Have you tried any weird foods around the world? From the bizarre to the disgusting, here are few culinary misadventures from my travels.
Gunpowder Green Tea in The Gambia
If you have ever been to The Gambia, or indeed any of the surrounding West African countries, you will no doubt have seen the local men gathered together around a small teapot. This well-loved past time involves a lot of chattering while drinking scolding hot and...
Gambia Wildlife | What animals can you see in The Gambia?
The Gambia is a fabulous location for wildlife watching. Bottle nose dolphins can be seen in the estuary of The River Gambia. Hippos live in the protected area of the River Gambia National Park, as do chimpanzees. Closer to the coastal tourists resorts, monkeys...
Smile
This week's travel snap is also my entry for Round 46 of Travel Photo Roulette with the theme of 'Smile'. If you'd like to enter you'll find all the details and all the entries on the website 2Away who are the hosts for this round. I took this photo while visiting a...
Smiles at Sanyang Fishing Village
The Gambia is justifiable known as ‘The smiling coast of Africa’ as everywhere you go you will find a smile to greet you. These two ladies, cleaning fish at Sanyang at the leisurely pace that is typical of this little West African country, were only too pleased to...
A black cat and a blue flip-flop
Last December when I visited the small West African country, The Gambia, I enjoyed a wonderful morning learning how to cook a traditional Gambian meal with the charismatic Ida in her family home. By lunchtime the smells from the cooking pot were driving us all to...
The rules of wuri!
Ida teaching tourists to play an ancient traditional game from West Africa is this week's travel snap. I love the expressions on their faces. Can anyone beat Ida? I first came across the game of wuri when I saw a family playing it in a back street in Mindelo on São...
The Gambian Cookbook
When I received a copy of a new cookbook through the post I eagerly ripped open the parcel, as I’d been looking forward to reading The Gambian Cookbook – Recipes from the Smiling Coast, ever since I’d been asked by the authors to review it. My first impression was...
Cooking with Ida – Fish Benechin from West Africa
Following on from my earlier post about World Food Night, featuring a colourful bowl of fish benechin, I wanted to share with you the wonderful morning I spent with Ida Cham-Njai learning how to cook Gambian style! I joined a small group of tourists on Ida’s cookery...
The grandchildren of the wise man of Makasutu Forest
Just a few miles north-east of Brikama, which is the second largest town in The Gambia, you will find Makasutu Forest, a lush green wilderness fed by a tributary of the River Gambia. Now a private eco-reserve with a handful of luxury lodges, the owners have worked...
World Food Night!
In recognition of World Food Night, which is being held next Friday, this week's travel snap is of a delicious bowl of fish benechin that I helped prepare in The Gambia. You can find a recipe for this spicy traditional dish on World Food Night's website under 'News'...
Interview: International chef Jonathan Groves in The Gambia
Have you ever cooked for 900 people for a wedding and have 1,500 turn up! No, unsurprisingly, me neither. Jonathan Groves, the superb chef at Ngala Lodge has. Last month, while staying at this beautiful boutique hotel in The Gambia, West Africa, I was lucky enough to...
Smiles, from the smiling coast
The Gambia is known as the smiling coast of Africa for good reason and I love the smiles of this brother and sister playing around together at a Jola Festival where the brother was initiated. You can read about the fabulous day I had and see more photos on my post An...
My diary… from the smiling coast of Africa – Part 5
Eating akara, dancing to Baatin and saying goodbye to The Gambia Thursday morning and it's our last full day. After another school visit in the morning (on behalf of The Gambia Experience's School Development Fund), Shelagh and I spend the afternoon visiting our...
My diary… from the smiling coast of Africa – Part 4
Children's smiling faces and shouts of "Kathryn" and "Shelagh" greet us in Jeddah, a poor district of Brikama. It's Wednesday morning and we're off to visit Jeddah Progress Nursery School in Brikama (for children 4 to 7 years old), a school Nyodema has been supporting...
Merry Christmas from the children of Jeddah
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all! This week's photograph is of the children at Jeddah Progress Nursery School in The Gambia. Although The Gambia is a Muslim country they are very tolerant of other religions and it is not unknown for Muslims to join in...
My diary… from the smiling coast of Africa – Part 3
Cooking fish benachin and visiting the newly built school at Dairuharu Monday I'm up fairly early today as I'm going on an excursion run by The Gambia Experience 'Cooking with Ida'. Nine of us from various hotels arrive at Ida's and are shown two racks of colourful...
My diary… from the smiling coast of Africa – Part 2
Arriving in Africa and catching up with old friends Friday/Saturday After a delayed get away Shelagh and I arrived at Banjul airport a little later than expected but we were soon whisked off to the hotel - Ngala Lodge, a former colonial mansion and our home for the...
My diary… from the smiling coast of Africa – Part 1
I'm getting excited! This time next week I'll be in The Gambia - luxury hotels, European women with their African toy boys, sunshine, sea and poverty. An incongruous mash-up of the extremes in life, The Gambia gets under your skin, if you let it. Once again I'll soon...
Gambian women, looking so colourful
One thing I've often noticed during my visits to The Gambia, is that women always look so wonderful in their colourful outfits, like these ladies in Kotu craft market, who have just finished work for the day. I come back from a day out with my hair all over the place,...
