Meeting Charlie...

Since arriving in The Gambia we are constantly asked… 'Have you seen Charlie yet?' so when we were given a day off to explore we thought it was our duty to do just that. However finding him was easier said than done.  We knew he was somewhere in Bakau so when we got there we kept muttering the word Charlie and people pointed in the general direction. We ended up walking through a network of tangled back streets meeting a variety of people along the way. Eventually we made it. As we walked through the gate we were confronted by a goat that had the loudest belch I had ever heard!  Emily was the first to spot the pool through a wire fence. As we peered through we could see two crocodile eyes staring back at us. This must be Charlie! Charlie is famous in Gambia for being gentle enough to touch (although there are some rumours floating around that he is either made of stone or dead). As we turned the corner Emily let out an amused gasp- there was a big chunk of the fence missing…  The amused laughter quickly fell silent as we realized that there were two huge crocs blocking our path. We heard a voice saying it's ok they have been fed! A park attendant appeared and leaped enthusiastically onto one of the crocodiles back as if it was a docile donkey. He was beckoning us to go and touch the croc. He didn't look like stone to me… When it was my turn I walked towards one of the many Charlies and could see his eye following me. I hovered my hand over this full but, let's face it, still very unpredictable creature… the attendant pushed my hand down… well he felt like stone- cold and rock-like. As I walked away the croc had obviously had enough and wandered off – so the stone myth was completely crushed. As we continued our walk we became very aware that there were a lot more Charlies than we first thought… they were under benches, climbing out of the pool and enjoying the shade of the trees surrounding us. After a lot of nervous laughter we made our excuses and very carefully and slowly made a dash for it!