Above is the route that we took, by foot, on ‘A Short Walk in the Gambian Bush – a 930km African odyssey‘, 2009, around the smallest mainland African country, where Jason took the formal portraits of the village chiefs – the alkalo’s – we stayed with each night, which will all be exhibited from tomorrow night, for one month.
The ‘Short Walk‘ expedition team: Samba Leigh (front), Momadou Cham, Helen Jones-Florio, Jason Florio, Ablie Janneh, and Neil & Paddy (our donkeys on kind loan from The Gambia Horse & Donkey Trust) – Makasutu Culture Forest, post walk, Dec 2009
L-R: The Short Walk team, 2009:- Momadou Cham, Jason Florio, Alkalo Manneh Cham, Helen Jones-Florio, Abdoulie Janneh – Image taken by Samba Leigh (also a team member)
In 2009 we turned left at the gate, from Makasutu Culture Forest, to embark on the first ever circumnavigation of The Republic of The Gambia, West Africa, completely by foot, with two donkeys – Neil & Paddy – (courtesy of The Gambia Horse & Donkey Trust) and a cart, to carry our camping and camera equipment.
At the end of each day, we presented ‘silafando’ (the traditional gift giving of kola nuts) to the village chief – the alkalo – and asked permission to pitch our campsite for the night, along with a request to take a formal portrait of the chief and, at times, the village elders.
‘A New York dinner party isn’t the place to open your mouth and not follow through – no matter how much Brooklyn Lager you’ve drunk. Yet, after a fellow guest told my partner, Helen, and I how he had walked 500 miles across Europe on the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, we declared that we’d been contemplating a journey for some time and a long walk sounded like just the thing… ‘ read the full story here: You People Cannot Walk, You Only Move in Cars‘ – The Independent .
‘Silafando’ is an award-winning body of work, which has been published and exhibited around the world and now, for the first time, we have been given the opportunity to do something we have dreamed of doing, since we finished the walk, and that is to exhibit them here in The Gambia (we are indebted to Athens Photo Festival,APhF:15, for shipping the prints to West Africa).
To read more about the machete wielding Kankurang, and why this particular Mandinka masquerade was on the beach – made from recycled plastic rice sacks – in The Gambia, West Africa, please see previous post.
PHOTOS TELL STORIES - documentary | filmmaking | photography | people | travel 