New Year’s Eve

A day off, so we head to Kambia’s other main tourist attraction, catfish well. Toby and I are shocked to discover Greg and James have already been without us. This is something that has been built up in our minds since reading about it in Dr Mike’s Kambia journal.

So, just across the impressive Chinese-built bridge, we turn down a bumpy lane and get out of the truck. The tension mounts as we walk past a house and down a hill to the local well. FT lifts the cover off for us and we throw in the bread we have brought. And there it is. A very very large catfish. Apparently it was put in to keep the water clean and this one was named “Stop the war’ by the Norwegians who put it there. As we return to Kambia and head to the market, I feel strangely satisfied with the simplicity of the experience.

Unfortunately the market trip was not so successful. We have run out of fresh vegetables and hoped to get some more at Checkpoint. We find tiny aubergines (they call them garden eggs) some okra, limes and oranges but not much else. We will have to survive on pasta and pesto for the remainder of our trip as we haven’t hired a cook and the local food is not brilliantly vegetarian friendly.

We take our daily hot shower provided courtesy of the solar showers we have taken with us, which are quite amazing. After 3 hours in the sun the water is scalding and needs to be mixed with cold, but is quite necessary as one trip in the ambulance will have you covered from head to toe in a cloud of thick red dust.

Back in the Toukel we drink Mojitos and Champagne to see in the New Year and then call our friends. The UK seems very far away but I feel incredibly privileged to be here and quite emotional. Or maybe that is the rum.