Although it pains me to admit it, my knowledge of cars is extremely limited. Although I would like to be a 'modern' woman, and know how to service or repair a car, in reality my attitude is 'I turn the key and it goes'. If pushed, I can check the oil and rep;ace the screen wash, but beyond that I am stumped. I have to agree with my friend, who when she was asked what she did if the engine started making a strange noise, replied 'I turn the radio up'. On the rare occasion when I've had a flat tyre, I have called out my breakdown service.

However, in the Gambia of course, it's very different. As we live in a fairly remote area, we do a lot of off-road driving, which means the car breaks down regularly (I am on first name terms with our mechanics!), and we seem to get flat tyres with monotonous regularity. This usually results in a trip to the mechanic to repair the tyre, ready for next time, and we try to carry a spare (in our posh new roof rack!).

One day, we were driving to visit Lamin's uncle (Antoine) to collect palm wine, through some rather remote 'bush', when we heard a loud pop. Lamin and his friend Buba, who was with us, hopped out to look, but even I knew immediately that we had a flat tyre. We were miles from the road, on a soft, sandy track, but there was no option - we had to change the tyre. Of course, when I say 'we' I actually mean the men; I acted as photographer instead.

Rather a remote area to have a flat tyre!

And rather sandy soil....

Once the wheel nuts had been loosened, the next problem was getting the jack put together, but it then proved very difficult to jack the car up on the sand, as the jack kept slipping. Buba found a large palm leaf to lay on, and they persevered until the car was finally jacked up (with some handy tree branches used as chocks to stop the car rolling. Once that was achieved, it actually didn't take too long to change the tyre.

Trying to jack the car up on sandy soil was very tricky!

Using a palm leaf to lay on.

A stick acting as a wheel chock

Fitting the new tyre

Before too long we were on our way again, and soon arrived at Sala, where we spent a very peaceful afternoon chatting and sampling the palm wine. Sala is very beautiful, surrounded by trees, and there are also plenty of birds and other wildlife to watch.

Antoine's hut at Sala

Beautiful scenery and birds to look at

Sunset over the river

Antoine usually goes fishing, and comes back with a bucket full of tilapia, which he cooks with chilli and lemon, and accompanied by rice (of course). Finally, we can watch the sun set over the dried flood plain of the nearby river before a slightly hair-raising journey back in the dark, through the narrow tracks, home to Balaba.