To really feel the pulse of a country nothing beats a roadtrip. This one I did not start voluntarily but because my flight from Dakar which should bring me to my business meeting in Bissau got cancelled. So I was forced to have time and to take the road. Going south the landscape is gradually changing. The brown of the Sahel slowkt gave way to the lush green of the tropics.  After an 8-hour drive er are arriving in Barra, the ferry port on the northern banks of the Gambia river which bisects the namesake country. Immediately the great theatre of life in Africa is enfolding in front of me: Hords of people with no obvious agenda palaver, hords of heavily-loaded passengers and vehicles push for access to the ferry, which is waiting with blowing horns and fuming chimneys, urging everybody to hurry up. Some passengers scream and try to bargain for a better price, others try to bribe the port captain to avoid the need to buy a ticket at all. After a lot of jostling everybody has finally found a space on board. Slowly the ferry sets sail and we are crossing the 10km-wide Gambia river towards Banjul.