The news coming back to me in the UK through September and October was not good, so returning in mid November 2008 .. I was not expecting to see anywhere like as much success as I had hoped for in the Summer. I could easily see that my friends had not been overstating the problems.
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The rains which had started and been very welcome in July and August, turned into continuous downpours for week after week and virtually drowned our crops and saturated the country.
It had been the heaviest and most sustained rainy season in local living memory and although not suffering the biggest flooding disasters which occurred in a band from northern Sénégal down to Ghana and right across the continent to the East Coast .. many in The Gambia had suffered badly.
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Farmers' crops, mud block buildings and many of the bush roads had simply been washed away.
Our Maize had reached a good height and then withered away to nothing in the waterlogged ground.
The Cassava was still looking reasonably healthy, but those planted in the areas that were shaded by trees were quite underdeveloped. We will have to try a different crop in those areas next year.
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Despite our disappointment, especially as we had battled so hard against the Hornbills to get the Maize growing, we were pleased that the Cassava had weathered the storms and looked forward to a good crop by the end of the dry season in July 2009. Cassava seems a marvellous plant for this region .. it needs no watering in the driest of conditions and seems to equally withstand the wettest.
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The Guavas, which had been coming into flower on my last visit, had actually fruited.
But, according to Babucar .. a constant and only partially successful battle had been necessary to combat the attentions of the local Ground Squirrels and be the first to pick ripened fruit to eat !

The next time I meet any of these delightful but destructive little pests, I am going to have some serious words with them and remind them that they are supposed to be GROUND SQUIRRELS
and would they kindly keep out of my Guava trees .. or roast squirrel will be on the menu !!!

A few days later, I beat both Babucar and the Squirrels to it .. and picked and ate my very first Guava ever. It seemed strange to be experiencing a completely new taste .. after years of eating a variety of fruit in many different areas of the world. Although difficult to describe a taste, I will try.
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Guavas are said to be one of the best fruits available .. rich sources of vitamins A, B and C and having high amounts of calcium, unusual in a fruit. They also have nicotinic acid, phosphorous, potassium, iron, folate and a high fibre content. Coupled with these vitamins and minerals, they are also low in fat. With only around 25 calories per fruit, they should be healthy.
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What's really distinctive about Guavas, even before cutting them open, is their really strong and sweet aroma.
Back at my house, this 'fragrance' was almost overbearing.
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The whole fruit, with its pear-like grainy flesh, can be eaten. The thin, outer skin leaves a strong citric after-taste and the firm inner flesh, a distinctive layer just under the skin, is almost identical in texture to a pear. The softer middle section contains hard little seeds surrounded by a softer, stringy flesh. This tastes a little like citron-flavoured strawberries, although not as sweet and the seeds are harder. I definitely could not eat many at one sitting, but used as a flavouring for ice cream, yoghurt and milkshake drinks, they are superb.

My trip this time involved a fair amount of travelling in search of beads, so there was nothing left to do but leave the flowers and trees to grow on into the dry season, with Babucar watering and tending to them as usual. Giving a local ex-pat friend a digital camera, I asked him if he would kindly e-mail me photos of any developments .. good or bad .. which occurred whilst I was back home in the UK. What did happen over the next three months were a variety of incidents that we were all unprepared for and proved again that one can never plan anything with certainty in Africa.