Broken in Gently....

Gambia is a weird little place. It’s the smallest and arguably the most randomly placed country in Africa, surrounded on three sides by Senegal and formed by the opening of the River Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean – looking a little like the mouth to Senegal’s side profile face. One of the most interesting things about The Gambia is its position as the only package holiday destination in West Africa to be targeted at a UK market – which in itself makes it unique. But it means that the busy areas have that package holiday feel to them – kind of like the West African Tenerife or Lanzarote...not exactly what you’d expect of Africa, anyway.

But either way, it’s great to finally be out here getting back to my African roots. We hit up Serekunda market and were taken for an impromptu visit to “Biggest Fishing Industry”, (presented in 13 sections), where I was conned into buying some Gambian children a football. I thought they genuinely loved me! Little bastards.

Going out at night was a little reminiscent of Thailand’s sex tourism, to a much lesser extreme, in the number of middle aged westerners walking around with young West Africans, coupled with the amount of sex I was offered for being white. One woman even offered me money for sex, then offered her house. I declined, but at least now I know that if I want 40 year old Senegalese women, I can get them – and maybe even get paid. So that’s a nice confidence booster, and certainly something to consider once the cash runs low.

After a couple of days settling into the heat, we’ve decided it’s time to move on to Dakar, Senegal. I’m writing this entry en route, on the kind of 9 hour journey which will inevitably play a prominent role throughout our trip...sharing a jeep and managing to keep up conversation with a Senegalese lady, who spoke not a word of English but loved our woeful attempts at French. This morning we somehow managed to watch TWO ferries come and go from our seats in a jeep as our driver disappeared for breakfast, making the 7am wake up feel a little unnecessary. We were pulled over 5 times at police check points, and had to pull over again after the pot hole ridden roads bust a tyre. Our currency exchange involved pulling up just outside the border crossing, being surrounded by about 10 Senegalese traders holding cash through the window, and trying to figure out, shouting in a language triangle of French, English and Wolof, how many Gambian Dalasis we should be getting for our Senegalese CFAs - or more specifically, exactly how much we were going to be ripped off. Turns out the damage wasn’t too bad.

But even just driving through, it feels a little more like the real Africa. As we watch the countryside go by, I can’t help but wonder how similar this might be to Ghana – totally lacking the day-to-day things that we take for granted in the UK, like the ROADS! Seriously, they’re either not there at all or you can see cars coming towards you swerving around the pot holes as if going through the paces of a police driving course. But again, the differences between West African countries is something I know very little about and is part of the reason why both Kofi and I wanted to experience them, in order to ensure that we understand the people we want to do this for.

Every place I go to, I’ll be wondering about what it’s like in comparison to Ghana. Bearing in mind a large part of what I know of Ghana has come from Kofi, who LOVES Ghana. Seriously he loves it. People think it’s a joke that he goes on about Ghana so much, but it’s not at all. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he loves England too, but since we’ve been in Africa (3 days) I’ve lost count of the amount of times he’s spoken about Ghana, predominantly on how Ghana is better than anywhere else. We even found out about a place in The Gambia called “Ghana Town”, not mentioned in the guidebooks. He was so determined for us to go, despite intending to spend the coming few months in the actual Ghana, that we (and I reluctantly) took a taxi to Ghana Town, with promises of Ghanaian Sunday feasts. We arrived to find what was essentially a row of run down old shacks. We didn’t even get out. He was pretty upset.

Either way, I’m being genuine when I say that I often take his opinions on Ghana with a pinch of salt. But one thing that fills me with more encouragement is the strong affinity that so many other people have for Ghana in the research we’ve undertaken in the UK, and their feelings towards “brand Ghana”. The branding of countries is something which intrigues me massively, and is something which will play a key role in creating a unique festival atmosphere and promoting the festival outside of Ghana. It might not be obvious, but every country has a brand. Some countries go to great lengths to develop their brand, just like a company does for their product. A country’s brand is essentially made up of people’s perceptions of that country, which is built up over a lifetime of contact with that country – whether its products that you buy, its music that you listen to, its celebrities that you read about – it all adds up to create a brand.

Brand Ghana is a very interesting one. From the research that we’ve undertaken in the UK, it seems that not many people know very much about Ghana – but those who do, love it. I would give a rough estimate that if you ask 5 people in the UK what they know about Ghana, at least two or three of them will know hardly anything about it. But, there will always be at least one person who has a really strong affinity towards it. The people I’ve met who have visited Ghana talk of such fond memories, or of the typical Ghanaian’s exuberant personality and infectious happiness and attitude to life. This is aside from its natural and cultural offerings, largely undiscovered. Yet the vast majority have no idea where it is, neither can they differentiate between Ghana and any other West African country. But this presents so much potential....and it’s something we need to understand even more from our time in Ghana and West Africa, so that we can communicate this unique brand and all it has to offer to a brand new audience.

It’s one of our main objectives of creating a music festival for Ghana – to open the country up to a new audience and raise awareness of Ghana as a tourist destination. It’s not going to be easy – like I said, the brand is strong in terms of how people feel about it but weak in terms of those who know about it. Its location in West Africa is one which, again, is alien to many, and even those who do know of it see the area as unsafe. In reality, Ghana is known to be one of the safest countries in Africa. It’s English speaking, and even the fact that it’s on GMT makes it that little bit more accessible and easier to deal with.

I’m sure you’ll hear me hyping Ghana even more throughout the rest of the blog, particularly through Kofi’s brainwashing ;-). But until I get there, anything I tell you will be second hand information....as we reach Dakar at dusk, hit the rush hour traffic which, I’m told, is not too dissimilar to that of Ghana’s capital, Accra, I’m already encountering some of the problems that stand in the way of attracting a new tourist audience to West Africa. But as we drive past a group of musicians playing out on the street and witness the vibe that has become synonymous with West Africa’s vibrant music scene, I can’t help but notice the potential.

After being broken in gently to the package holiday scene in The Gambia, Dakar is where the African adventure really begins. Fortunately the Senegalese lady who we shared the jeep with has sorted out a taxi to our hotel for us, otherwise I can’t help but think we’d be fucked. It’s busy, it’s smoggy, tourists are notoriously targeted by criminals, and my French is diabolique. BUT it’s already improved through our journey!!! I'm also beginning to shit myself about how the real rinsing part of this journey hasn't even started yet...Keep you posted dudes....!X