Guinea-Bissau Break

Guinea-Bissau Break

In the 19th century, the country was colonized as Portuguese Guinea. Upon independence, declared in 1973 and recognised in 1974, the name of its capital, Bissau, was added to the country’s name to prevent confusion with neighbor country Guinea thus making it Guinea-Bissau.

You fly in to Guinea-Bissau via Lisbon, Portugal. After the passport and visa check we are transferred to the Ceiba hotel in Bissau. It is late in the evening, so we call it a day.

Next morning we explore Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, a little. We visit a small library, a market, a school where students apparently have graduation day; some wear graduation black caps. A lot of big birds fly over the city. ‘Our flying urban cleaning’, so we are told.

At eleven in the morning guide Waldo pick us up in the hotel. We drive to the boat which will take us to Ilha de Kéré. Because it’s windy we have lunch first. Next to big river Mansôa in Mar Azul we eat local oysters. In contrast to Western oysters you get a big pile of them – not a limited number. They seem to be a little bigger than we are used to. The taste is very good, very briny and less wet. They’re accompanied by some white wine of course.

We drive on until we arrive in the small village of Ondame. Here we enter the boat. That is, we walk through the water and climb onboard. In an hour and a half we reach the island of Kéré, part of the Bijagos archipelago. The Bijagos archipelago is located on the south west edge of Guinea-Bissau. We meet Sonia and Laurent, the owners of this beautiful resort.

Some islands in the Bijagos archipelago are used by South-American drugs dealers. These places form a stopover before the drugs enter Europe. Sonia tells a story about a neighboring island used for tourists like us where drug dealers offered money and more to use the place…

On Kéré here and there small but comfortable lodges. It’s an island for adventurous people. Most of the guests are here to fish for large fishes. Dinner that evening with the fishing group. After staying here a while we will do some island hopping. It’s very hot during daytime but also in the night you feel the heat.

We walk along the island (it’s only a small walk, because the island is not big). Spot a lot of birds, most of them waterbirds. By boat we visit close-by Caravela island. We see something you don’t often see; some cows on the beach. Beautiful nature. Birds again. A little primitive village. Children join us, they walk along.

Today our trip through the Archipelago starts. Next days we will visit some of the islands here. A small crew onboard and Sonia will be our guide. A lot of waves, it’s windy and there’s a lot of rain. In moments we are wet all over. Later we sail through a beautiful lagoon. Lots of photo opportunities here. When sailing the sea you sometimes see a lot of birds fishing together – that means: one bird spots a school of fish and all the other birds join in.

The island we first visit is called Angurman. A guy named François runs the place. The house we will stay in is from a fairytale. Overlooking the sea, a big baobab tree in front of it.

After a good lunch with nice white wine we sail to some places close-by where we see all kind of birds including beautiful flamingo’s. In no-time our captain catches a big fish. Sorry for the fish, it will serve as our dinner. No light that evening. Well you can’t have everything in paradise.

Dinner is served by Xilo. He’s from Senegal, he talks a lot. He tells the story about some believers who don’t work at all. Then in the evening they take a plate, say ‘Inshallah’ and expect Allah to sprinkle some rice on it… On the boat the next day when we leave he waves goodbye. He still laughs when I hold up an imaginary plate.

Ile João Vieira then, which is run by Claude. We make a nice and long walk through the tick woods of the island. A guy working for IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) shows us around. He points out some birds including an eagle.

On our way to our next stop we pass Ile do Meio. Small but beautiful. We leave the boat for an hour to stroll on a kind of paradise beach.

Turtle island is named after the fact that turtles lay their eggs here. We will stay the night here, however accommodation is rather primitive. We sleep in a tent and use the neighboring wood as a toilet. No buildings here at all: the island is uninhabited. Some guests drop by during day time. Guests staying for the night seldom happens.

We walk around. There are lots of vultures in the trees. In moments we realize why. We spot movement on the beach. Big birds picking up something. When we are near we see one small surviving turtle trying to make its way to the sea. We stay with it to ensure it reaches the water alive.

Statistics tell that from every 100 baby turtles only a few reach the sea. From every 100 who reach the sea also only a handful survive to grow old. Therefore nature provides big nests of baby turtles. Later we see another pack of baby turtles moving to the water. They know (they smell the water?) exactly which direction to take.

No lights here, hence dinner in the dark. We go to bed early. At midnight we are woken up. At that time it’s high tide. This is the time the big turtles crawl ashore. They make a hole in the sand in which they lay their eggs. It’s magnificent to watch!

Next morning we spot some turtles in water pools surrounded by rocks. They’re trapped for now and during high tide they will be able to reach the sea again.

Orango island: one of the bigger islands. By boat we sail through a lagoon. Lots of birds here – a highlight is the African Pygmy Kingfisher. We walk around a large pool. Crocodiles but also some hippos here. And a lot of smaller wildlife of course.

At the lake there are several large trees with lots of weaver nests. These nests are created by intricately woven vegetation. It’s interesting to see the birds flying in and out. While it looks like a labyrinth to us the birds know their way quite naturally.

^{Weaver Tree full of Weaver nests}

At breakfast the waiter asks ‘Ax?’. It takes us a while to realize he means eggs.

We are boarding. Going back to Ilha de Kéré. An accident happens. When Sonia steps in the water towards the boat she steps on a stingray. The stingray stings her in her foot. Obviously it hurts a lot. She is put on board. Wound is cleaned. Sonia will survive, unlike Steve Irwin, who was struck in his chest.

Very fast we go, reaching our island in no time. We spend one last day on the island. Swimming, snorkeling, lying in the sun. We end the day with a romantic dinner close to the sea.

By boat back to mainland Guinea-Bissau. On our way we spot some dolphins. Waldo and Sonia take us back to Bissau. At the harbor new guests are waiting to be taken to Ilha de Kéré. It turns out to be the ambassador of Portugal and his family. We wish them a nice stay.

Driving the road we see guys on both sides of the road. In their hands a rope or chain. In some other hands machetes. They try to block the road. Waldo accelerates the car. The cord is dropped just when we were about to hit it. People who stop at places like this are threatened and then ‘asked’ for money.

Ceiba hotel in Bissau is welcoming us again. In the lobby we meet a lady who was to organize a trip to a nature reserve the coming days. But her plans are so vague, a car is not yet available. It’s a pity but we decide to skip the trip.

Bissau is a small town, but still the capital of Guinea-Bissau. You can see the highlights by feet. The Presidential palace is located near the Praça de Imperio. Lots of markets here. Biggest among them is the Mercado de Bandim. There’s a place where you can rent a wheelbarrow for a day. For your own use, but many people earn a little money transporting stuff this way.

Coffee on the terrace of restaurant Kalliste. Next to a small roundabout, lots of people. This is really the city center. All kinds of people are walking by, selling things. They carry a mattress, candles, various maps; everything is for sale. We often visit Kalliste. After a few days people start shaking our hands. And every time, a local money changer welcomes us, asks if I want to change some money. Every time I decline and he says: ‘ok’. He then calls a waiter and guides us to a table.

The only bookstore in town. Mostly dated books, most of them in Portuguese. No magazines at all. The country is quite poor: even in the capital most roads are not asphalted. When asphalted, the quality is so poor with many potholes in it.

In august 1959 a dockworkers strike in the harbor was knocked down brutally by the police. Dozens of strikers were killed or wounded. This marked the beginning of a strong resistance against the Portuguese colonial authority. A large, black fist monument remembers this massacre.

There are several nice places to lunch here. We explored ‘Papa Loca’. This restaurant is owned by a Portuguese guy. He is very surprised to meet us. There’s not much tourism over here. We are served by a beautiful girl named Binto.

At ‘La Rosa’ we meet a Lebanese guy we met before in the hotel. Because there’s not many expats or tourists here you tend to greet the few ones you meet all the time.

At the swimming pool of the hotel I notice a guy who has a nice tattoo on his back. It’s a complete world map! Until this day I regret not having asked him if I could make a picture of it.

One last coffee on our favorite terrace at Kalliste. Many local people gather here. It’s popular. They occupy the seats and tables. They don’t consume anything. We are among the few guests that order drinks, food and pay for it. Although every table and chair is occupied by locals, they always politely make place for us. We see a local seated here order and buy a couple of cola tin cans from a man walking by the terrace. He then drinks it and enjoys.

The last day we are transported to the airport. Waldo drops us off and says: “This is the point where you have to say bye bye Bissau.”

This trip was made in 2018.

If you have any thoughts or questions feel free to leave a comment!

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