Casamance region

The Casamance region of Sengal that has been off limits for tourists or a few years so it's a privilege to be able to visit, spending a couple of days camping on the banks of the river and taking day trips on the boat.

We were staying at a Campemont owned by a nice french chap called Luc.  He has rebuilt the place & intends to pass it over to the locals once he's earnt his investment back.

camping on the river

Pelican

Pied kingfisher

The first day we went out to the nearby island, Ile de Karobane

 for a walk around an abandoned church (except for the bats), past the mosque, a few birds and an afternoon 

Heron

Church

Back in the afternoon for a bit of book reading and a beautiful sunset

sunset at Campemont Villageois

The following day we journeyed further down the river to Point St George for a long walk in the baking hot sun to a very large tree.  Since health & safety doesn't exist in this part of the world we were able to climb a ladder around 15m into the tree for a view over the canopy, there was a safety line, but they didn't have a harness and the platform is rotten so we didn't risk standing on that..

We tried a little rice wine from the hard(?) working locals before heading back or lunch and some afternoon (unsuccessful) manity spotting.

Tree ladder

Rice wine

Fishing

 The way back we were treated to dolphins playing off the side of the boat

Dolphins

Dolphin

Into Senegal

Sometimes on an overlanding trip you need to make some tough decisions.  Having crossed the boarder from Guinea Bissau to Senegal, negotiating multiple police checkpoints (including one within sight of the previous one) we made it, bribe free, to Kabrousse on the west coast.

Choice number one, where to swim:

pool..

..or beach

On the beach were a variety of items, some more common than others - depending on your expectations of a beach.

stingray

cows

palm tree

local boy (in the photograph)

After a couple of relaxing days on the beach the furthest we'd ventured was an hours walk to the neighbouring fishing village.  That meant walking past the old french sunbathers at the club med resort and finding a man named Luna who not only convinced us to come back for dinner that evening but also gave me a personal guided tour the next morning.

Fish drying

The men go out and fish, coming back in around 11 am when all the women will come down to the beach.  There is a large building which is the creche and the rest of the women set to work drying the fish with salt.

Baby shark

The snail in the region are pretty huge and the shells are used in the concrete mix for the buildings, the village is still being rebuilt after being destroyed by rebels in the late '90s

snail shell mountain

Luna and a fish

Guinea Bissau

First stop in Guinea Bissau was another washing spot, the falls at Saltinho.  Camping in the grounds of a hotel again, this spot is a big (in relative terms) tourist attraction for hunters & the hotel staff were preparing birds brought in by some of the other guests.

Bridge over Saltinho falls

We headed for the falls as a spot to wash ourselves and some clothes and were joined by a number of young local boys who showed off diving in.

Saltinho falls

Woman, Guinea Bissau

From Saltinho it was onwards and westwards to the coast and capital city of Bissau.  It's an incredible city of contrasts with old, run down colonial buildings very much reminiscent of Cuba.  It's also a key entry port for the drugs trade so there's some rather flash cars around.

Buildings in Bissau

 The port is an incredible spot to be early in the morning as the fishing boats come in and unload there catch.

Bissau Port

Rotting hull, Bissau

One of the highlights of the trip was an afternoon in an artesian market, we spent a couple of hours there with a local musician, playing the drums and guitar & other stall holders joining on balafon and drums.  The whole time there were only a couple of other tourists passing through so there was little trading happening, but the music was great.

Artesian market, Bissau

Goodbye Guinea

Time for one final waterfall stop in Guinea, this time the Chutes de Salaa, a short ride from Labe.

Chutes de Salaa

Dragonfly

Chutes de Salaa

Weaver bird, Peta

The final days drive through Guinea involved a hand powered chain ferry ride and a stop just before the boarder at a spectacular escarpment

River crossing, Guinea

Escarpment, Guinea

Next stop, the only overland truck ever to visit Guinea Bissau - a country averaging a military coup every 3 years since independence in the early 70's, and the only Portuguese speaking country of West Africa..

Douki

Our '9 seater' taxis arrived so we squeezed in & took the dirt roads to Douki where a chap called Hasan has set up a thriving little hiking business. After an excellent lunch he took a few of us off for a long walk, the most exercise I've had since trekking in Borneo & I was glad not to be carrying a 15kg rucksack this time.

Douki

At the sight of this spectacular landscape Hasan's response was "you ain't seen nothing yet".

Douki

red indian

He pointed out a variety of different rick formations, much like constellations you sometimes need a good imagination. Elephants, Red Indians, a giraffe,

Fouta Djalon

After a dip in the waterfall we clambered down into a cave and swam to the edge of another waterfall then hung off the edge of a cliff for spectacular views before clambering along vines on the Indiana jones section of the walk.

Climbing vines

In the evening a couple of us enjoyed the hospitality of Hasan for Manchester United v Real Madrid, who opens his house whenever the football is on. Try to picture a 4m x 4m room with 7 men on 3 sofas around the edge of the room, a 20" tv and about 60 kids, all boys, all aged 6-10, on the floor with even more outside. Real Madrid seemed to have the favour of the crowd, so they were happy with an away win.  We stayed the night in a traditional Fula hut

Accommodation - Foula hut

The second day was more walking, waterfalls and views, as well as a couple of quick stops at the bakery and the school.

Bakery, Douki

Douki

Waterfall 1

Waterfall 2

plunge pool

King Kong

Dalaba

After an easy boarder crossing we were

Much of the camping in Guinea has been in the grounds of hotels, it's difficult to find remote, clear areas for bush camping & its also a bit more secure. One of the more spectacular settings for a hotel of the whole trip & possibly in the entirety of West Africa was our stop in Dalaba.  A huge tree and veranda was a great spot to watch the sunset & the weaver birds were active around the hotel too.

Hotel grounds, Dalaba

Weaver bird, Dalaba

Chutes De Dittin

This was our starting point for a group outing to the Chutes de Dittin. After some negotiates on taxi prices 10 of us piled into 2 taxis and we were off, 6 of us in our '9 seater' were joined by a guy of the roof who was literally along for the ride. Along the dirt tracks for 2+ hours then a 30 min hike through the woods to get to an amazing view.

sunset, Dalaba

After another glorious sunset we set off in the morning for Pita

My group was on cooking duty that day & we went to the market to shop, but all of a sudden the whole place was packing up around us. From a bustling market to closed within 10 minutes was incredible. It turned out there was an expectation of trouble following on from Conakry with unhappiness at the lack of elections. We were a km or so out of town but it appears nothing came of the rumours.

Chutes De Kinkon

So that afternoon was time for another waterfall outing. This time the chutes de Kinkon. We left the hotel in search of taxis & were soon piling into another '9 seater' with 2 in the front seat 3 in the middle & 3 in the back it's now a challenge to get 9 in. This was a much shorter trip on the dirt roads before a military escort to the viewpoint. Of course not being in Europe means you can walk around the edges of the falls with no barriers or restrictions & there's certainly no other tourists around.

Chutes De Kinkon 

Chutes De Kinkon