Cruise line's yacht delves into far reaches of Gambia
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A sculpture commemorates the slave trade outside the "slave museum" in Juffure, The Gambia. -
Children run out of their homes and start singing for money when they see tourists coming in Juffure.
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"Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffere, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a man-child was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte." -- From "Roots" by Alex Haley
TENDABA, The Gambia -- If Kunta Kinte could see the Gambia River, he wouldn't believe it.
Picture a white yacht flying a blue Greek flag. Sitting on the deck are 25 people having lunch, a little white wine, a little pasta. The yacht, Pegasus, is the only vessel on the shimmering, warm river. It glides past the shore, headed back from nearly a week cruising far up-country, to places where the heat hits 105 degrees, where those aboard have seen birds and crocodiles, chimps and monkeys and been escorted by a Gambian member of parliament on a village tour.
THE BOAT: M/Y Pegasus, a 148-foot mega-yacht built in 1990, holds 42 passengers. It has four pretty decks and a 16-member crew. The yacht belongs to Variety Cruises, a Greek company. During the summer, the Pegasus cruises the Greek isles.
THE CRUISE: The West Africa cruise will resume Dec. 23 and continue through March 9. Book directly through Variety Cruises (www.varietycruises.com, 800-319-7776). Or book through Boston-based Odysseys Unlimited, whose package includes airfare, pre-cruise hotels, tours, cruise, a tour rep and more (www.odysseys-unlimited.com, 888- 370-6765). The cruise itself costs about $2,300, but adding shore excursions, airfare, tours and extras, total trip cost is about $4,000-$5,000 per person. Book at least a "B" class cabin. (Two "C" cabins are on the lowest level near the engines.) Pegasus had Internet service most of the time, but the TV wasn't working (a restful thing, it turned out.) Excellent food and service, basic cabins, a small library.
THE ITINERARY: Not for novices. Boat spends the first and last nights on the Atlantic Ocean, which can be rocky, then five nights on the smooth Gambia River . Shore excursions are nature-focused -- to national parks, a chimp reserve, the excellent Kissi Bolong bird refuge, the Saloum River Delta. Except for Dakar, towns and villages are hot, dusty and extremely limited in amenities.
After shore excursions, "you're going to be hot and tired and sweaty, but you're going back on board where they greet you with a hot towel and juice and you go back to your air-conditioned cabin," says Pat Goodwin of Rochester Hills, Mich.
First Published April 10, 2011 12:00 am
