The Gambia - The Smiling Coast Quiz

Answer: True

Banjul International Airport was perfectly situated for a Space Shuttle emergency landing from 1987 to 2002. Those early missions took off at an angle which meant Banjul was well-sited if needed. Later missions took off at a different angle meaning it was no longer suited and its status was lost, being replaced by airports further north.

Other airports which have been used as emergency landstrips for the Shuttles at various times were located in The Azores, Spain, France, the British Indian Ocean Territory, Germany, Morocco, Senegal, the UK and Easter Island.

North American airports which may have been used were in New Jersey, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

There are no railways in The Gambia as of 2013 but the government has had talks on the matter. There are over 3,000 km (1,800 miles) of roadways, and if you're of a nautical mind, you can navigate the Gambia River from its mouth to 190km (118 mi) inland, even in a small ocean-going vessel.

Answer: Peanuts

Domoda is beef cooked in a peanut puree and served on a bed of boiled rice. Other dishes often seen in Gambia are benachin which is rice cooked with a meat or fish, vegetables and tomatoes, superkanja which features okra and other vegetables, and chicken yassa in which chicken is cooked with the flavourings of lime, onions and black pepper.

When dining with a Gambian family, it's very important to wash your hands and take your shoes off before dining. You then eat with only your right hand though if that's unappealing, feel free to ask for a spoon. As the honoured guest, a spoon will gladly be provided for you.

The meal will usually be served in a large bowl placed on the table. It's considered rude to take food from an area of the bowl not directly in front of you, so don't overreach! It's also considered rude to smell the food prior to dining. I think that's a shame as the aromas from the spices and other ingredients must be intoxicating and mouth-watering! Conversation while dining is limited but feel free to compliment the chef on the delicious food. One thing which is allowed is to belch after the meal. It shows your hosts that you have eaten sufficiently and happily! After the meal, wash your hands again. You may find families of Mandinka ethnicity eating their meal with the sexes segregated.

Answer: Swahili

Swahili is a Bantu language spoken by the Swahili people residing in around the African Great Lakes. This includes the countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda amongst others. Mandinka is the most frequently used indigenous language in The Gambia and can be written in both Latin and Arabic characters.

Fula is also known as Fulani and is a member of the Senegambian branch of the larger Niger-Congo language family along with Wolof and Serer. Spoken by the Fulbe (or Fula or Fulani) people, you can hear Fula spoken in the Senegambia Region, in Guinea, Cameroon and even Sudan.

Wolof is spoken by the Wolof people who can be found in Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. The Wolof make up forty percent of the population of The Gambia and speakers of other language often have Wolof as a second language. When Gambians of different ethnic groups meet, Wolof is the common language they will use to communicate. In The Gambia, Wolof is spoken by approximately 25% of the population overall but in the capital of Banjul, some 75% of the population speak Wolof as a first language. Even in Serrekunda, the nation's largest city, Wolof is spoken by the majority of inhabitants even though only a small minority of the population is of Wolof extraction.

Jola (also known as Diola) is spoken in Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. It's a group of dialects rather than a single language, some of which aren't mutually intelligible. It's also part of the Niger-Congo language family but belongs to a different branch (the Bak branch) than either Wolof or Fula.

Answer: Serer

The Serer are a group of people who live in the Senegambia Region and followers of the Serer religion have a supreme deity called Roog. The religion can also be called Fat Roog. The religion encompasses different aspects of the life of the Serer people such as chanting, astronomy, cosmology, offerings to deities, and medicine. In addition to Roog are a number of lesser gods, goddesses, spirits and genies with different responsibilities. For instance, Tiurakh is the god of wealth while Takhar is the god of justice/vengeance. Serer followers have faith in Roog to oversee everything in daily life but not interfere, leaving any the lesser gods etc. to work as Roog's assistants on Earth. Heaven and Hell do not feature in the Serer religion but the soul is seen as immortal and reincarnation will ensue after a person's death.

Just as a cross is a symbol for Christianity, the Serer followers have a five-pointed star as a symbol. Many illiterate followers will use the star as a signature should they need to sign a document. This symbol, called the Star of Yoonir, is associated the star known as Sirius. Monday is the day of rest for Serer followers and in addition, certain activities such as weddings are banned on Thursdays.

Answer: Wrestling

Wrestling is important to Gambians in more than one way. For those who enjoy watching, it's a source of pride seeing someone from your home town acquit themselves well. For the wrestler, it brings honour and if you do well, cash from the spectators who admired your performance. Tournaments are held frequently in The Gambia's largest city of Serrekunda. Wrestlers don't have to deal with too many rules as it's essentially a matter of getting your opponent on the ground before he does the same to you, though tactics such as kicking, punching, slapping or throwing sand in the eyes are illegal.

In the audience are many spectators supporting their man with drums and whistles. Adding to the chaos of the occasion, there may be up to twenty matches happening simultaneously in the same arena. When a wrestler wins, his fans may descend into the arena and carrying a bag, they make their way around the area looking for coins from the audience for their wrestler. If you're going to the wrestling, take plenty of small change and notes with you to put into the bags.

Some of the lustre of wrestling had diminished over the years but the government aims to bring wrestling back to its former status. More arenas will be added around the nation so greater numbers can train in the sport.

Answer: Literacy

The Gambia had a literacy rate of 51% in 2011 with male literacy at 61% and females standing at 42%. There are literate, educated and powerful women in public life in The Gambia including Isatou Njie-Saidy who was elected Vice President in 1997. The situation for many Gambians is still poor though with as many as one-third of the population living under the international poverty figure of $1.25 a day.

The Gambia has free education for all children for the first six years of education. Cultural factors such as children being required to work on family farms lower the overall attendance to under 80%. The Gambia still has a high rate of maternal death compared to Western countries but the programme launched in 2013 wasn't designed to address this issue.

The Gambia is also the site of forced labour (including begging) and sexual exploitation of native Gambians, and women and children trafficked in from other West African nations. The government has instituted laws to prohibit such activities but prosecution of offenders has been lax.

Answer: Mali

The Mandinka are a large ethnic group in West Africa which has spread across the region into countries such as The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso from its origins in Mali. Close to 100% of the Mandinka population are Muslims.

Despite being so widely spread, The Gambia is the only nation in which they form the largest ethnic group. Living in traditional villages with a chief, they are reasonably self-governing. The Mandinka are also called the Mandingo. Over three centuries beginning in the 1500s, it is estimated that thirty percent of the Mandinka population were transported to the Americas for slavery. Many African-Americans can trace their origins to the Mandinka.

Such is the influence of the Mandinka, The Gambia's national anthem 'For The Gambia Our Homeland' was based on a traditional Mandinka song 'Foday Kaba Dumbuya' and adapted by Virginia and Jeremy Howe.

Answer: Dragon

Gambian children are warned that if they stray too far from or disobey their parents and wander into the swamp, Ninki Nanka will get them! Cryptozoologists have searched for physical evidence of Ninki Nanka as recently as 2006 but as yet, evidence remains elusive. Ninki Nanka roughly translates to 'dragon-devil'. Ninki Nanka is said to come out at night to devour anyone that comes in its sights. Descriptions vary widely with estimates of its length ranging up to 15m (50 ft). The most fearsome description is of a creature with the body of a crocodile topped with a giraffe's neck atop of which is found a horse's head with three horns. Other less frightening images of Ninki Nanka say that it is a large snake or lizard similar to a Komodo dragon. Still, a 15m long Komodo dragon would be terrifying enough if it had set its sight on you as a snack!

The legend of Ninka Nanka isn't just used as a tool to ensure a child's behaviour. Many adults won't venture near an area in which Ninki Nanka has been recently reported. The Gambia isn't alone in having tales of monsters residing in waterways. The Congo has a resident lake monster called Mokèlé-mbèmbé, while in Zimbabwe lives the Chipekwe. Northern Angolans watch out for the Isiququmadevu.

If you were to visit The Gambia, I'd be more wary of diseases such as yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever which are prevalent. The Gambia has been declared free of polio but not everyone is vaccinated yet which means the virus could still be around. Hepatitis A, typhoid and other diseases might ruin your holiday so I'd check with an authoritative medical source about any inoculations or other protection you might need such as insect repellent to scare away the mosquitoes!

Answer: Chimpanzees

The River Gambia National Park consists of five islands known collectively as Baboon Island. On the islands which cover 585 ha (1,450 acres) is the privately funded Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project which aims to reintroduce chimps into the forest in the park or on the mainland. Chimpanzees which were part of the illegal animal trade are placed on the island to resume their natural life in the rainforest after rehabilitation by the CRP team. Family groups of chimps live on the island and have bred, increasing the population.

The Gambia had lost all its native chimpanzee population by the early 20th century. Visitors are not permitted on the islands to ensure not only the safety of the animals from injury or theft, but to ensure the safety of humans from the chimps which can be quite vicious if they feel threatened.

Answer: Kunta Kinteh Island

Kunta Kinteh Island's location thirty kilometres upstream from the Atlantic Ocean in the Gambia River saw it become one of the first places of European exploration and development in Africa. In the mid-1450s, Portugal has purchased the island and began building a fort to use as a base. As the slave trade developed, Kunta Kinteh Island was important for controlling the trade of slaves and other commodities in the inland areas of The Gambia.

Along with James Island are other sites related to the early colonisation of The Gambia. At the mouth of the Gambia River lie two military installations built in the first half of the 19th century by the British. The purpose of these installations was to stop slavery! The United Kingdom had abolished slavery and these two forts, Fort Bullen and the Six-Gun Battery, were built with the intent of stopping the slave trade and are the only two examples in the region of structures devoted to stopping the evil trade. Fort Bullen and the Six-Gun Battery were both used during WWII by Allied Forces.

Kunta Kinteh Island and other sites related to the colonisation of The Gambia are protected but many show the ravages of centuries of use or neglect, though some parts have been restored. Kunta Kinte was the central character upon which the Alex Haley novel 'Roots: The Saga of an American Family' was based. The book was the story of Kunta Kinte, his kidnapping from The Gambia and his life as a slave in the USA.