Tanje Village Museum, Tanji, Gambia
The Tanji Village Museum is The Gambia’s first privately operated museum, and was set up in 1997 by Mr. Abdoulie Bayo, a former curator at the National Museum in Banjul. It is located 32km from the capital of Banjul, about 2km south of the the fishing village, and lies along the Kombo Coastal Road. The various structures that hold the ethnographic exhibits, such as tribal artifacts, a photo gallery of the vegetation and birds of The Gambia, are inside African style round huts.
This is a tourist attraction that has been set up to be more akin to an African hamlet – a ‘living museum’ of sorts. The centrepiece of the various exhibits is a reconstruction of a traditional Mandinka compound, depicting how they lived over 100 years ago. It consists of a few round-houses that hold a carefully chosen selection of artefacts and traditional furniture, such as wooden beds, stools, spears, hats and horse hair fly swatters.
The compound’s thatched huts are shown divided into a men’s and women’s sections, reflecting villagers’ traditional roles. There are also farming implements, a seed store, kitchen, cooking utensils, such large wooden mortar and pestle, large calabash containers, and a livestock house. You can view the ‘Natural History Gallery’ of bird and fish prints; dyes, nets, horns and maps; seashells, snakeskins, turtle shells, a circumcision face mask, and a box of bugs. There is also a fine selection of traditional musical instruments, including Koras, Djembe drums, Balafon etc., and on-site performers show visitors how these are played. They can often be heard playing in the background during your meal in the restaurant or Bantaba picnic area.
Epic Gambia Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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