Albreda

2 december 2022

Albreda is a small village on the north bank of the Gambian river which I reached by taking a shared taxi to Farafenni and then another to Barra, then changing there to retrace my steps a bit to get a taxi right to Albreda. I paid a total of D400 for these sections.

I was surprised at how ‘end of the worldish’ Albreda felt and certainly the Kunta Kinta Camp had seen better days. The whole area had the feel of being hit by the decline in tourism and government funding. At the camp, I was given their best room at D1000 and told that all meals including breakfast would need to be taken at the restaurant in the centre of the village. The camp seemed to be catering for more of a local clientele on business and study trips. I was the only tourist staying there. The restaurant was open when the cook was available. She cooked to order with the ingredients that she had available.

Albreda village is the jumping off point to Saint James Island, the small island with a long history as an important trading and administrative post due to its strategic location in the middle of the Gambian River. I visited the tourist centre in the village to arrange the boat and entry fee for the island visit. D1400 for the boat, entry to the island and the museum in the village. Be prepared to tip the boatman and any guides that come with you. I was accompanied by a volunteer villager from the red cross – seemingly this is a necessity if you don’t have a guide to look after your safety. This volunteer was very persistent and over friendly; I needed to spend a lot of energy and tact managing his behaviour, over protection and need to be around me whilst in the village. Though intending to be helpful, his behaviour got in the way of being able to fully absorb the experience of this place.

Saint James Island

I managed to find out quite a lot of information about Saint James Island from my research and from asking locals. What follows are some facts which I hope have some truth.
The island was an important colonial trading post from the 16th century and was ruled by various colonial governors through the next decades from the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was then briefly held by the Dutch before the British took over in 1661. After that the French held the island for a few years. It was an important trading post for goods such as ivory and gold as well as enslaved Africans. The settlement included the fort occupied by the elite governors, the administrative and soldiers quarters, the workers area (both enslaved and free) and the slaves quarters used as holding spaces for Africans captured from the countryside and awaiting deportation. The island was occupied until 1829 and has since diminished in size considerably due to erosion. I understand that there are plans to try to reclaim some of the land back to bring the island back to its original size
The ruins of the fort and the cisterns built later to hold unsalted water were still visible. I found the visit to the island really fascinating and moving – I visited at sunset and was the only tourist around. It was very atmospheric and thought provoking..

Juffureh

The neighbouring village of Juffureh, became famous when Alex Haley, the American author of Roots, traced his heritage back to this location. I visited this village to see the place where Kunta Kinteh is said to have lived, listened to one of his ancestors tell the story of his life and to see some of the family members. It gave context to this famous film. According to Wikipedia, Kunta Kinteh was one of 98 slaves that in 1767 travelled on the slave ship from St James Island on board the slave ship ‘Lord Ligonier’ to Annapolis, Maryland.
The whole area was named a UNESCO world heritage area in 2003.
I definitely learnt a lot from this visit and particularly the time spent in the small museum which provided information which supported details I’d picked up in other museums around the West African coast.