A country with less than two million inhabitants and almost a hundred islands. A country that loses 30% of its continental part during the rainy season, with its banks flooded along the eight large rivers that cut through its territory. A country with more than twenty ethnic groups and several national languages in addition to Portuguese, the official language spoken only by around 13% of the population, and Creole, the unofficial language spoken by everyone.

A country that suffered from colonialism until the 1970s and, as if that were not enough, had a hard civil war two decades later, which decimated people, destroyed families, infrastructures and many dreams. But even so, it is a country that keeps the most beautiful smiles we can find. A safe country that reinvents itself every day with wonderful people who fight tirelessly in search of better days. Who have the most beautiful landscapes that a camera may want to keep in memory. A very different country from north to south, with very distinct characteristics and beauties in each region and from which it is impossible to highlight just one reason to know it.

Nevertheless, I will try to give you the main 10 reasons to visit Guinea Bissau.

1. Bijagós archipelago

Guinea Bissau has an archipelago, the Bijagós archipelago, with 88 islands, of extraordinary beauty that is protected as a biosphere reserve by UNESCO; believe me, a real paradise not to be missed.

2. Multi-religious mosaic

It is composed of more than twenty ethnic groups that offer an exclusive multicultural and multi-religious mosaic that coexists in a peaceful and harmonious way, exchanging and merging traditions and customs.

3. Cacheu River Mangroves Natural Park

It hosts the largest continuous mangrove block in West Africa, offering an excellent habitat for the various marine species and migratory birds that coexist in the beautiful Cacheu River Mangroves Natural Park.

4. Green turtles

Guinea Bissau constitutes a privileged observation point of the most important nesting colony of the green turtle on the Atlantic coast of Africa, in Poilão Island. The archipelago has been recognized as the most important site in Africa for Chelonia mydas to lay their eggs, with nearly 10,000 adult females. A real spectacle of the celebration of animal life, as we well know, at risk of extinction. A wonderful celebration of marine life not to be missed.

5. Marine hippos

This country gives us the possibility to closely know a community of about 200 marine hippos that live in the Anor lagoon on the Island of Orango, with the particularity of living between the lagoon within the island and the salty ocean waters in which they bathe. Guinea-Bissau is not the only country in the world where hippos live both in the sea and in fresh water, but hippos here stand out because they can live permanently at sea (just need fresh water to drink) and travel between the islands of Bijagós, swimmig great distances.

6. Natural lagoon Park of Cufada

Provides us a unique picture, with the south of its territory painted green by extensive rice paddies and clump forests with some of the country’s best-preserved forest patches, probably housing the most dense northern forest area in West Africa.  Here we can also find the Natural lagoon Park of Cufada which enjoys the status of RAMSAR site, a World Wetland Zone and has the largest freshwater surface of Guinea-Bissau on the south bank of the Corubal River, with an extension of 890 km² and point of passage of many species of birds, a must for ornithology lovers.

7. Wild beaches of Varela

The wild beaches of Varela, in the north of the country and near the Senegalese border, absolutely deserve a visit, where the connection between man and nature is full and the intervention of human hands is only denounced by the maritime erosion that is beginning to devastate this virgin coast in a worrying way.

8. The hills of Boé

The warm aridity of the East and its hills of Boé, where unilateral independence of Guinea-Bissau was declared in 1973, hosts isolated communities from the modern world and a dirt road, with a raft passage by the beautiful Corubal river that transports us to an almost extra-terrestrial scenery, with hundreds of natural formations of black earth in the shape of mushrooms scattered on the hot and bumpy ground covered by rock.

9. Colonial architecture

Guinea-Bissau has a capital, Bissau, small and even a little parochial, although it is home to a large part of the country’s population, with traces of colonial architecture and the beautiful estuary of the Geba River. The neighbourhood around the harbour is in an advanced state of dilapidation, but it’s worth a walk to enjoy the façades and the predominantly colonial architecture.

10. The People of Guinea-Bissau

Last but not least, people make a country, and Guinea-Bissau could not have found better ambassadors to invite for a visit. People with open and frank smiles, helpful, supportive, resilient and welcoming. 

Guinea-Bissau contains in its matrix all the necessary ingredients to delight a tourist who arrives there, as I did the first time in 2008, without expectations or prejudices. A country in a pure condition with a phenomenal biodiversity and a very sustainable tourism where I never stopped coming back. Where I feel at home every time I visit and from where I always return with my heart and soul full of good memories. As I imagine you too will return the day you dare to know this secret so well kept on the West African coast. 

L’article Guinea-Bissau — 10 reasons to visit the best kept secret of West Africa est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

On the Island of Orango, in the village of Eticoga, is the mausoleum of the royal family, where we find the tombs of Queen Okinka Pampa, the last Queen of Bijagós, and her family. A simple and spartan mausoleum, as is all life and reality in Bijagó, but with a beautiful door worked in wood and with walls painted with a the very proper symbolism of celebration of animism and the gods (Irãs) that dominate this ethnic group in the archipelago.

But in Orango, one of the 88 islands of the archipelago, which is listed as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, there is another particularity worthy of note. Here lives a community of about 200 amphibious hippos of small stature, it’s one of the few places in the world where you can see saltwater hippos.

It is relatively easy to find them during the rainy season (from May to November) or while there is water in the Anôr lagoon, where we arrive after a fabulous boat ride through mangrove channels followed by a 40 minute walk through the beautiful landscape of the island. The Anôr lagoon is located in a natural park and therefore we must visit it accompanied by one of the park’s guards. These wild animals live together in almost total harmony with the local population who only regret the attacks on the rice fields, with the consequent destruction of the harvests, made mainly for self-consumption. That’s why we can find electrified fences to protect crops and allow the two worlds here to coexist serenely. 

On this island a hippo is rarely attacked by humans because local animist traditions and beliefs say that whoever hurts or kills the hippo will be punished with the same end.

It is easy to stumble on the trails that these hippos make between the centre of the island, where they spend the day submerged in the lagoon, and the beach, where they move when the sun goes down to bathe in the salt water and free themselves from the leeches that stick to their skin. They are majestic, with a friendly air despite their dangerous history which requires the greatest care in venturing to see their natural habitat.

But on this beautiful island of Orango, besides the origins of the royal family and the rare community of amphibious hippos, we still can find a paradise beach of white sand in low tide and warm waters inviting you to bathe after a day shared between nature and history.

The CBD-Habitat Foundation, which is one of the main partners of the Guinea Bissau Association, in the Orango National Park, runs a small and beautiful hotel here which houses a museum with part of the local history and some bijago crafts. The Orango Park Hotel is unique in that it reverts part of the profits to the community, making an effort to employ the people of the island and encourage sustainable tourism.

The island of Orango preserves the best of African nature and ancestral traditions and is a mandatory stop in Guinea-Bissau. I would even say in West Africa. Come and see. You won’t be disappointed, believe me.

For more information:

• Discovering Guinea Bissau
• Orango Park Hotel

L’article Guinea Bissau: Back to the roots in Orango est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

It’s not easy to get there, but after all, aren’t the greatest sanctuaries of natural life usually protected by thousand-year-old trees and dense forests the best guardians of the temple of wildlife?

The journey from Bissau is long, about 250 kilometers, but especially the final part of the journey is hard and on a very bad road that is only passable during the dry season (from October to May/June) and by those who really want to get to know this destination.

And which destination is this? Cantanhez, the sanctuary of the chimpanzees of Guinea Bissau and the last sub-humid forest patch in northern West Africa.

On arrival here, we find the village of Djemberem where there is a sustainable tourism project that welcomes the rare visitors who come to this area. The houses are of typical local construction: a couple of bungalows and a “passage house” that accommodates larger groups, served by a common space where they share wonderful meals made by the women of the village, and a decamped area where at night the fire is lit on colder nights and the magical traditional dances are accompanied by drums and illuminated by the light of the flames of the fire.

While we have dinner and get ready to rest, the natural park staff leave for the forest to identify where the chimpanzees will make their beds for the night.  At half-past four in the morning we are woken up and, after a quick breakfast, we drive close to the identified place, park and leave in a row, in absolute silence, behind the guide who leads us through the night and knows by heart the way and the dangers in the darkness.

We can’t see anything, we only feel the breathing of those accompanying us, the hands and movements of those ahead of us and those behind us. The only noise of our passage is the sound of branches snapping under our feet and, sometimes, the nervous laughter of those who go with obvious fear towards the unknown.

After a 40-minute walk, you can only see shadows from the trees and feel the grass touching your feet.  At a certain point, we stop by order of the park guard.  Silence is imperative and we wait for the first signs of daybreak to appear on the horizon. It is at this moment that the miracle of wildlife showing all its magnificence in the middle of the African forest begins.

Before we see them, we hear the chimpanzees very close to us. They begin to make sounds that we sense are first coming from the top of the trees and then down on the ground. They are excitedly communicating with each other. Then we hear them beating energetically on the ground, a noise identical to the beating of drums, in a huge clatter that leaves us completely astonished.

The spectacle is unique and divine. We naturally remain still and silent, stunned to see life happening in a pure and wild way right in front of us, without being noticed or showing any signs of constituting the slightest threat.

There are several chimpanzees living in this community in the forests of Cantanhez and, thanks to the local community guards, we can follow their daily life in a way that is already rare in excursions into the wild world. Entering their home and above all sharing their territory in an anonymous and harmless way.

In Cantanhez the forest is wonderfully abundant and dense. Here there are trees that 10 people with their arms wide open are not enough to embrace. This is where these chimpanzees live, primates that are the closest living relatives of humans, in full communion with nature. Here they live protected from man, who often insists on commercializing them and from the so-called development that insists on threatening their habitat in so many parts of the world.

Despite the hardness of the journey, it is a unique experience not to be missed by those who do not want to give up experiencing the most authentic aspects of the wild world in an exclusive and sustainable tourism context. More information here.

L’article An excursion into the sacred world of the chimpanzees in Guinea Bissau est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Here we find the picturesque island of Elalab, in the north of Guinea Bissau, which can be reached from Cacheu, the former capital of the slave trade, or from Susana, a small village halfway between São Domingos and the beautiful beach of Varela.

Elalab is not on the maps and little is known about this island that lives isolated in time and space. The population, about two hundred inhabitants, are dedicated to rice cultivation, the basis of their diet, fishing and harvesting the delicious and very famous oysters of this region.

Getting here involves some logistics and daring. We can take a modern aluminium boat if it’s available, but the most likely thing is to take a traditional pirogue from Susana port and travel between the mangrove canals until we reach the island. Two large baobabs welcome you right on the shore and as soon as you set foot on dry land you come across a beautifully ordered village made of traditional materials and traditional thatched roofs where life runs serenely.

Here in Elalab, an eco-tourism project operates, with community management, which allows us to emerge into the traditional life of the village and join the people in their daily rhythm of searching for food and income for basic needs. Ecotourism and tourists who come here are treated with the same respect as the land they farm or the fish they catch. The people are deeply proud of this island, proud of their roots and proud to show the world that seeks them the vast cultural and natural wealth that it holds.

The eco-tourism houses are of recent construction, but of architecture and materials traditionally used by the Félupe ethnic group, with adobe and straw, culminating in a veranda from where you can enjoy a superb view of the beach and the mangroves of what is the largest mangrove forest in Western Africa, located in the Cacheu River Mangroves Natural Park and an ecotourism sanctuary.

We can see the men of the village leaving very early in the pirogues to collect oysters, returning tired and with a boat full of these huge molluscs. The women have already positioned themselves in the shade of the trees, ready to open the oysters, boil them and dry them in the sun on rolled up cloths to later sell them as a precious delicacy to their Senegalese neighbours.

But beyond this we are invited to take part in all the village activities in a way that will amaze any visitor who wants to know the deep authenticity of a typical West African people.

Tourists are given the opportunity to participate in the traditional harvesting of fish or shrimp, the cultivation and peeling of rice, take guided tours to learn about the birds of the region,  visit the surrounding villages, participate in the preparation of traditional dishes, watch the traditions of the Felupes, take kayak trips and to end the day in beauty, to take a refreshing bath in the warm waters surrounding the island, with the noisy and animated children of the village.

A weekend in Elalab is a tasty dip in authentic and profound Guinea-Bissau, where we can get to know the roots, traditions, habits of a country and above all of a community with unique characteristics – the Felupe people.

More information: Tourist Guide – Discovering Guinea Bissau, Joana Benzinho and Marta Rosa, 2018

L’article Elalab, a truly unique eco-tourism experience in Guinea-Bissau est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

This is what the people of Guinea Bissau are trying to do. Perhaps because they are mostly animists, they protect and respect nature, the tides, the rains, the trees and the animals that surround them with a reverence that is sometimes missing in the western world.

The country has several natural parks and in the south, there is a beautiful and extensive stretch of fresh water surrounded by two of Guinea-Bissau’s eight rivers: the Corubal River and the Rio Grande de Buba in what is called the Natural Park of Cufada Lagoons, which represents the largest fresh water reserve in Guinea-Bissau. It is therefore classified as a Ramsar site wetland of global importance.

These Cufada lagoons are almost four hours away from Bissau, on a beautiful route that imposes two mandatory stops: the first, at Cussilinta, an area of rock in the Corubal river that creates real jacuzzi pools that invite you to take a refreshing bath; and further on, at Saltinho, a beautiful waterfall that holds the strong current of the Corubal river next to a charming lodge, a former colonial building. The water is cold and clear and the surrounding nature is abundant at any of these stopping points. There we see bare-bodied women bending down to wash clothes, which they lay out to dry on the large black stones, giving a special colour to the scenery.

Continuing always southwards, we follow literally to the end of the road, already in Buba, which ends abruptly on the bank of the Rio Grande of Buba. Here, after paying due attention to the local beauty, we should look for the IBAP house where the park keepers await us to continue to the lagoons of Cufada.

The dirt road (20km), often impassable during the rainy season from May to October, is bordered by large trees and vegetation that doesn’t let us see much beyond our noses. It is a real walk of life that leads us to a village of three or four houses where the kayaks are parked, allowing us to fully enjoy the beauty of the place.

Once again, we follow a road that suddenly ends at the shore, this time of the extensive blue water lagoon flanked by the strong green vegetation that fills our view. A wooden pier continues into the lagoon, flanked by water lilies and one or two canoes anchored there.

The noise of the birds requires concentration to distinguish the various species that roam there. They have many colours and different songs. Above all, they are of enormous beauty.

Once the kayak is in the water, it is time to submerge in the peace that this place offers us. There, only raw nature and us. In the Cufada lagoon, we have to paddle without haste, towards the lookout point on the other side of the lagoon. Another pier, where we pull over and can climb to a picturesque lookout point. Here and there, you can see a lazy canoe passing in search of fish, which are abundant in these waters. You can hear the monkeys in the rush of the day, and you can imagine hippos, crocodiles, antelopes, hyenas and others nearby. They are the inhabitants by excellence of this spot of nature.

We are only here for a short time and we should try to absorb as much of this wonderful environment as possible. Because it’s not every day that this explosion of colours, beauty and nature is within the reach of ordinary mortals like us.

There are places that are sacred by nature. And which are so above all because they are made up of pure nature. This is the case of the Cufada lagoons.

L’article Cufada Lagoons, Guinea Bissau: The south of paradise est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

There are hundreds of turtles that arrive here daily, from August to November, and in an area of about two square kilometres, they dig deep holes in the sand where they often lay more than a hundred eggs. The spectacle is magnificent. It lasts beyond these peak spawning periods, and turtles can be seen arriving on this sacred piece of land as early as January.

To witness this unique moment of animal life, you must be accompanied and authorized by IBAP, the Guinean Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Areas, who is responsible for the Natural Park.

Accompanied by a Park Guide, we arrive at daybreak and wait in the darkness of the night with no noise, lights or movement for a shadow to emerge from the seas and slowly climb up the beach. These enormous creatures of marine life calmly look for the best place to leave their eggs and, having decided on the place, begin a beautiful rhythmic dance of their front legs that digs a hole in the sand. Tired with the effort, the turtles remain in a kind of trance while they deposit their eggs in the hole, at the rhythm determined by nature. They then cover the hole so as not to leave any clues for predators that eagerly seek these eggs to feed themselves, such as flounders, crabs or birds.  In this process, which can last up to two hours or more, the turtle tries to leave the spawning site intact before venturing out to sea again.

Delighted with this unique moment, we are left with the proof of its passage in the long tracks that it leaves on the sand. But that’s not all. We also have the beauty of the occlusion of the eggs matured by the days and the temperature of the sand that determines the sex of the turtles that are born.

They are small, energetic and full of strength and determination to succeed in life. They are born at night and are guided by the light of the moon to the sea. Some are lost on the way, others die in the water, but there are always those that survive, those that struggle insignificantly against an immense sea where they again become easy prey.

The last time I saw turtles in Poilão was on a beautiful full moon night at the beginning of this year. Believe me; in this troubled time of pandemic, death, fear and anxiety, there is no better antidote or balm than to see a spectacle like this. Seeing wildlife happening ‘in front of us’, on this sacred island in the middle of the Atlantic, makes us forget for a moment that the world is today a dangerous place to dream and live. Poilão and its turtles bring back hope in a better world.

To visit Poilão Island is one of the 10 reasons to visit the best kept secret of West Africa: Guinea-Bissau.

L’article Poilão Island, Guinea Bissau: the turtle sanctuary of West Africa est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Calm sea with warm water, fine white sand, few people, or even better, a desert beach, palm trees, vegetation up to the dunes and these protecting us from the wind. And sun.

And what if I told you that I have already found this beach and it is in Guinea-Bissau? It exists, it is real and it still has more than this to offer, in a totally untouched atmosphere of rare beauty. Varela is the name of this spot that I am introducing to you today. It is located in Guinea-Bissau.

Leaving the country’s capital, Bissau, we drive north for over 100 kms on a tarmac road, but one that has seen better days. The countryside is worth the drive. Very green, with “bolanhas” (flooded rice fields) on both sides, two large rivers crossed by two relatively new bridges that have replaced the old rafts that used to carry people, food, cars and cargo imported from Senegal, women producing iodine salt, children playing on the roadside and many girls carrying firewood or water on their heads to meet domestic needs.

When we arrive in São Domingos, the last town before the border with Senegal, we take a dirt road for a bumpy but unforgettable 53-kilometer journey to the Atlantic Ocean. The green of the trees almost covers the road where sometimes a motorbike full of passengers or a transport vehicle passes by, loaded with people, cargo and animals on the roof. The green of the trees almost covers the road where sometimes a motorbike full of passengers or a transport vehicle passes by, full of people, cargo, and animals on the roof.

We see peaceful cows grazing, birds of all colors, and kids playing football or playing in the shade of the trees and, if we are lucky, we can see a monkey or two crossing our path.

Varela is a village with a population mostly of Felupe ethnic group, which borders the street with its small houses and ends at the sea. The population lives from artisanal fishing and agriculture. They produce mainly rice and have a community vegetable garden created by women, which is next to the well and the local mosque.  A few shops selling essential goods give the village the only life we know of. Then? The ocean!

On the left side of the village, we find the anglers’ beach, with wide tides where we walk for meters, meters with water around our ankles, and find rocks and mud that imitate them between mangrove roots. On the right side, after a small rocky promontory, the open ocean and the extensive sandy beach where cows stroll dully in the cool of the morning and wild pigs go to the sea to drink salted water.

We have to switch on the four-wheel-drive to get to the most beautiful part of the beach.  A few km through the dunes and we reach an area of palm trees that gives us the shade to spread out our towel. The water is blue, calm, and warm. It invites you to take a dip as soon as you get there and it is difficult to decide to leave the sea. 

Walking along the beach, we reach a lagoon where water lilies, pelicans, and dozens of species of birds coexist in a silence broken only by their singing. There we find the pure beauty and peace that only untouched places and in an almost wild condition know. And between the sea and the lagoon, we find a tongue of white sand where we just want to lie down, disconnect from the social networks and the phone, look around, and thank for so much beauty, so much positive energy exuded by this beautiful and unique land that is Guinea-Bissau.

Here we watch the most beautiful sunset in Africa. With a strawberry-colored sun setting over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

And while you’re here, why not try some delicious oysters from Susana, the town 12 km away, which provides this unforgettable delicacy to those who come here and stay overnight?  Or maybe the lobsters caught in this rich sea and that most of the time end up on the plates of neighboring Senegal? These are unique flavors not to be missed.

It is not easy to get here. However, I tell you, after getting to know Varela, it is difficult to remove its beauty from our memory and not want to come back again and again. Guaranteed by someone who has already made a round trip on the same day with a 10-hour drive just to take a swim and eat some oysters in Varela. Because there are crazy things that are really worth it!

How to get there: by private car (preferably 4×4) or public transport (take a “sept place” from Bissau to São Domingos and from there to Varela negotiate a transport by motorbike or the “Toca Toca” that makes the trip to Varela once a day).

Where to stay

Aparthotel Avó Anisa
Tel: +245 956 323 647
Email: mariamacaju@outlook.com

Casa Aberta Kasumayaku
Tel: + 245 955 301 373
Email: f.cirell.38@gmail.com

Tourist Guide: Discovering Guinea-Bissau

Discovering Guinea-Bissau, Joana Benzinho and Marta Rosa, 2018

L’article Guinea Bissau: Varela beach, a madness worthwhile est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

]]> https://traveltomorrow.com/rubane-the-dream-island/ Tue, 12 Jan 2021 09:49:13 +0000 https://traveltomorrow.com/?p=18622 In the middle of the Atlantic and four hours away by direct flight from Europe (Lisbon), among another 88 islands, there is a paradise called Rubane, […]

L’article Guinea-Bissau: Rubane, the dream island est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

]]> In the middle of the Atlantic and four hours away by direct flight from Europe (Lisbon), among another 88 islands, there is a paradise called Rubane, where dreams come true and paradise takes shape. Rubane, the dream island, is in Guinea-Bissau, in the Bijagós archipelago.

In 2007 this island welcomed an exotic figure of French nationality, Solange, who decided to create a wonderful project of sustainable tourism there. Bijagós traditions and animism dictate that this island is sacred and it is forbidden to build permanently, to fight, to bury people and animals or to shed blood.

It is hilarious to hear Solange describe what her first encounter with the Bijagó population was like, when the dream of creating a sustainable project in this archipelago, declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1996, came true. She gathered with traditional entities, took part in animist rituals involving analysing the colour of chickens’ innards to assess the goodness of her project, and carried the head of a bloody cow on top of her to comply with local requirements. Then, she finally became part of them and a daughter of the island.

Following this probation and after the fulfilment of some compensations, she was authorized to create an eco-resort on the island of Rubane, facing the beautiful island of Canhabaque with the islands of Bubaque and Soga for neighbours.

The wooden huts erected on stilts between palm trees and baobabs and touched by the full sea are fabulous, are made with enormous refinement. Every detail exudes sophistication, from the ceiling, the decoration, to the rough wooden doors worked by local artisans. On the veranda, above the sand, beds and large armchairs invite the contemplation of this hidden paradise of the world, where you can watch the sunrise and sunset, watch hundreds of fishes flying, dolphins playing in the water or birds diving with a sharp shot from which they always return with a fish in their beaks.

Upon our arrival by boat, Solange awaits tourists impeccably dressed and in high-heeled shoes on the sand, with hair flying in the wind and a smile on her face, welcoming us with a friendly “Soyez bienvenues”. Once arrived, just leave things in her hands and I assure you that it will be an experience for life. From the kitchen, with a chef of impeccable quality serving us carpaccio of delicious fish and high quality dishes, to the staff with a professionalism and contagious friendliness, everything adds points to make the holiday truly unique. The meals are always composed of starters, mains and desserts, with a touch of French cuisine combined with the best of the Bijagos Sea: its fish of a superior quality.

Solange is a permanent presence. Always at work, whether in the kitchen, in the bar, taking care of any problem that may arise in your accommodation, suggesting excursions in this vastness of dreamland that are 88 islands so different from each other.

The beach, with white sand, calm and warm waters, invites you to bathe from sunrise to sunset. Between a walk by the sea and a siesta, there is plenty of time for many dives and a bit of padlle.

This resort is home to fishermen, tourists in search of authenticity, internationally renowned actors, retired top financiers, French counts and countesses who arrive here every year in their private plane and walk barefoot with their haute couture brands along the extensive sand, escaping the severity of the European winter.

Solange has the quality of not excluding anyone and, above all, values each and every one of those who make an effort here to leave tourists the best memories of the days spent in Guinea-Bissau.

We know them all by their names, bar staff, waiters, cleaners or sailors, and from one year to the next. Like Herculano, a Bijagó guy less than 50 years old, with a deep disability in one foot. I met him in this hotel in 2009, taking care of the gardens of the cabanas, and now he has gained skills and is today a distinguished waiter, always with a smile and a gesture of kindness for us. Even if his disability makes his movements and deftness very difficult.

Getting to this island is not easy. However, it is more difficult still to get the island out of your imagination once you’ve left.

I visited Rubane for the first time twelve years ago and have never stopped coming back. It leaves unforgettable memories of a few days of the exquisite simplicity that is found in few places. Where people smile with that purity that only the distance of modernity conserves, and where nature and the waters of the sea bring us back to the essentials. To us. To our deepest essence.

Hotel: Ponta Anchaca Eco Lodge, Rubane Island, Guinea Bissau.

How to go: transfer by sea or airplane from the hotel or on public boats leaving the port of Bissau

L’article Guinea-Bissau: Rubane, the dream island est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

]]> https://traveltomorrow.com/guinea-bissau-once-upon-a-time-in-bolama/ Fri, 11 Dec 2020 13:21:29 +0000 https://traveltomorrow.com/?p=15174 The Island of Bolama, whose main city has the same name, is the capital of the Bolama-Bijagós archipelago, one of the nine regions of Guinea Bissau. […]

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]]> The Island of Bolama, whose main city has the same name, is the capital of the Bolama-Bijagós archipelago, one of the nine regions of Guinea Bissau. When we land here, the time stops. Or, at least, we realized that it stopped a long time ago.

For me, Bolama could be called the island of “Once upon a time”. Because it was once the capital of Portuguese Guinea in colonial times; because it was once a city of majestic buildings; because it was once the city where the first telegraph of West Africa was installed; because it was once the city that received as the seat of power a 1919 building, all architecturally identical to the White House with its Greek-style columns representing the pillars of power; because it was once this small island planted in the Atlantic that brought two countries, Portugal and the United Kingdom, into confrontation, forcing an arbitration of the President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. He judged the case in favour of Portugal, taking into account a landmark submerged in the sea and proving that Portugal had stayed well before the British presence. At that time a statue was once dedicated in the main garden, next to the bandstand. 

Bolama was also the administrative structure of the colonial province, with banks, bourgeois houses, hotels, hospital, church, various factories, an Olympic-sized swimming pool. It was all this and much more that is beyond architecture and that passes through the many personal achievements of those who lived there in the 19th century.

And what is Bolama today, beyond what it once was? An island that we must definitely visit and where we must close our eyes for a moment to absorb the landscape that exists today and imagine what was there one day in the past.

Upon arriving at the harbour, on the boat that brings us on a beautiful two-hour voyage from Bissau, we immediately come across two structures that stand out: a statue to honour the dead of two Italian seaplanes, victims of a crash in Bolama, in January 1931, during the 1st crossing of the Atlantic Ocean from Rome to Rio de Janeiro and a large swimming pool by the sea, stubbornly empty and with children playing in the puddles of water that sprinkle it here and there. In addition, we can see many children wandering in the shadows of trees and houses, with the curiosity to see who arrives and what arrives from the Guinea Continental, from where almost come to the island, with the exception of fish, some meat and farming products produced there. 

Fleeing the harbour and the buzz that creates the arrival of the boat, we climb a street flanked by one or another building that still has the idea of what it was, like the cinema of the island that keeps the name and the proof that people entered there one day to see the magic box show them other realities. And then, there is the main square, where everyone, with a rare exception, marvels at what is left of old times. The Town Hall Palace still keeps a bit of its magnificence from other eras and some columns showing how majestic it was and a symbol of the island’s power.

On one side and on the other some ruins, some iron redoubled and scoured by vegetation and that once protected houses, institutions and gardens from the looks of others. The church, picturesque with some original tiles and painted fresh, gives a bit of life to this evident image of what was a past, it is close to the hospital (that yes, still with open doors but with little capacity to answer the needs) and to the road that leads us to what remains of the old British Telegraph trading post. The one that proves the passage of the British through this corner of the Atlantic and demanded by them at the end of the 19th century. Nearby we find the market, the heart of the island’s social life, where everything is bought and sold, where we almost see a direct exchange of locally produced goods. And nearby what is left of the island’s industry, shredded by vegetation and even by the erosion of modern times.

Here in Bolama, lighting is done by candlelight or mobile phones, which today allow you to walk in the dark without much fear, as long as the battery has been charged in some shop in exchange for some CFA Francs, the local currency.

Coming out of this historical part of a surreal and at the same time exotic beauty for little left of what it was, it is definitely worth exploring the paradisiacal beaches bathed by a warm, calm and biodiversity-filled Atlantic Ocean. And enjoy the fullness of this rare and virgin nature. And to think, while floating on the celestial blue of the beaches of Ofir or Bolama de Baixo, that Bolama was and is an island and above all the name of a beautiful city that cries out for a structured recovery that gives it back its dignity. Because the beauty is all there, intact. Awaiting your visit.

How to get there from Bissau, the capital: public and private boats. More information are available here.

More information about the island are available here.

L’article Guinea Bissau: Once upon a time in Bolama est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

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