Visit to Gambia changed my life (From Cotswold Journal)

Visit to Gambia changed my life

3:10pm Sunday 31st January 2010

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A WORCESTERSHIRE woman who visited the Gambia nine years ago to escape the cold British weather is now entering her fourth season as a successful hotelier there.

Susan Clifford-Webb, formerly of Tenbury Wells, said setting up her hotel in the Gambia was both a joy and a challenge.

Hibiscus House is a family-run private hotel located in the heart of the village Brufut on the west coast of Gambia. Mrs Clifford-Webb, describes the retreat as “a relaxing sanctuary surrounded by tropical gardens.”

The hotel was developed from scratch by Mrs Clifford-Webb and her two sons Edward and Oliver who used local labour and got the entire village involved the project.

She said: “It is nine years since I first visited the Gambia. I went to escape the darkness, gloom and cold of the British winter; little did I know that the visit would change my life and that I would encounter such a change of lifestyle and culture. In my early letters home I would paint an atmospheric picture of sunsets with palm trees, honking horns, beautiful women dressed in vibrant colours balancing wares on their heads, beating drums and the rhythm of the dancers.

“Those were the early days. I then embarked on a project, with the help of my two sons, that would consume the next five years of my life.

“It started as a piece of land blessed with mango and orange trees and, fortunately, a well.

“Set within a local community where the market sellers still to this day present their produce in tiny pyramids or in bundles tied up with palm fronds, we started to dig to lay the foundations of what was to become Hibiscus House.

“The physical effort and energy of all concerned in this project was and still is amazing. As the Africans say ‘it’s not easy’ or ‘we’re just managing’, how true that is, but there is a richness here that many countries have misplaced in their lives. “They smile and they laugh, they dance in the street if they feel like it, they have fresh air, fresh fish and no credit cards, there is no postman that delivers junk mail. It is still a baby country which is growing.

“Hibiscus House is the result of the energy and effort of many. We have now been open since autumn 2006. Our visitors book holds many beautiful comments and some of our guests have been to visit us three or four times.

“A family of woodpeckers drink from a bowl in my garden. The sun still sets on a deserted beach and the fish at Tanji is still brought in by women waist deep in the sea with a pannier on their head. There is still a magical feeling here that finds a way to your heart.”

For more information visit hibiscushousegambia.com.

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