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Free Press Travel writer Ellen Creager took the cruise in just its seventh week of operation. Here is her account, the first of two parts.

TENDABA, the Gambia -- "Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffere, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a man-child was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte." -- "Roots," Alex Haley (Vanguard Press, 912 pages, $17.95).

If Kunta Kinte could see the Gambia River, he wouldn't believe it.

Picture a white yacht flying a blue Greek flag. Sitting on the deck are 25 people having lunch, a little white wine, a little pasta. The yacht, Pegasus, is the only vessel on the shimmering, warm river. It glides past the shore, headed back from nearly a week cruising far up-country, to places where the heat hits 105 degrees, where those aboard have seen birds and crocodiles, chimps and monkeys, been escorted by a Gambian member of parliament on a village tour and been carried on a horse cart over a flooded road.

The incongruous sight is due to a one-of-a-kind cruise, Rivers of West Africa. It began Dec. 31 through a Greek small-ship line, Variety. The cruise originates in Dakar, Senegal, and sails to southern Senegal, then 120 miles up the Gambia River in the Gambia.

While most Americans have at least heard of Senegal, the Gambia is barely on their radar, except for one thing -- it is the legendary home of Kunta Kinte of Alex Haley's 1974 novel, "Roots."

This cruise has air-conditioned cabins, excellent food, semi-regular cell phone service and a professional crew. On the other hand, the itinerary is not for sissies. You have to take malaria medicine. There is dust and heat ashore. Buses have only African air-conditioning -- open windows. And monkeys might steal your lunch.

Read the full article here.