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Transport

When a Gambian teacher visited Britain for the first time he was amazed by the road system especially as he left Bristol airport.
Look at these pictures and think why this was.

Banjul Airport is modern and is surrounded by good tarmaced roads.	By Permission http://www.stevedrice When you first arrive Banjul seems like many other cities.	The roads are busy with yellow and green taxis

How many traffic lights do you see as
you travel around where you live?

As you travel around you soon realise that all the roads are edged by the red Sahara sand. Luggage soon becomes smothered in the sand!

Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin

There are no bridges over the Gambia river from the north bank to the south bank but it is possible to cross at Barra, Farafenni and at Janjanbureh (Georgetown) by ferry. There are some bridges over tributaries of the River Gambia.
Click here to find out about the ferries

The south road was tarmacced in the 1970s and is now worn away and full of very deep potholes.

Here potholes have been repaired. Look at the wide sandy border on either side. This is where most vehicles travel(on which ever side is best!) when the pot holes are not repaired.	Further up river there is less tarmac. There are places where the pot holes are very deep and wide and make travelling very slow indeed

In 2005 the visitors' journey to Janjanbureh on the south road of about 180 miles took nearly 12 hours.
Much of the time they travelled in pitch dark as there is no electricity away from the coast.
They saw people walking between villages carrying torches.

In 2005 the north road was being tarmacced. It will make travel a lot easier. The visitors used this road to return to Banjul, Nearer to the coast there is the Taiwan Highway. It is a modern road and very smooth and fast. The road took them to Barra, then they had to get the ferry across the estuary to Banjul. Although the journey on the north road is now much quicker than on the south you will always have to wait two hours or a lot longer to take a vehicle onto the ferry. NB: By 2008 the north road was completed all the way to Janjanbureh. The journey is very quick and smooth though you may have to watch out for cattle and goats wandering on to it.

Can you imagine what it is like to travel on these roads?
Is it easy, comfortable, pleasant?
How do the villagers travel around?
What problems could poor roads cause?

Most lorries carry passengers who pay for lifts on them. They are often seen right on the top of very tall lorries.	Many locals travel by local or bush taxi. It might be a car, mini-bus, vans or carts. They follow set routes and people pay a set amount . People can get on and off where they want. In the towns they are often the yellow and green cars.

Horse and cart is very common	This form of transport is not common! Most children will walk to school - often several kilometres.	Some people will have bikes and may cycle for long distances. Many people will walk very long distances.

This very detailed map is around the Janjanbureh area. Click on it to see a larger version. All the grey lines are just tracks.

Think of the reaons why you travel.

Do the Gambians need to travel as far?

Why do you think more vehicles are needed towards the coastal area than in the villages?

Think about work, tourism, food and families.

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