Ultimate shoulder rides

I discovered the boats on the beach close to the ferry port. The beach was really crowded and lots of men had circled me and were asking me questions and telling me things in a variety of languages. I managed to block most of their chat and concentrated on what was going on on the beach. There were around four boats there and each was like huge rowing boat (what people might use as fishing boats here). One was 'unloading' and the others were 'loading up' - all of them were floating in the river about 20meters from the shore. At first I was confused and was wondering how people got on to the boats and then after some close observation I realised that people were being carried through the water to and from the boats!!


Panic set in and at the thought of someone having to carry me on their shoulders to the boat (I was worried that they wouldn’t physically be able to lift me and that I might cripple them, not to mention the risk of falling off their shoulders and getting completely soaked). I was really torn. What should I do? How badly did I want to get to Banjul?


I watched for a little longer and finally decided that the boat was my best option. I looked around at the swarm of men all offering to carry me to the boat (obviously for a price) and selected the biggest, strongest looking man that I could. He came up behind me, put his head through my legs and lifted me onto his shoulders. He then waded through the water and threw me onto the boat!