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 become one of The Gambia’s primary tourist destinations. During my visit, the local guide basically recited as fact the somewhat fictional plot of Roots and shared the stories of his “ancestors” Fiddler, Kizzy and Chicken George. I also met Binta Kinteh, the family matriarch, claiming to be a distant cousin of Alex Haley, who met with him during his first visit to Jufureh in 1967. From Jufureh, I traveled to the river and hired a pirogue, a long wooden boat, to reach Kunta Kinte Island, which was used by the British in the slave trade. According to Roots, Kunta Kinte was among nearly a hundred slaves brought from James Island to Annapolis by the slave ship Lord Ligonier in 1767.

I stayed at Luigi's Complex, which is much nicer and personal than any of the large hotels on or near the touristy Senegambia Strip -- but is only a $0.15 bush taxi ride from the strip.