Another relaxing day at GH&DT. In the morning, Mikey wanted to visit Bansang Hospital to check on their solar panels as he had been told there was a problem with them. Myself, John and Gert also came along for the ride. First we had to negoiate the hour long section of soft sand to get from Sambel Kunda to the main road but it was significantly easier without any luggage on the bikes. The main road up river on the south side was surpringly good and we only took another hour to reach the hospital. Whilst Mikey went off to check out the electrical supply to the hospital, I noticed one of the Honda C90 scooters that had been donated by another group from UKGSer. Twice before, a group of several riders had ridden these little bikes all the way down to The Gambia and donated them to worthy causes including this hospital. Having just ridden down on our large bikes, it make us really appreciate the efforts of these riders who managed it on 90cc scooters. Another group had been due to leave around the same time as us but unfortunately due to the Mauritania issues they had had to postpone their trip until later. One of the doctors started chatting to me and telling me how useful these little scooters are and that he uses one daily to get out to see patients. The bikes obviously have a very hard life here in the extreme conditions as they are not built for use on off-road bumpy trails. A quick check over revealed that the bikes needed a bit of attention as they had suffered from not being able to get genuine Honda spare parts. The doctor introduced me to their Head of Maintenance who explained that they have to buy Nigerian made spares that are very poor quality and that makes it difficult for them to keep the bikes in perfect condition but they make every effort to service the bikes correctly and look after them with great care. He handed me a letter that had been sent to the UK detailing all the spares they needed to keep the bikes running. I checked over the couple of bikes parked outside and added a few more items to the list and promised that I would try to pass on these details to the "Scoots in the Sahara" group when I returned to the UK.
We then went inside to see what Mikey was up to with the solar panels. It turned out that somebody had topped up the enormous batteries with sulphuric acid instead of distilled water and this had ruined the batteries which were charged up by the solar panels. It had happened when the regular service engineer was away for a while and some well meaning person had tried to help. Unfortunately, Mikey's opinion was that these batteries were not now holding the charge and would need to be replaced at considerable cost.
We were then all ushered into the Chief Executive Officer's large office for a meeting with him and some of his Heads of Department. This was a bit strange as we had only called in unannounced but we were being treated as very important visitors. We were given ice cold drinks from his private fridge and all sat around a large board table. The CEO thanked us for showing an interest in his hospital and especially in the solar panels and the scooters. Mikey advised that he was unable to promise anything with the panels but that he would do his best to get something organised and likewise I mentioned that I would pass on the request for scooter spares to the riders I knew back home.
We had to get back to the GH&DT for 3.00 pm as we had planned to go out on a river trip. Once we all returned, it was a quick change from our biking gear to cooler wear for going out on a boat. We all piled into the Toyota again and headed down towards the river. Just as we entered the National Park there was a side warning that no felling of trees was allowed as it was a protected area. Around the next corner we were blocked by a lorry that was illegally loading large branches into the back. The lorry was a bit of an old wreck and it took him a few minutes of frantic revving to get enough power to release the air brakes and move enough to let us through. The road suddenly just stopped at the edge of the river even though there was no obvious sign of anywhere to get a boat from. After a short wait the boat appeared and we all jumped aboard. We motored up stream a few hundred yards where we then took on a local Park Warden who turned out to be a waste of time as his English was poor and he didn't seem interested in telling us anything about the surroundings. He stunned everyone when he suddenly turned around and demanded 150 Delasi each as a fee for being in the National Park and it was clear that Heather was not all happy about this. Luckily Heather was able to give us a much more informative talk about the various islands and the animals to be found on each one. We spotted a large male chimp by the edge of the river and those with better cameras than me were able to get decent pictures of him. We also noticed a large crocodile swimming very fast downriver and were again able to get photos from a distance. Unfortunately, we never saw any hippos but then that gives me a reason to return here with my wife to try to see some again in future.
When the boat returned to the drop off site, the river level, being tidal, had dropped a few feet meaning we would have to wade through soft mud to get ashore. The local boat men did their best to help us and even got buckets of water to help wash off the worst of the river mud.
In the evening we had to travel to another local village to meet the elder as he had been unable to join us at the welcoming ceremonies. We all sat inside his compound as darkness fell and he gave a speech about how grateful the people were for our help. Firstly, they greatly appreciated that we had raised money for them but perhaps more importantly, they respected the fact that we had actually ridden all the way to The Gambia to see them face to face. One of the younger villagers helped translate from the native Mandinka language into English and also translated our responses. We told them that the welcome we had received from them would be remembered for the rest of our lives and was the sort of thing that money can't buy.
A really enchanting and memorable day that will stay with me forever.
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