In July on a visit to one of the local plant suppliers .. a selection of tropical fruit trees were bought and planted .. starting a fledgling orchard of Avocado Pear, Guava, Papaya, Lemon and Orange to accompany the indigenous Mango, Lime, Cashew Nut and Plum trees already growing on the land.

With the help of an unusually long and heavy rainy season, with only one Pear Tree fatality due to the attentions of some hungry termites, all were nicely established when I returned in November.

With virtually no rainfall in The Gambia between November and June, the digging of a well was essential to be able to supply the plants with water to continue their growth. Plans for this and a small gardener's hut, to store tools and equipment, were discussed with Kabba's crew ..
the necessary building materials and tools were bought and the work began.

Traditional prayers were said and cola nuts handed out before the digging started

Carefully ensuring the edges of the well were straight .. which he did all the way down to the bottom .. Abli "Zimba" starts the digging

Suitable posts and a cross rail from a Cashew Tree were found and by the end of the first day
a 2 metre hole had been dug through the surface yellow sand into the orange laterite soil ......

..... which was put to good use in levelling out parts of the orchard area where the enormous bulbous roots of Mankanassa bushes had been laboriously dug out by chief gardener Babucar

Heavy fence posts .. more than I could lift .. were easily handled by Makka .. even though
he was half my size. Well diggers are strong !!

Insignificant Mankanassa bushes, sometimes with little top growth, concealing these massive bulbous corms .. hard work to dig out.