WATCH: RIVER GAMBIA EXPEDITION – 1044km source-sea African odyssey

RIVER GAMBIA EXPEDITION – 1044km source-sea African odyssey. A short film © Jason Florio & Helen Jones-Florio

Oct 2, 2013: ‘River Gambia Expedition – 1044km source-sea African odyssey‘

One of our early forays into filmmaking. A short film – edited by Jason Florio / filmed by Jason Florio and Helen Jones-Florio – about our 2012-13 expedition to find the source of the River Gambia in the Fouta Djallon Highlands of Guinea, West Africa. Along with two Gambian friends, fishermen Abdou and Ebou, in search of the source of one of Africa’s last major free-flowing (as yet, it has not been dammed) rivers, we began the journey by land from The Gambia to Guinea’s highlands, where the river starts, tricking from beneath the rocks into what is little more than the size of a small puddle. We then paddled the river, in two canoes, from the border of Guinea/Senegal, following the river back to The Gambia, where the now mighty river flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Read more/see more images from our expedition on Jason Florio’s website

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Photo of the Day: The wonder of the woods. Image ©Jason Florio

The wonder of the woods: Walking on Chobham Common with Ted Hughes this afternoon in search of…

‘Wodwo’

What am I? Nosing here, turning leaves over
Following a faint stain on the air to the river’s edge
I enter water. Who am I to split
The glassy grain of water looking upward I see the bed
Of the river above me upside down very clear
What am I doing here in mid-air? Why do I find
this frog so interesting as I inspect its most secret
interior and make it my own? Do these weeds
know me and name me to each other have they
seen me before do I fit in their world? I seem
separate from the ground and not rooted but dropped
out of nothing casually I’ve no threads
fastening me to anything I can go anywhere
I seem to have been given the freedom
of this place what am I then? And picking
bits of bark off this rotten stump gives me
no pleasure and it’s no use so why do I do it
me and doing that have coincided very queerly
But what shall I be called am I the first
have I an owner what shape am I what
shape am I am I huge if I go
to the end on this way past these trees and past these trees
till I get tired that’s touching one wall of me
for the moment if I sit still how everything
stops to watch me I suppose I am the exact centre
but there’s all this what is it roots
roots roots roots and here’s the water
again very queer but I’ll go on looking – Ted Hughes

Image © Jason Florio, Chobham Common, Surrey, England

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Ramadan Mubarak 2023

Ramadan Mubarak to all our friends.

Friday prayers (Jummah), The Gambia, West Africa

Image © Jason Florio, March 2021

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Photo of the Day: Fishermen working on their nets, Kartong, The Gambia, West Africa

Fishermen and woman at the fisher hub at Kartong on the Halahein river. Although Kartong is outside of the Sustainable Urban Development Programme for Greater Banjul, the fisherman and informal workers are part of the supply chain to bring fish to the markets in Greater Banjul and also to the fishmeal factory at Sanyang. Image ©Jason Florio, The Gambia

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