DIVERSION TO “THE GAMBIA”

I'm writing this on Sunday, February 26, 2012.  The Silver Wind passengers were informed shortly after leaving Walvis Bay, Namibia that our itinerary for Senegal had changed.  There has apparently been off and on rioting in Dakar during the run up to today's election. To avoid danger, the Captain announced, we were to visit nearby Banjul, The Gambia instead. The Gambia is Africa's smallest country.  It lies a few miles either side of the Gambia river and is entirely bordered by Senegal except for the river mouth on the Atlantic Ocean. I have no idea why it is called THE Gambia. The stories told by locals varied.  Senegal is more or less a functioning, French speaking republic while The Republic of The Gambia is an English speaking dictatorship and hence much more stable and safe for tourists.  We were advised not to take pictures of government buildings or police, however.  Silversea had arranged on short notice a choice of two tours.  I am impressed at the cruise line's ability to make changes of port quickly and to contact tour operators and make transportation arrangements for a hundred or so passengers.

We had three sea days between Ghana and The Gambia.  The seas were mostly calm, the weather mostly warm.  Two of the days were foggy.  We did observe dolphins a number of times and even once a whale.  I managed to read most of my 1000 page novel.  The social highlight was the Venetian Society reception for repeat guests, honoring those with high numbers of days on Silversea.  Michael was honored for reaching the 500-day milestone.  In addition to a handshake, the Captain presented Michael with a certificate for two free weeks on a future cruise.  My attempt at photographing the occasion yielded a shot of Michael's back as he shook the Captain's hand.  We already have plans for the two weeks early in 2013.

Yesterday, Saturday, we were up at 6 a.m. to watch the approach and docking at Banjul.  Banjul has a small pier for freighters and several even smaller piers for ferries and other small vessels.  Our ship took up half the pier.  A medium sized freighter occupied the other half while another fully loaded freighter waited at anchor in the bay for its turn for dock space.  Banjul is no hub of international commerce yet there were hundreds of shipping containers stacked around the port.  I had not realized how much "stuff" is shipped everywhere around the world, to large and tiny ports, in the same standardized shipping containers.  It is unfortunate that the United States merchant mariners have almost none of this work because of our country's protectionist legislation.

The tour that Michael and I had chosen did not start until 1:00 p.m. because the last Saturday of each month in The Gambia is officially a state "Cleaning Day."  Markets are officially closed and taxis cannot run so the citizens can clean their cities and towns.  We did take a shuttle-bus ride to the central market and back to see what Banjul looks like.  We saw unpaved streets, rundown buildings, dirt, goats, and feral dogs running loose.  There were a few people sweeping up litter and all the parked taxis looked newly washed.  The only open businesses were the instant "shops" set up on the pier in hopes of selling trinkets to the tourists newly arrived on the Silver Wind.

In due time we climbed aboard our modern, air-conditioned tour bus for our tour of the highlights of Banjul.  The highlights turned out to be a batik "factory" in the nearby and much larger city of Serekunda and a visit to a small town a little bit upriver to see the "famous" crocodile pool.  We saw the National Museum in Banjul and the Royal Albert Market, the largest market in the country.  It really was a fascinating tour.  The Gambia is a poor country.  Few streets are paved. We saw open sewers. The citizens live and work, for the most part, in really basic housing. Yet everyone seems to have a cell phone.  Clothing is extremely colorful and mostly clean.  There are satellite dishes on all the taller buildings.  People seem happy, adequately fed and children well cared for.

There is a lot we don't and can't possibly understand from one brief visit. How can living conditions be so primitive yet there are fleets of expensive Mercedes Benz taxis that seem to have plenty of customers?  Why is there no bridge across the Gambia River?  The ferries, packed with people, autos, trucks and even a herd of goats, appear rusty to the point of being unseaworthy and highly inefficient. They are supplemented with wooden long boats to which passengers are carried by a large fellow who keeps their feet dry by carrying them to the boat.

The batik factory had no automation.  Everything is done by hand.  We were told that the men do the batik designs and production while the women do tie dying of fabric.  On our way to the crocodile pool, we saw women working in the vegetable fields.  Our guide told us that this is women's work.  Apparently tribal sex role traditions are strong.

The crocodile pool is the country's biggest tourist attraction.  It is set in a small park, a few acres of semi-wilderness with a small, green-carpeted pool containing maybe twenty crocodiles.  The place is supposed to be sacred and magical.  One can touch a crocodile, under the supervision of an attendant.  The beasts are said to be tame.  I wonder if they were drugged. There was no way I was going to touch one even in the near 100 degree F heat that seemed to render them immobile.

I was no frame of mind to touch anything, nor breathe too deeply at the Albert Market.  Stalls crowded together selling similar things in tiny alleys.  Like a department store, there was the shoe section, the clothing section, the clothing manufacturing section.  The vegetable section was interesting, especially the colorfully dressed women.  The fish section, however, was too much.  Flies, attracted by the fish and the late afternoon heat, covered everything.  I was certainly glad I had used DEET liberally before starting the tour. Our guide gave us twenty minutes to wander around the crafts section, encouraging us to bargain with the vendors for souvenirs.  Finally, we headed back to the port and the Silver Wind.

Today, on our way to the Cape Verde Islands, I'm reflecting on my experiences in several parts of sub-Sahara Africa. It is impossible not to have preconceptions no matter how hard one tries not to. These preconceptions are invariably wrong.  The African countries I have just visited are far more complex than I could have imagined.  What I saw is almost certainly not the whole story.  There are layers upon layers.  I attended most of the enrichment lectures on the history and politics of Africa, which certainly helped me understand, somewhat, what I was seeing.  Although different peoples may have much in common, their history, worldviews and belief systems get in the way of mutual understanding.  I, certainly, don't know the proper balance, or more correctly, what is a workable balance between glorifying one's heritage and adapting to change.  Human beings are tribal and conservative by nature yet sometimes must accept new ways to survive and prosper.

--
Barbara Borsuk
barbara@mborsuk.com
Boulder, Colorado, USA
303 408-3639

TAKORADI, GHANA

The Silver Wind spent the day tied up at the wharf in Takoradi, Ghana.  This was the ship's first visit, perhaps any cruise ship's first visit, to this obscure city on the African coast just north of the equator.  Takoradi is definitely not a cruise destination.  My guess is that Silverseas chose the port because it was a good place to refuel before heading north to more scenic and famous places.  Takoradi is about 200 miles west of Accra, the capital of Ghana.  The Ghanaian government built Takoradi some years ago as Ghana's only deep-water port.  It is small.  It can handle only a few ships at a time.  There were oil and gas rigs in the bay just outside the port. We docked carefully between two freighters.  There were no passenger facilities at all.

Silverseas hired some buses and tour guides to come from Accra for the day to show us tourists the sights, such as they were.  The ship-sponsored tours were simple and hideously expensive.  There was one to a city an hour and a half away to visit some historic castles or forts used centuries ago in the African slave trade.  The tour required three hours of riding a bus and featured an hour and a half lunch and "folkloric show." This meant that the seven-hour tour spent maybe an hour or so at the historic sites at a cost of over $300 per person.  The other tour consisted of a bus ride through the city, a visit to a small park called "Monkey Hill" where there are rumored to be monkeys occasionally, a stop at a fishing village to "interact" with the fishermen, and a stop at a somewhat distant luxury beach hotel for refreshment and the inevitable "folkloric show."  This tour, only three and a half hours in length, cost over $200 per person.

Michael and I chose, instead, to take the Silverseas provided shuttle bus to the central market in Takoradi.  We spent about half an hour walking around the market circle.  Nothing we could have done during a short daylong visit could give us more than a glimpse of Ghanaian life.  The market visit in all probability gave us as much flavor of Ghana as a tour would have.

The people appear well fed and well clothed.  The market stalls were shallow storefronts or in many instances mere areas of sidewalk.  All manner of things were for sale.  We saw one man washing canvas shoes and setting them on a low table.  Strange and familiar foodstuffs were available.  New and used clothing, housewares, cell phones and kiosks selling phone cards and groceries were all crowded together.  Shopkeepers and customers all appeared to have cell phones.  Ghanaian women, and some men, carried huge bundles of merchandise on their heads. The buildings were mostly of cement block.  A number had unfinished upper stories; most had peeling paint. It makes me wonder if in Ghana, people don't pay taxes on a building until it is completed thus resulting in a general unfinished look to the city.

There were paved streets and sidewalks most in poor repair.  There were sewers along most streets, mostly covered but smelly.  Considering the heat there was relatively little odor and almost no trash lying around.  The people were cheerful and friendly.  Clearly, this huge market was local people selling to each other.  Guests from our ship were the only white faces in the crowd.  We felt reasonably safe and unthreatened. Tourism has not yet taken hold in Takoradi.  Only a small, improvised market at the edge of the pier was selling tourist-type craft items. I wonder what it will look like in a few years as more cruise ships visit.

Michael and I returned to the Silver Wind well before noon.  We spent a pleasant afternoon reading, writing and in the ship's pool enjoying the perfect temperature of the water.  Later we watched the busy port activity.  A small crane on wheels spent hours moving shipping crates from one place to another seemingly at random.  A group of workers from a trash disposal company (environmentally friendly according to their logo) managed to drop a discarded tabletop into the water as they unloaded it from the Silver Wind.  This required the advice of many sidewalk superintendents as they struggled to fish the round wooden object from the water. Please see Micheal's blog  http://cbu-africa1202.blogspot.com for a humorous look at these and other incidents on shipboard.

Ghanaians are not  punctual.  The two pilots required to point the way out of the harbor were late as were the line handlers. Additionally, the line handlers had great difficulty removing the mooring lines.  They got them tangled, in fact.  The captain was in no good mood when the Silver Wind finally pulled away from the pier.  Ghana tourism is clearly not ready for "prime time."

--
Barbara Borsuk
barbara@mborsuk.com
Boulder, Colorado, USA
303 408-3639

CROSSING THE EQUATOR

We crossed the equator mid morning on Monday, February 20. I took a screen shot of the TV monitor in our suite close to the actual crossing time.  We almost crossed at "zero, zero".  That is zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude, the place where Google Earth goes when it doesn't know where you are.  All I could see at the prime meridian and the equator was a lot of water.  The weather did get appropriately hot and humid.

The cruise director scheduled an equator crossing ceremony at 11 a.m, shortly after the actual event.  These ceremonies date back to the time of Columbus and, I'm told, have changed little over the centuries.  King Neptune, the ruler of the seas, must be placated before he will allow the ship safe passage. This usually involves various indignities performed on passengers and crew who have never crossed the equator before.  In this case a ship's entertainer and two brave guest volunteers suffered having gooey stuff  dumped on them or simple embarrassment.  The entertainers and Colin, our Scottish accented cruise director, played King Neptune and his minions. One of the traditional highlights is the kissing of a fish.   A great time was had by all.  The pictures tell the story. 

--
Barbara Borsuk
barbara@mborsuk.com
Boulder, Colorado, USA
303 408-3639

NAMIBIA: There is Sand Here

The Silver Wind set sail (actually, motored) toward Namibia Monday evening.  We were at sea all day Tuesday and arrived shortly after noon on Wednesday.  The seas remained calm.  The weather was cool even though we were at latitudes between 30 and 20 degrees south.  A strong Antarctic current off the west coast of the continent of Africa keeps the shore cool and frequently overcast although it rarely rains.

I attended some lectures on Africa, wrote some and caught up on reading a book I had started more than a week ago.  Michael and I were invited to the Captain's table at the traditional formal dinner on the first sea day.  We had an enjoyable time.  There were only six of us and we were all able to converse with Captain Palmieri who is most sociable and tells wonderful stories and jokes about the international collection of guests.

The ship-sponsored tours at Walvis Bay, our port in Namibia, were expensive and featured mostly dune buggy rides or boat rides to view the wildlife in the small bay. Michael worked very hard to arrange a private taxi that we shared with another couple.  We wanted to see nearby Swakopmund, a town that time forgot.  See Michael's blog http://cbu-africa1202.blogger.com for a satirical description of our visit.  Our friends Bruce and Susan with whom we shared the taxi, are also interested in trains so we had our driver take us to all the old and new railroad stations along the way as well as the usual tourist stops. The original old 1900's train station has been converted into a beautiful hotel.  The best I can say about the new station is that it is utilitarian.

The road to Swakopmund lies along the shore where the dunes of the Namib Desert come right to the water.  This area has become a prize vacation destination for outdoor enthusiasts.  Dune buggy rides, parasailing and strenuous hiking in the sand are popular.  I thought that just looking at the spectacular landforms was most interesting.  Except for seme green bumps on some of the dunes, all the trees are planted and irrigated. Foreign investors have been buying up beachfront and several partially constructed resort communities are going up in the desert at the edge of the sea.  The areas are outlined in palm trees complete with drip irrigation lines and all have one giant "palm tree" that is really a disguised cell tower. Why go to the effort? It's obviously a cell tower.  There are no tall palms here.  Especially ones with trunks that look like tall poles. All the locals were eager to point out the compound where Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt came to have their baby. I guess that was the biggest news story since independence in 1993.

Thursday, February 16^th was our first anniversary.  We took a long walk through Walvis Bay in the morning.  We walked through the expensive neighborhoods where all the houses had concrete fences topped by wire or electric fencing.  Most had "beware of the dog" signs too although most of the dogs were tiny but barked a lot.  We sailed out at one p.m. Fishing and mineral transport are the main activities in Walvis Bay.  There is not much town.  We saw what there was of it in a few hours. Later in the evening we had a celebratory dinner aboard ship with a couple we had dined with at the Captain's table a few days before.  Lots of travel stories were exchanged. I wore my African caftan, purchased in CApe Town.  I cannot think of many occasions for which it will be appropriate.

Yesterday and today are sea days as are the next two days.  Michael and I attended a reception on the bridge yesterday.  All twenty or so of the guests on board for the last cruise from Cape Town to Cape Town continuing on this cruise, from Cape Town to Las Palmas were invited.  Captain Palmieri volunteered me to ring the ship's bell at precisely noon. I thought I conducted myself with aplomb.

I plan to read, attend some more lectures and walk laps on the upper deck.  Maybe I'll use the swimming pool for the first time.  I know I will have more fabulous meals that will have to be walked off.  Days at sea are for relaxing and pampering oneself.  It's a tough life but someone has to do it.

--
Barbara Borsuk
barbara@mborsuk.com
Boulder, Colorado, USA
303 408-3639

CAPE TOWN AGAIN: The Beginning of a New Cruise

Another sea day followed our departure from East London.  The sea remained rough and few passengers and crew were to be seen in the public areas of the ship.  The crew even drained the pool and hot tubs to prevent water from sloshing all over the deck.  I spent some time selecting pictures and writing this blog.

 I attended another cooking demonstration and saw a few minutes of a lecture about the history of South Africa.  The lecturer tossed off so many names and incidents that it was hard to follow his point. I gather that the Dutch, British and various native peoples all fought each other in various combinations for about 200 years with the British ultimately triumphing.

Michael and I watched the silver Wind make circles outside Cape Town harbor ten days previously.  This time there was no difficulty.  We arrived a bit early if anything.  The port authorities in Cape Town have finally implemented the changes to where cruise ships may dock.  We docked at the Duncan Dock area midway between the Victoria and Alfred Harbor and the far away dry dock area we had left from at the beginning of the cruise segment.  It seemed strange to walk out of the unfamiliar dockside onto a very familiar street.  Cape Town was fair and sunny with little wind.

Michael and I had not taken the cable car to the top of Table Mountain on our previous visit because it had been very windy.  We thought it a good day to try again.  Rather than take a taxi half way up the mountain to the lower end of the tram, we took the red city tour bus a second time.   Our plan was to ride the cable car and then get off at some of the other stops the bus makes.  The narrated tour did mean more to me the second time around. I took lots of picture of city sights including District 6, an empty space from which non-whites had controversially been evicted and the ground cleared toward the end of the Apartheid years. The narrator pointed out city hall where Nelson Mandela spoke calling for unity and freedom on his release from prison.

When we reached the stop for the cable car ride we found that, even though the weather was beautiful, the tram was not running.  We saw the cars occasionally going up and down without passengers. They stopped for long periods. The attendants had no information on when service would resume. My guess is that there was a maintenance problem.  Therefore, we stayed on the bus until the Camps Bay stop where we got out and walked along the beautiful crystal white sand beach. 

We got off the sightseeing bus as it reached the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront shopping district.  I bought a necklace at the craft mart. We attempted to exchange our remaining South African Rands for U.S. dollars but were rebuffed by the bank teller in the nearby bank.  No exchanges without a passport! Why, I have no idea.  Our passports were on board the Silver Wind safely locked in the Purser's office. It seemed like a good idea to return to the ship and watch the provisioning.

Loading the ship's stores ran late.  Our departure was delayed an hour and a half as dockworkers and ship's crew loaded pallets and boxes of produce, wine, toilet paper and other items a ship needs on a long voyage.  Even the ship's officers were involved in passing wine boxes hand to hand up the gangway.  Finally, the fresh seafood and the last pallet of onions were stowed and we were ready to leave.

Michael and I looked at each other and grinned.  We were starting another cruise!

--
Barbara Borsuk
barbara@mborsuk.com
Boulder, Colorado, USA
303 408-3639

CAPE TOWN AGAIN: The Beginning of a New Cruise

Another sea day followed our departure from East London.  The sea remained rough and few passengers and crew were to be seen in the public areas of the ship.  The crew even drained the pool and hot tubs to prevent water from sloshing all over the deck.  I spent some time selecting pictures and writing this blog.

 I attended another cooking demonstration and saw a few minutes of a lecture about the history of South Africa.  The lecturer tossed off so many names and incidents that it was hard to follow his point. I gather that the Dutch, British and various native peoples all fought each other in various combinations for about 200 years with the British ultimately triumphing.

Michael and I watched the silver Wind make circles outside Cape Town harbor ten days previously.  This time there was no difficulty.  We arrived a bit early if anything.  The port authorities in Cape Town have finally implemented the changes to where cruise ships may dock.  We docked at the Duncan Dock area midway between the Victoria and Alfred Harbor and the far away dry dock area we had left from at the beginning of the cruise segment.  It seemed strange to walk out of the unfamiliar dockside onto a very familiar street.  Cape Town was fair and sunny with little wind.

Michael and I had not taken the cable car to the top of Table Mountain on our previous visit because it had been very windy.  We thought it a good day to try again.  Rather than take a taxi half way up the mountain to the lower end of the tram, we took the red city tour bus a second time.   Our plan was to ride the cable car and then get off at some of the other stops the bus makes.  The narrated tour did mean more to me the second time around. I took lots of picture of city sights including District 6, an empty space from which non-whites had controversially been evicted and the ground cleared toward the end of the Apartheid years. The narrator pointed out city hall where Nelson Mandela spoke calling for unity and freedom on his release from prison.

When we reached the stop for the cable car ride we found that, even though the weather was beautiful, the tram was not running.  We saw the cars occasionally going up and down without passengers. They stopped for long periods. The attendants had no information on when service would resume. My guess is that there was a maintenance problem.  Therefore, we stayed on the bus until the Camps Bay stop where we got out and walked along the beautiful crystal white sand beach. 

We got off the sightseeing bus as it reached the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront shopping district.  I bought a necklace at the craft mart. We attempted to exchange our remaining South African Rands for U.S. dollars but were rebuffed by the bank teller in the nearby bank.  No exchanges without a passport! Why, I have no idea.  Our passports were on board the Silver Wind safely locked in the Purser's office. It seemed like a good idea to return to the ship and watch the provisioning.

Loading the ship's stores ran late.  Our departure was delayed an hour and a half as dockworkers and ship's crew loaded pallets and boxes of produce, wine, toilet paper and other items a ship needs on a long voyage.  Even the ship's officers were involved in passing wine boxes hand to hand up the gangway.  Finally, the fresh seafood and the last pallet of onions were stowed and we were ready to leave.

Michael and I looked at each other and grinned.  We were starting another cruise!

--
Barbara Borsuk
barbara@mborsuk.com
Boulder, Colorado, USA
303 408-3639