Sunday 15th November
The Horse & Donkey Trust, Sambel Kunda, The Gambia
We arrived at the Horse and Donkey Trust today with a welcome fit for a visiting head of state! As we rounded the lane, leading up to Sambel Kunda, we could hear singing up ahead. The whole of the local primary school had come out to welcome us to the village, singing and clapping our arrival. We were surrounded by what seemed like a 100 or so kids, all singing at the tops of their voices! We were all very touched by such an unexpected welcome, especially Momadou, who is from the area.
The trust is run on behalf of Heather Armstrong (who is very kindly letting us use Neil and Paddy) by Anna and Alex, who are helped by a few other volunteers from the UK. And we were soon to find out what an amazing job they are doing out here.
There are horse and donkeys everywhere (along with assorted cats and dogs, pets that belong to Heather and the girls). Most of them are well on their way to to full rehabilitation after being rescued from extreme cruelty by locals – not always intended. More through lack of education on how to take care of their animals. There is the odd animal there though, that are still a long way to being fully recovered and may never reach that point in some instances.
‘Lazarus 2’ a beautiful black horse who has been so badly burned on his back and one of his eyes from the thoughtlessness of someone burning their field too near to the horse’s stable, when the fire got out of control and was carried by the wind to land on the pre-rainy season (i.e. so it was extremely dry) thatched roof. The burning roof consequently caved in, on the two horse that were housed in there. Fortunately, Lazarus 2 was able to break away from his rope and flee but, tragically, his stable mate was not strong enough to do this and so perished in the fire.
The staff at GH&DT work so hard not only to rehabilitate the rescued animals but they also attempt to educate the local people on how to treat their animals with more care – i.e. not to tie tether their donkeys by their front leg whereby the rope can cut off circulation, which can lead to amputation, which then leads inevitably to the animal being destroyed. Lame donkeys are no good to working farmers who depend on them, in many ways, to make a living.
It was decided whilst we were there to swap Paddy for a slightly older and stronger donkey called Hadley. Anna and Alex thought that Paddy may well be a little to young to complete the full journey around The Gambia. We will miss him very much. However, we now welcome Hadley (whom we’ve already started calling (P)Hadley in deference to the inimitable Paddy!) who is proving to be very strong, both in endurance and character (we’ve learned very quickly to avoid his back-end!) and we have a feeling that he will be quite mischievous!
We would have loved to have stayed longer in the beautifully calm environment of the pastures of Samble Kunda and the GH&DT but the longer we rest, the harder it will be to get back on the road! So, the next morning, we said goodbye to the girls, the donkeys (Paddy in particular) and horses, the cats and dogs and walked into the darkness of the early morning, on a 28km walk to our next stop in Brikama Ba.
Please see the link to The Gambian Horse and Donkey Trust to the right of the blog page for more information on this admirable trust.
Abaraka baca for checking in
Fon yato deman ding (see you soon!)
A Short Walk Team Update xx
Image: Jones 2009
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If you would like to help the ‘Short Walk In The Gambian Bush’ expedition members get more Gardens for Life up and running for Gambian school kids, then please visit our Just Giving page and see how even a small donation can make a big difference to these kids.
Related posts:
- ‘Gambia, Little Gambia….’ two new film clips from the Short Walk in The Gambian Bush expedition. On the River Gambia and Arriving at Sambel Kunda (home of The Gambia Horse & Donkey Trust), The Gambia, West Africa Our first experiment with putting footage from the expedition on...
- Update on Neil and (p)Hadley, the donkeys from The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust – our trusty steeds on A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush, West Africa A whole post dedicated to the beautiful donkeys that accompanied...
- Neil and (p)Hadley of the Gambian Horse and Donkey Trust Leaving Makasutu and A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush, 2009 Image: Jason Florio – The Gambia – 2009 ...
- A Short Walk in The Gambian Bush team member, Janneh, on the road with (p)Hadley the donkey Donkeys are notoriously scared of water – and that includes...
- A new Gambian team member, our first meeting with Neil ‘Mungo’ & Paddy ‘Park’ (the donkeys), adjusting to GMT….. Sat 24th Oct 09 We are aclimatising to the 90+...
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