"Gambia is Great!" a The Gambia Travel Page by manwhocan

I went here with a Gambian who lived in UK: we stayed at his family's house. Here people live in a 'compound' an area of land walled off from the surrounding area; a garden wall if you like. Some compounds are as big as small villages, they have several houses, where many generations of the complete extended family live. Some houses may also be given over to friends and others rented out. Occasionally houses next to the compound wall by the main street may be turned into a small 'corner shop' serving the very local community.
Other compounds are comparatively small with only one house and a few trees. Nearly all compounds have bananna, mango, orange and lime trees and most have chickens too.
The kitchen is never in the house; it is much too 'dirty' smelly and hot to have in the house! Kitchens are often no more than a tiny block built place, just big enough for a fire to be kept out of too much wind, but not even big enough for the cook to sit inside. Nor would 'she', as it's too hot and very smoky cooking on wood. I say 'she' as you are not likely to see any Gambian man cooking at home!
The family I stayed with were very friendly and excellent hosts, but they had no concept of being vegetarian! So I was always invited to eat with them but never could and had to find ways to cook for myself. Eating out was not an option for a veggy either, except for one traditional dish of black eyed beans, kassava and peanut sauce!
The Gambian friend I came with had a friend called Musa who had cooked in hotels and had some idea of western tastes and knew what a vegetarian was. He came to cook for me, making traditional local dishes that I helped him adapt to veggy versions.
The photo shows Musa preparing food.

I had such a great time I could not stay away and at that time work was good, so I had the money to afford it.