birds and animals, that you can see along that river.  Have a look at this blog to see some of the birds in the Gambia.  Some of the animals are very friendly, and some of them you can tame to become so friendly with people.

The hippopotamus in The Gambia river 

For the monkeys, if you want to become a friend with them, the best thing you can do is make sure you take food or fruit.  They like fruit, such as mangoes or bananas.  If you have that fruit with you and show it to them, you will see them coming closer and closer - and there you are, friendship started!  But when the fruit is finished, that is the end of the friendship.  Though they will still hang around to see whether you still have more fruit for them.  There is a certain area in the Gambia where monkeys are always being fed by people.  Because they are used to this, at times when they see people they will come closer, trying to look at you, doing something that you think may be somehow scary.  But they are not going to bite you or do anything, they are just looking for fruit, because people always give them fruit.

Crocodiles in the River Gambia

For that of crocodiles, if you want you can give them food that they like, for example fish, or any kind of meat.  But they don't behave like monkeys.

We have hyenas but most of them are kept in the park.  We also have antelopes, some are kept in the park, but you will find the majority of them in the forest.  So these are a few animals that I have mentioned so far.  They are not the only animals, but in terms of popularity, these are the main ones I have seen in the Gambia.  If you want to see those kinds of animals, you can join me or pay a visit to the Gambia.  It is a very friendly nation, full of tourists, peaceful, and you will have a warm welcome there.