Kunta Kinteh Island

Named after the fictional character Kunta Kinteh that featured in the novel and TV series Roots, the title of this WHS suggests that this is primarily a slavery memorial site. But it actually comprises 7 components that put the African-European encounter at and along the River Gambia into historical perspective. Since that river is Gambia’s sole raison d’etre, it is a well-chosen WHS to represent the country.

The mouth of the Gambia River is flanked by two late 19th-century British forts and is best experienced from the Barra ferry. I took this ferry twice, once from the North Bank to the South and once the other way around. It’s a great introduction to the country for just 35 Dalaisi (0.50 EUR). Nowadays, crossings take 25-30 minutes since they put a new engine into the last ferryboat remaining last year. Although I had to wait over 1.5 hours for one to leave at the Barra side, I forgot to check out the fort (Fort Bullen) from up close. The dusty surroundings and chaotic traffic are not very inviting. At the Banjul side, I tried to walk to the Six Gun Battery, but access to it seemed blocked by the presence of the heavily guarded State House next door. Both forts can be seen from the ferry though and are very small. It’s the width of the river that is the most impressive.

A day later, I travelled further inland with my driver+guide for another hour to …

The Lady Jaclene, out of Ramsgate, pushed slowly up the river, red ensign flapping in the hot salt-scented breeze. The River Gambia here was so wide I could see nothing of land save for a hazy grey-blue smear on the horizon on either side. Time crept past. I felt adrift in a strange land with no way to get my bearings. Then, around noon, a smudge in the river ahead began to come into focus, resolving itself slowly into the outline of a speck of land. The skeletal outlines of trees rose above the skeletal outlines of a low stone fort, its ramparts crenellated like the teeth of a jaw, its empty windows staring out sightlessly towards the African mainland. Anyone who knows their Joseph Conrad would have had the exact same words form in their head as I did: “And this also has been one of the dark places of the earth…”

Kunta Kinteh Island and its related sites is the easiest of The Gambia’s two World Heritage Sites to visit. It is the furthest downstream, making it the nearest to the tourist resorts of the Atlantic coast. And it is widely available as a set day trip. We booked for the following day via a tourist agency on the Senegambia Strip. It is commonly referred to as the ‘Roots’ tour, after Alex Haley’s book chronicling the abduction of a young man – Kunta Kinteh – from his village of Juffureh, his enslavement, his shipment via James …

Having spent five days in The Gambia in early June 2018, it’s easy to appreciate why the smallest nation on the African continent has been nicknamed The Smiling Coast of Africa. I organized two full-day tours with Arch Tours. Since I traveled during shoulder season, I wasn't able to join group tours, so Arch Tours graciously charged me the same price for an individual tour as I would have paid for a group tour -- and traveling in June allowed me to have each site to myself. Each tour company runs a variation of a tour to visit several sites in one day. On Arch's Four Tours in One Day, I visited Serekunda Market, the country's largest (although I later visited Albert Market in Banjul, which seems just as large, better organized and more photogenic); Kachikally Crocodile Pool, a popular destination for women struggling with getting pregnant, who come from around The Gambia to douse themselves in its supposedly curative water; Abuko Livestock Market, the largest cattle, sheep and goat market in The Gambia; and a fishing beach, where the daily catch is smoked or salted under the hot sun.

In 1976, Alex Haley published Roots: The Saga of an American Family, where he traces his genealogy back to Kunta Kinte and The Gambia. According to Haley, Kunta Kinte was born around 1750 in the village of Jufureh on the north bank of the River Gambia. Since the success of the 1977 miniseries, Jufureh has …

Our last full day in the Gambia was spent on a very interesting river cruise that took us to James Island. The island itself is quite small and getting smaller all the time. Erosion by the river has already shrunk the island considerably since the fort became derelict with the outlying buildings all but gone. There are some efforts to protect the banks of the island but the erosion does seem like a very real and pressing concern for the people trying to protect it. The remains of the fort are reasonably substantial; however the British bombarded the fort when they stopped using it so it is in ruins.

The island was used as a holding pen for captured slaves before they were transported to Gorée in Senegal and then onwards to the Americas. It was an incredibly small area that was set aside for the slaves; however the Barracks in which they were held was the first to be washed away by the encroaching river. Therefore whilst it is still quite a harrowing site the full gravitas is somewhat lost as you can’t see the conditions in which they were held. The one complete room that is left on the island is commonly referred to as the slave dungeon, it seem that this wasn’t the case and it was a store room, however it is very indicative of what the barracks would have looked like so gives some idea of the miserable conditions.

The ‘associated sites’ that are also …

As Paul states this is a bit of an oddity. It is already inscribed as one of the "Associated sites" of the James Island WHS.

It is located in Barra, which sits opposite the capital Banjul and is connected by a very busy ferry route. The fort is located a short distance from the ferry port but the road is quite poor and very sandy so it is tough to get nearby motorised transport, so it is probably best to approach on foot is you have a wait for the ferry. There is not a huge amount to see at the fort just the old walls and a few scattered cannon.

This actually is really good addition to the James Island site. It transforms this from being just a holding pen for slaves into one that shows the evolution of the Slave Trade and also the battle to control and eradicate it. Fort Bullen was built in 1827 at a similar time to the six gun battery in Banjul. This enabled the British to control ships coming in and out of the River Gambia and help to enforce the abolition of the slave trade. Whilst Fort Bullen is not a massively impressive site its incorporation into the Wider James Island WHS helps to illustrate the evolution of slavery on the River Gambia.