Stuck like a tongue in the mouth of Senegal, the tiny country of the Gambia is one of those places the world forgets until the president puts down a coup — but as Andrew Gilman discovered one hot summer, even the craziest dictator can be nice at his own birthday party. Anything’s possible in a land where you can search for dragons by day and sip tea with silversmiths by night, or meet a blacksmith who moonlights as a sorcerer. Signing up for a seven-week trip, Andrew never thought Gambian life might mean knife-wielding maniacs and hungry crocodiles, swimming in hippo-infested waters or barely escaping riptides. But he packed enough for a small safari, just in case. Between magic and the local moonshine Andrew managed to make it out alive — and with self-deprecating humor tells the story of a country called “the Smiling Coast,” and a travel novice forgetting to look before he leaps headlong into the heart of Africa.