Sura is also appearing as a special guest on Thursday 10th May at Club Inégales, 180 North Gower Street, NW1 2NB near Euston, London. For more information please visit their website Club Inégales.

As we settled down on to the rugs that had been laid down on Ida’s patio I noticed a blue flip-flop nailed to a tree beside me. Curious!

Each country I have ever visited has its own set of customs and beliefs, some similar to those found in other countries and some that are unique to that particular country. For instance, in some countries, including Britain, it is believed to be good luck for a black cat to cross your path while in others, including The Gambia, it is very unlucky. I wondered if this flip-flop was to do with a local superstition.

When Ida joined us we immediately asked her and laughing she explained that it is believed that if you found a flip-flop on the street, brought it home and nailed it to a tree that had stopped bearing fruit, the tree would then start producing fruit again. She had always thought the custom ridiculous, however, when her prized avocado tree stopped bearing fruit she thought that she had nothing to lose and gave it a try. The next season, much to her surprise, the tree produced more fruit than it ever had before and has done ever since.

1) How long have you been interested in birds and birdwatching?

I’ve been interested in birds and birding for far longer than I remember and we’re definitely talking pre-teenage years here. I had an obsession with dinosaurs at an early age and I guess that it simply evolved from there. I grew up in Leytonstone at the very southern tip of Epping Forest and in those days there seemed little fear of what might happen to little children out alone in the woods and I was free to roam in nearby Bush Wood and Wanstead Park which were my earliest stamping grounds. Their woodlands and lakes held far greater interest for me than the urban sprawl and the bright lights of the east end of London.

I was at a very early age when during a railway journey to Swanage on the south coast for a family holiday I was sat clutching a copy of I-Spy Birds and was fortunate that a complete stranger on the train who was sitting next to my family was obviously a keen birder as he proceeded to point out birds to me throughout the journey thus filling in many gaps in the book and introduced the idea of ticking and listing in my mind. I owe thanks to whoever this unknown person was as they definitely inspired me at the time.

Joining the Y.O.C. and the now sadly defunct Epping Forest RSPB group was my next stepping-stone and the joys of Lea Valley birding with their reservoirs and gravel pits opened up a new horizon but it was my first trip to Minsmere with the YOC on the 1^st May 1971 that really blew my mind! I remember being lined up with a full coach load of other youths in front of Bert Axell who put the fear of God into us during a rather unwelcoming introductory speech. I recall that he didn’t seem to be too pleased with the idea of large numbers of teenage boys on the reserve but nonetheless he delivered the speech in an inspirational way and we were allowed to enter the reserve. Here there was a whole new world with views of my first Avocets, Bittern and the like. After that there was definitely no turning back and holidays, particularly in Scotland pointed the way to a world of birds far removed from the local park and a desire to travel further abroad was realised.

2) Have you always been an animal artist, or have you worked in other disciplines previously?

I studied Art at Wimbledon School of Art and there my main interests were semi-abstract landscape and in particular water effects. I was also interested in Life Drawing – the human figure.

3) How long have you been visiting West Africa?

I first visited West Africa in 1990 with a trip to Cameroon when I began work on Birds of Western Africa.

Plate taken from Birds of Senegal and The Gambia

4) And when did you first visit The Gambia? Has it been strange to watch it burgeon into a tourist destination?

I first visited The Gambia in 1994. The increase in tourism has been astonishing and although much coastal habitat has changed in that time to the detriment of wildlife improved access to other parts of the country has opened up wildlife watching opportunities.

5) How did you come to work on the book?

The book followed on from the success of Birds of Western Africa and its ‘spin-off’ companion Birds of Ghana. Our (Ron Demey my co-author and A&C Black the publisher) idea from the very beginning of Birds of Western Africa had always been to produce spin-off more compact and handy one or two country field guides to the more popular birding destinations. The only remaining country in West Africa that is commonly visited is perhaps Cameroon. Gabon might be another possibility.

6) Was there a lot of pressure following up on Clive Barlow, Tim Wacher and Tony Disley’s renowned book?

No pressure at all particularly as the project was not exactly a ‘follow up’. We had been working on Birds of Western Africa from which Birds of Senegal and The Gambia evolved since 1990 and The Barlow book was published in 1997 so you can see that the books were probably being worked on simultaneously and ours was possibly even conceived earlier. To my mind the two books offer very different insights into the birds of The Gambia. The Barlow book is more of a handbook and our book is most definitely a field guide that covers Senegal comprehensively as well as The Gambia. All major plumages and races are illustrated. The two books complement each other nicely to my mind and it would be great to see the Barlow book updated and expanded in the form of a handbook to the birds of The Gambia.

7) How did you approach the work of illustrating the book – did you start from scratch with the artwork, or build on what Tony Disley had done previously?

My artwork has absolutely nothing to do with Tony Disley’s artwork. As mentioned before it is highly likely that I was working on many of the plates even before Tony Disley had begun his! I have been travelling in Africa since 1987 throughout the continent and my experience of African birds as you can imagine is quite comprehensive.

Plate taken from The Birds of Senegal and The Gambia

8) Do you sketch in the field, or work from photographs, descriptions and memory?

Originally where I would start from involved translating a personal birding moment into an image and this meant birding, making sketches in the field, taking photographs and bits of habitat home to work from.

These days most of my work involves illustration for field guides or commissions from others who have their own magical moments that they wish to have brought to life in a painting or drawing. With the latter I need personal stories, photographs or anything that it takes to help me imagine the scene that is in their mind.

For field guide work I am totally dependent on my own field experience, photographs and skins and so numerous visits to the incredible collection in the Natural History Museum at Tring have to be made.

9) Have you actually seen all of these birds in their natural habitat, or is that unrealistic?

Currently I have seen ALL but SIX species included in the book in their natural habitat. The missing species are namely: Cape Verde and Macronesian Shearwaters, Desert Eagle Owl, Golden Nightjar, Kordofan Lark, Quailfinch Indigobird.

In addition to this I was the person who recorded Savile’s Bustard and Adwamawa Turtle Dove in The Gambia for the first time.

10)  And I have to ask: any favourites?

Not really but I have a soft spot for owls and nightjars and you would find it hard to beat species such as Blue-bellied and Abyssinian Rollers, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill or the bee-eaters generally.

11)  What are you working on currently?

Apart from leading birding tours to the Afrotropics for the birding holiday company BirdQuest I am currently updating and revising Birds of Western Africa. We are planning to treat the book in the same format as Birds of Senegal and The Gambia.

Bread and coconut cake

At the front of the book is a useful list of ingredients that the reader might be unfamiliar with giving suitable alternatives. For example, almost every main course recipe includes kani chillies, which are not generally available in the UK, although they are similar to scotch bonnet chillies, which are. Alternatively, ‘Aggy’s Hot Chilli and Spicy Sauce’ can be used to give a more accurate flavour. This and the frequently used Maggi cubes can both be bought online if you can’t find them in your local shops.

I found the last section interesting. Entitled ‘Toubab Dishes’ it shows how European influences have been enveloped into modern Gambian fusion cuisine. I also loved the suggestions on presentation including how to make a colourful tie-dye tablecloth, so typical of The Gambia – wonderful!

A Gambian Feast!

I recently invited a few friends to join me in trying out some of the recipes and we had a Gambian feast for World Food Night.

On the menu…

Pepe chicken soup – a seriously delicious spicy soup and possibly my favourite dish of the day
Domada – chicken in a tasty peanut sauce served with rice
Afra – spicy lamb kebabs, a popular Gambian street food
Banana cake – a yummy, easy to make cake
Bread and coconut cake – an even yummier cake
Banana and lime smoothie – one of the most refreshing drinks I’ve ever tried

Everyone cooked a different dish and we had a great time eating them all. We found the recipes easy to follow, the only criticisms were that there are a few omissions in a couple of recipes where the ‘method’ did not say when to add all the listed ingredients. This wasn’t a problem though and there wasn’t a single dish that wasn’t well received. Below is the recipe for our favourite dish of the day.

Pepe Soup – Chicken

The traditional chicken pepe soup is known as a cure-all and, amongst other things, is said to cure the common cold. Beware though – it packs quite a punch!

Time: 3 hours
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients:
250 grams of tomato concentrate paste
500 grams of chicken, cut in small pieces
2 litres of water
1 tablespoon of black pepper, finely ground*
2 tablespoons of kani chilli, finely chopped*
2 whole kani chillies
1 teaspoon of salt
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 large Maggi cubes
2 tablespoons of peanut oil

*Far less pepper and chilli was used in the version we tried and while it was hot it was comfortable to eat. How much you add really is a matter of taste but Gambians like it hot!

Method:
1. Mix the black pepper, chopped kani, garlic, and Maggi in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Heat the oil in a deep pan.
3. Stir fry the chicken until cooked, then add the paste from the blender and the water.
4. Bring to a boil.
5. Simmer until the stock has halved.
6. Add the tomato paste and stir until it has been incorporated into the stock.
7. Add two whole chillies.
8. Simmer for 10 further minutes.
9. Remove the whole chillies (which should be soft but not falling apart).
10. Serve steaming hot, with some crusty bread on the side.

This recipe has been reproduced with permission from “The Gambian Cookbook” (Dec 2011, ISBN 9781-908797-001 – Daryanani and Shah). The Gambian Cookbook can be purchased from leading online booksellers, or if you would like a signed copy from the publishers visit SaharanPress.

This really is a lovely cookbook and is so much more than a collection of great recipes. It gives the reader a wonderful glimpse into Gambian life.

We’re going to have a stand at the inaugural London Wild Bird Watch event at the Barnes Wetland Centre! Please come along, and come and say hello.

To win a VIP ticket, please email us at birdwatch@gambia.co.uk – first come first served and good luck!*

*please note that tickets will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Once the tickets have been claimed, the competition will be considered over.

*the event organisers will email the VIP tickets to the winners and may use email addresses for future promotional purposes. This is unfortunately beyond our control.

It wasn’t until a few years later when I was on an excursion in The Gambia, ‘Cooking with Ida’, that I discovered the simple rules of wuri. It was fun to see how the game brought out the competitive streak in all of us and while we waited for the fish benechin to cook we had a mini wuri tournament!

In case anyone else has bought a wuri board whilst on holiday but is uncertain how to play here are the rules, as explained by Ida.

Wuri rules
This is a game for two players. The board is divided into two parts, one side for each player and each side has 6 holes or pots. Before the game starts 4 beans are placed in each hole.

Players take it in turns to pick up the beans from one pot and place a single bean in each of the next pots in an anti-clockwise direction. Each player can only play with beans picked up on their side of the board.

If the last pot they put a bean into then contains 2, 4 or 6 beans (whether it is on the players side or their opponents side) the player wins those beans and puts them to one side.

If there are no beans on your side to play then you miss a go and continue missing a go until there are beans on your side again.

When neither player can play anymore each player counts up the beans they have won. The winner is the person who has collected the most beans.

Ida, originally from The Gambia, studied hotel tourism and catering management in Twickenham in the UK but returned to The Gambia in 1989. Having spent some time working at the popular Senegambia Hotel and then the luxurious Mandina Lodges at Makasutu, she started running cookery courses from her home in Brufut with the desire to preserve and promote her culture.

I joined a small group of tourists on Ida’s cookery course one Monday morning and as soon as we arrive we are shown two clothes’ rails of Gambian traditional outfits. Everyone eagerly picks out their new look. I have always found Gambians love to see visitors embrace their culture in this way so I too select a beautiful bright green ensemble, including a matching head wrap, and get changed.

Few people in The Gambia have access to electricity let alone a fridge so it is common for women to shop at least once a day at the local market. We go to Tanji fish market where all our senses are overloaded with the sights, sounds and smells of the market – women are busy buying and selling, while the men are bringing in the latest catch in their colourfully painted wooden boats. Ida decides at the market what she is going to cook depending on what is available and looking good. Today fish benechin is on the menu and she selects a john dory fish and a red snapper. A small amount of dried salted fish will also be used for extra flavour.

Benechin literaly means one pot and can be cooked with chicken or other meat but fish is probably the most common variation. While the fish sellers scale and gut the fish, we’re off to buy the other ingredients: tomatoes, carrots, spring onions, sweet potatoes, onions, aubergine, cassava, bitter tomatoes and butternut squash are gathered into baskets.

Back in Ida’s courtyard we grab a seat and gather round to prepare the vegetables, many of which are left whole rather than chopped so that they are easy to scoop out and place on top of the finished dish for serving. Others are pounded together in a large wooden bowl.

A smaller bowl and a gourd are used to mash up the chillies and garlic which will be used to make a chilli sauce. They are fried in some oil with a dash of salt and dijon mustard. This would normally go into the main dish but as some of us may not be used to spicy food it is prepared as a separate sauce.

The vegetables are cooked in a large pot over a charcoal fire and as the pot is stirred a delicious aroma fills the air but we are told it will 2 ½ hours before it is ready.

While we wait Ida teaches us the traditional game of wuri bringing out the competitive streak in all of us and before you know it we have a mini wuri tournament taking place! Sitting in the dappled shade of Ida’s courtyard I feel quite envious of this out door life style. (I’ll tell you more about wuri and where I first came across it in another post.)

With an hour’s cooking time left to go the fish goes in to the pot.

Half an hour later the fish and whole vegetables are removed and the spring onions which have been pounded up with some garlic are added together with vegetable stock cubes and diced carrot. Pre-steamed rice is stirred in and it’s left to simmer for another 30 minutes.

Our tummies are rumbling as we all sit down on a rug in the courtyard. Dinner is served! As is the tradition we are not given plates but all eat out of a communal bowl, which looks and smells delightful. We have no skill at rolling the food into small balls with our fingers as the locals would so I’m pleased to say we were allowed spoons. I think the verdict is unanimous. Fish benechin is delicious! The chilli sauce, however, was not to everyone tastes but my neighbour on the rug adored it and I couldn’t believe how much of it he ate as it really did pack a serious punch!

On 24th February charity Refugee Action are holding their very first World Food Night where people all around the world are hosting dinner parties to raise money for this good cause. I too will be hosting a Gambian feast that weekend for the event with dishes from ‘The Gambian Cookbook’. I have been asked to review this wonderful new book which I will do in full following World Food Night, however, for a sneak preview check-out the authors version of Fish Benechin on World Food Night’s website under ‘NEWS’.

Dick Sisman with a Gambian community

Dick Sisman, Serenity Holiday’s sustainable tourism advisor and an industry expert has started a new and exciting initiative based in The Gambia. With his help we are offering you the opportunity to donate a stove to a Gambian family. Here he tells us how he fell for The Gambia and how his Mayan Stove project is helping him to ‘give something back’ to the country he loves. See details at the bottom for how you can help!

During the past 25 years as the main tourism industry advisor on sustainable tourism I visited over 60 different countries around the World, working with tour operators and others to develop sustainable tourism strategies and projects. One destination I visited often in this time was The Gambia.
My first visit was organized by the owners of The Gambia Experience and my brief was to advise the company about how they could best engage with local communities and make changes within the company to make their business more sustainable. Now, many years later The Gambia Experience, through their group operation Serenity Holidays, are the proud recipients of a 5 star (the highest) sustainable tourism award by their industry association AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators).

My long association with The Gambia and The Gambia Experience has enabled me to get to know many people in The Gambia and I have made many friends. The Gambia is not a rich country in terms of money or material wealth but is rich in many other ways. The strength of extended families, which is lost in much of Western Europe, a respect for age and experience and a genuine fondness and love for life gladden the heart. I have one friend who is blind and always feels my face and comments on my health and disposition from touch alone. When I asked him why everyone in his village seemed happy he told me that “You in England always seem to carry the weight of the World on you. We look after our own first and then others if we can”. What wise words!
During my time in The Gambia I have tried to “put something back”, helping children through school; setting up trade not aid projects and helping specific people to develop skills and careers. Most recently I have been working with The Gambia Experience to develop sustainable projects funded by carbon offset contributions from customers.

Mayan Turbo Stove in action

As I move towards the end of my career I now want to set up a longer term programme which will benefit families, especially those living on subsistence levels of income. My chosen method is through a community stoves programme which will replace more traditional 3 stone fires with one of three newly designed alternative fuel stoves bringing many benefits.

• They will reduce the time in collecting fuel wood (in some areas women spend one day in three collecting fuel wood)
• They can be used in commercial applications, thus creating supplementary livelihoods
• They will help to empower women through incorporation of women’s cooperatives in project activities
• They produce significant cost savings through the use of alternative fuels such as rice husk and peanut shells
• They reduce particulate matter by 67% compared with traditional stoves, this brings a number of respiratory and bronchial health benefits and reduces indoor pollution
• Alternative fuels are much cleaner and less bulky than wood and charcoal

The demand for new stoves is already high as awareness has been heightened through other work in which I have been involved. Many stoves will be sold directly to those who are able to afford them; we sold 15 stoves on the first day of operation and have many more orders. The payback time in terms of saving in fuel alone can be just a few months and the stoves will last for several years.

However there will be many of the poorer families in The Gambia who will not be able to purchase stoves without financial help. It is not my intention to seek “charity” or “international aid” as a means of supporting my work as this is subject to the vagaries of donor whims and far less sustainable than a good business model which provides long term continuation through its pricing structure. Also, once the business is self financing and without liabilities it is my intention to transfer ownership free of any charges to those Gambia nationals who have been engaged to run it through a process which I term “beneficial business”. This will act as a significant local empowerment.

So, with the blessing and approval of The Gambia Experience I am asking any customers who may wish to contribute or support families in The Gambia to consider sponsoring a stove as a present for either a family they know or one selected on the basis of restricted income. Each present will consist of the most appropriate new stove design for particular circumstances; an initial supply of 10kg of fuel and personal training by one of the programmes staff in use and maintenance. The cost per gift is £20 and this can be paid either in the UK or in The Gambia. Every donor will receive an acknowledgement and a digital photograph of the stove recipient. My personal guarantee is that every payment will result in a stove and fuel being supplied to a family in The Gambia.

If, like me, you do want to provide help to families who would benefit greatly from a relatively low priced practical and life improving gift then in the first instance contact me by e mail at dick@dicksisman.com or alternatively if you wish to place an order when in The Gambia contact Fanna Njie, Gambia Community Stoves sales executive on 7703041.