The hub for Senegalese fishermen and a thriving hub for Gambian women to clean and prepare fish for export as far a Nigeria, Tanji fishing village provides an insight into Gambia life.
Senegalese fishing boats on Tanji beach
I'm going to lie, going to a fishing village in a developing country is not for the faint-hearted. If you enjoy your privilege, I suggest you keep away. As even someone as travel battled hardened as me, I struggle.
The reason for this is of all the fish guts, open sewers and flies that you can't get away from or ignore. Add to that overpowering smell of fish (both fresh and rotting).
Don't come here expecting wi-fi, paved paths and porcelain toilets - you won't find it.
What you do find are people who work hard to scratch a living. This a bubbling pot of people from all over West Africa catching, preparing, buying and selling fish.
As with the fishing village in Jamestown, Ghana. Me being white and Western didn't matter one iota, no one even noticed we were there. They were far to busy getting there work done.
The biggest difference I noticed was that in Tanji, no one lived there. It was a purely industrial fishing village. There were no children running around and no shacks where people lived. Even the smokehouses and dry racks were on an industrial scale and not a cottage industry.
Fish drying racks at Tanji
Tanji sits in south Gambia - between Paradise Beach and Kololi Beach. It seems worlds away from these two points, both resorts made for tourists and Tanji a working fishing hub.
I was shocked to discover the Senegalese heavily fish Gambian waters, but Gambians aren't allowed to fish in Senegalese waters. And apparently, most of the fishing boats here are Senegalese for that reason.
It's good that Gambians are benefiting somewhat in the buying and preparation of fish, but it seems rather unfair.
Fishing boats coming in after the morning's catch
I wouldn't recommend saving your appetite for freshly caught fish here. I don't think our delicate European constitution could cope with the hygiene standards offered at Tanji. Every fish - from the ones piled in wheelbarrows to the ones on the racks waiting to be salted or smoked are covered by a cloud of flies. And I'm guessing by the amount of mud and stagnant water in the narrow dirt tracks that wind around the hives of people scrubbing, cutting and gutting fish, they'll be a panoply of other insects and bacteria.
One woman warned our guide a tourist fell on one of the said paths. I was horrified on behalf of that person, the smell would have been unbearable and what was on that floor unthinkable - I hope they got all their jabs!
People waiting for the fishermen to offload their cargo
