Nine Days Guinea Bissau Trip
Day One: Arrival in Bissau
On arrival at the airport in Bissau, the guide from Afrikan Wildlife Safaris will pick you up and then transfer you to the hotel. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Dunia Bissao or similar.
Day Two: Quinhamel
After breakfast, we will drive to Cana to see a colonial era rum distillery, then continue to Quinhamel. Here we meet the Pepel people, and learn about their animist customs centred around traditional ‘fetishes’. The later return to Bissau for the overnight. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Dunia Bissao or similar.
Day Three: Varela
Today, you will depart the city and drive north west to Varela. This is the territory of the Diola people, and we will be able to see one of their mask dances while here, an event rarely seen by outsiders. In the later afternoon we reach the beaches of Varela. Dinner and overnight at Aparthotel Avo Anisa or similar.
Day Four: Bissau
This morning, we will drive back to Bissau, we leave the main road and travel through a landscape of swamps and streams to the settlements of the Felupes and Baiotes people. Living in large clay built huts under a patriarchal structure, they farm rice by desalinating the soil. We then visit the villages of the local Manjaco people and see their sacred wooden sculptures, before continuing to Bissau for the night. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Dunia Bissao or similar.
Day Five: Bolama to Bijagos Islands
For this day, you will sail to the Bijagos Islands, a magical and unique world of authentic tribal traditions and unusual wildlife. First visit the island of Bolama, once a colonial capital but now largely abandoned, its Portuguese buildings slowly being taken over by vegetation and goats. From here continue further into the archipelago. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Ponta Anchaca or similar.
Day Six: Bijagos Islands
There are two activities today depending on the timing. You may see the impressive Vaca Bruto mask ceremony, unique to the Bijagos Islands where participants assume the roles of wild bulls or travel to the uninhabited island of Poilao, to watch turtles come ashore in the evening to lay their eggs. Overnight Hotel Ponta Anchaca or similar.
Days Seven and Eight: Bijagos Islands
After breakfast, we head to Orango Island, a national park where the famous ‘saltwater hippos’ live – this is the same species as found on the mainland but unusually here often swims between the various islands. They can sometimes be difficult to locate, but we will search for them amongst the thick mangroves of these islands. We also visit Bubaque, the largest village of the Bijagos, visiting its colorful market and small ethnographic museum, and getting to know the local people. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Ponta Anchaca or similar.
Day Nine: Bissau
After breakfast, you will return by boat to the capital Bissau, where we have time for a quick look around the lively old quarter, with its traditional Portuguese architecture, then transfer to the airport for your onward flight.