A R C H I V E | T H E G A M B I A
Below are select images either taken by or featuring Bill Haley & Malick Manga on their travels to The Gambia, the birthplace of Malick's father, Ebou Manga, and the ancestral homeland of Bill and his grandfather, Alex Haley.
Malick proudly took this photo of his first cousin preaching, before he became the Most Reverend Bannie E.F. Manga, Bishop of the Gambia, The Methodist Church, the national head of the church.
As his guide watches, Malick touches a live crocodile in the sacred Kachikally Crocodile Pool in Bakau, an ancient freshwater pool named for the Bojang’s fertility spirit, Kachikally...
(Above) Malick with a guide on The Gambia’s Kunta Kinteh Island, once the holding place for kidnapped Africans being sold into enslavement through the infamous Atlantic Slave Trade.
(Right) Malick reading a plaque Kunta Kinteh Island, which has which has also received the coveted UNESCO World Heritage site designation.
As his plane flew over the Gambia, Malick took this aerial shot of the 700 mile Gambia River. that begins in the Republic of Guinea and flows out to the Atlantic in The Gambia. Kunta Kinteh Island is on The Gambia River, but was known as James Island when it was a key way-point for the Atlantic Slave Trade. Today, it fuels the Gambian economy.
Malick steps away to the back of the famed Royal Albert Market in Banjul, that faces the Atlantic Ocean.
(Below) Malick took this photo
at the Serekunda Market,
the largest in the Gambia
(Above) In the popular fishing village of Tanji, Malick captured a fish market vendor working on the fresh catch of the day; (Right) Malick enjoyed locally cooked food at a church event in Serekunda.
These two photos are just a few examples of the colorful and powerfully designed material that Malick shot (and bought) in the Gambia's famous Serekunka Market.
(Above) Malick took a photo of the sign for the Mama Africa Art Center & Art Residence created and run by Gambian artist, Isha Fofana.
(Below) Malick bought this mask from an artist at the renowned
Bakau Craft Market in Cape Point.
(Above) Traditional Attaya tea is prepared, as Malick enjoys a glass of it at the Gambian home of his brother, Boli Manga.
(Left) During a visit over Christmas, Malick encournters a traditional Wolof Simba (or Zimba) dancer aka a "lion dancer."
In the fishing village of Tanji, Malick caught a kaledocope of artistic expression on the Gambia's traditional fishing boats for generations, called "Pirogues."
Malick looking out at the Atlantic Ocean, as he visits the beach in Bakau, one of the world-renowned beaches that drape along The Gambia's approximately 80 mile coast line.
On one of her trips to the Gambia with Malick, his mother, Velma Hendricks-Manga (R) greets his Aunt Mai, (L) also the younger sister of his father, Ebou Manga.
