Guinea-Bissau, is a former Portuguese colony in West Africa. The rivers and coast of this area were among the first places colonized by the Portuguese from 1588 onward, the interior was not explored until the 19th century.
The Portuguese tried desperately to hang on to their colony much longer than other European countries. An armed independence rebellion began in 1956, but it was not until 1974 that the Portuguese finally accepted independence for Guinea-Bissau.
Guinea-Bissau’s post-independence history has been chequered. A civil war in 1998, followed by the imposition of a military junta in 1999 has been replaced with a multi-party democracy. The economy remains fragile, however hopes are high.
Visa. Visas are required for citizens of most non ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) countries.
Visa on Arrival possible at the airport.
Visa-seekers are advised to visit the GB Embassies in Dakar, Lisbon, or Paris.
If you are going overland, a good place to get a 30 day visa is from the Guinea-Bissau Consul in Ziguinchor, Senegal which cost 60¢ and takes only 30 minutes – hours: Monday-Friday from 08.30-14.00.
Capital: Bissau
Currency: West African CFA franc (XOF). ATMs only function if you have a local account with that bank. It is probably safest to bring euros or FCFA enough to cover the time you plan to stay.
Population: 1.5 million
Country Code: +245
Climate. There is little temperature fluctuation; it averages 26.3 °C. Rainfall 2,024 mm all in the rainy season from June to September/October. Dec-April is drought.
People. Fula and Mandinka in the north and northeast, the Balanta and Papel in the southern coastal regions, and the Manjaco and Mancanha in the northern and central coastal areas.
Economy. Guinea-Bissau’s GDP per capita is one of the lowest in the world, and its Human Development Index is also one of the lowest on earth. More than two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line. The economy depends mainly on agriculture; fish, cashew nuts and ground nuts are its major exports.
Language
Portuguese official. Portuguese creole, local languages Fula, Balanta, Mandinka, Pepel, Bijago etc. But you will always find people who speak English and French from other African countries.
Day 1 Sat Nov 26. I arrived from Paris Orly on Royal Air Maroc at 01:10. Taxi from airport bargained down from 10,000 to 5 to 4 and finally 3,000, close to what the locals pay. Because of the construction I had to walk 2 blocks into Velho to my AirBnB. Everton had arranged someone to meet me outside Modern Pharmacy at 2am, exactly when I arrived and he was there.
Visa: I got a VOA in the Bissau airport. Cost 55,000 CFA. It was very fast and convenient – get a visa stamp and go to a small office to pay and get a full-page stamp. They gave change in CFA. In October 2022, the visa rules changed for the UK and a VOA is not possible.
Accommodation. All hotels are relatively expensive. I stayed at Estudio Mobiliado e decorado em BissauVelho. Contact Everton at 00 245 956082832 (also whatsapp).
The address is: Rua 2, 3A, 1st floor, Porta E, Bissau Velho, Bisssu.Estudio. An AirBnB in Velho for 25E, a simple apartment, but adequate.
Opening hours: Everything (markets, cell phone stores) is closed Saturdays and Sundays except a few restaurants and small shops. I arrived on a Saturday morning, probably the worst time to come to this country.
SIM card: Orange store (near presidential palace). 500cfa for the card and 2500cfa for 1,5GB mobile data. Passport required for registration. 4G worked fine in Bissau, Bubaque, Bafatà & Gabu. Many young guys want to sell SIM cards outside but useless as unable to register and activate. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
BISSAU (pop 492,000 2015). Located on the Geba River estuary, largest city, major port, administrative and military centre. The city was founded in 1687 by Portugal as a fortified port and trading center. Bissau was the scene of intense fighting during the beginning and end of the Guinea-Bissau Civil War in 1998 and 1999.
The land surrounding Bissau is extremely low-lying, and the river is accessible to ocean-going vessels despite its modest discharge for about 80 kilometres (50 mi) beyond the city. Peanuts, hardwoods, copra, palm oil, and rubber are the chief products.
Osvaldo Vieira International Airport.
Fortaleza de São José da Amura also known locally as Amura Fort. In the last quarter of the 17th century, French presence in Guinea intensified with the activities of the Senegal Company, a chartered company created to trade in slaves to the Antilles.
The first structure was built by the Portuguese starting in 1696 housing the trading company, Cacheu and Cape Verde Company but it was later destroyed. The current fort was built in November 1753 and restored in the 1970s. It now houses the mausoleum of Amilcar Cabral.
The fortification has a quadrangular plan in the Vauban style, with pentagonal bastions at the edges. In its walls 38 gunboats were opened. On its embankment, the service buildings are erected (Command House, Troop Barracks and Warehouses).
This is a huge fort encompassing several blocks. Built of black basalt, it appears intact, but can’t be entered.
Bissau Cathedral. A nice white church with two bell towers and clocks. Inside is lovely and freshly painted white with yellow trim – three naves, 4 columns and nice stained glass. It was closed on Saturday day but was open at night.
Bissau Central Mosque.
National Ethnographic Museum
This is an extremely poor country totally dysfunctional because of corruption. Much of Velho are abandoned buildings especially as you get close to the port area. I found it pretty depressing.
Many streets in Velho and surrounding neighbourhoods were being rebuilt and it is very messy with construction.
I slept in till almost noon and went out for a walk down to the port to see about boats to Bubaque, saw the fort and the church. I had lunch with an adventurous English couple driving an old car through West Africa – Morocco to Benin. When the car dies, they are going home.
Day 2 Sun Nov 27. With so little to see or do, I decided I would take public transport from Bissau, through Senegal to get to Gambia, my second last country in the north and west of Africa.
I was up early prepared for a long day of driving. It was still dark at 05:45 when I left, stopped at Bissau Royal Hotel for a great coffee and internet and caught a taxi to Paragem Central (3000 CFA, stopping at the mosque on the way), the main stop for share vans, at 7am when it was finally light. It is not a bus stop as there are no buses. At the first security stop just outside Bissau, I bought a great sandwich, a coffee and a cashews. I was told to buy food in Bissau before leaving but that was not necessary.
I bought two seats, one for my luggage (5000 CFA) all the way through the GB/Senegal border to Ziguinchor, Senegal (don’t say Sao Domingo, but Senegal when buying the first ticket). In Ziguinchor, I bought 2 seats again to Soma, Gambia (6000 CFA). I had great help at the borders and in Ziguinchor bus stop and gave them both a few dollars.
The road was not as bad as I was told but paved most of the way. The terrain was bush and swamp with almost no towns. Both borders were painless with no requests for bribes. There were no motorcycle rides through no-mans land, just short walks through each border post. There were baggage checks before and after border. It was 4 1/4 hours total to Ziguinchor. Distance 150 kms. I then continued onto Gambia, 156km on an atrocious road – 10 hours to go a little over 300 km.
BISSAGOS ISLANDS (Bolama). An archipelago of some twenty tropical, beautiful islands with resorts and French-owned fishing lodgesEco tourism on the “unspoiled islands”: Orango (hippos), turtle nesting grounds,
Islands: Bolama, Bubaque, Carache, Caravela, Formosa, Galinhas, Orango, Orangozinho, Roxa, Unhacomo (M@P), Uno
Bubaque – Largest town in the Bijagos archipelago, with hotels and harbor for boat trips to other islands.
Ilhas de Orango National Park
João Vieira and Poilão Marine National Park
Praia de Bruce
Tribes:Bijagos
There are three options to get here. 1. Ferry Fridays, return Sundays. 16,500 CFA
2. Piroque. Small wooden boats not available on the weekends. Available at Consumar, the “market” area on the north side of the port area. The time varies daily according to the tide.
3. Private speedboat 150,000 CFA as a single. I could have gone with another traveler on Saturday for 30,000 but I had my hotel booked and thought it still too expensive to see another place with little to offer.
Quinhamel.
Bolama* – capital of the country until 1941, colonial architecture, suggested as a world heritage site.
Buba* – End of the tarmac in south of Guinea-Bissau. On a tidal river, the Rio Grande de Buba. Decent hotel.
Gabú* – Busy market town, with a predominantly Muslim population.
Varela* – Just south of Cap Skirring, but on the Guinea-Bissau side of the border, it is a tour de force to get to Varela on a 50 km long bumpy dirt road from São Domingos – but it is all rewarded when you reach this little paradise, with a superb Italian-owned hotel, beautiful beaches and pine forests and a very relaxed atmosphere with almost no other tourists. Varela Beach is one of the few nice beaches in Guinea Bissau. Varela NP
Lagoas Cufada NP
Rio Cacheu Nature reserve
Dulombi-Boe NP (1 and 2)
Get In.
By plane. Royal Moroc Air has flights twice a week via Casablanca, often to Bissau via Capo Verde. EuroAtlantic has direct flights from Portugal Wednesday and Friday, returning same day. TACV Cabo Verde Airlines: daily flights from Dakar
By car. From Ziguinchor, Senegal to Bissau 3-4 hours by sept-places (seven-seat Peugeot) Roads are in good condition to the Bissau border. 4 hours to drive the 80km from Sao Domingo to Bissau as the roads are so bad.
Dakar-Bissau with public transport can be done in one day with a little luck, but you need to leave Dakar early and change vehicle in Ziguinchor.
Other main borderposts include Pirada (dirtroad from there to Gabú) to Senegal, and Buruntuma to Guinea-Conakry (also via Gabú).
By boat.There is a sea route between Dakar and Bissau. Additionally there are boats to and between the Bijagos islands.
Get Around
In Bissau minibuses called toca-toca work for transports within the city. There are also regular taxis. For inter-city travel there are sept-places, (seven-seat Peugeot) and candongas, big commercial vehicles carrying ten to twenty passengers. Prefer sept-place or at least try to get the front seats. It is also possible to rent taxis to other towns and cities.
Cars fill up quicker in the morning.
To go to the islands, there’s a choice between cheap, but rather unsafe, canoes (pirogues) leaving from Porto Pidjiguiti or Porto de Bandim, and expensive modern boats owned by French fishing lodges on the Bijagos islands. In 2007 a ferry started sailing between Bissau and Bubaque, leaving Friday and returning Sunday. Schedules depend on tides, so check in advance.
As Guinea Bissau is very flat and there is virtually no traffic on the roads outside Bissau, it’s a good country for cycling. Bikes can be bought in the country, which will probably ( as in most parts of the world) be Chinese made bikes.
Accommodation. Hotels are generally overpriced.
STAY SAFE
Guinea-Bissau has one of the highest rates of petty and violent crime on the continent, which should not be underestimated, a lack of much law enforcement, and a very dysfunctional government. The country also has the lowest per capita productivity and income in the world, which has the violence and crime to go along with it.
White Europeans are especially vulnerable, and will be singled out by natives seeking to enact racial crime. White Europeans tend to be left alone if it is believed they are part of foreign aid efforts, or far left activists.
Guinea-Bissau has had several Marxist Governments, providing a safe haven for Marxist radicals worldwide.A large volume of narcotics passes through remote islands and airstrips en route from South America to Europe. The country also has the onerous distinction of never having an elected president complete a full 5-year term in office and there have been dozens of coups and attempted coups as well as numerous assassinations of officials and military leaders since independence in 1974. The most recent coup was in April 2012, which follows a failed coup attempt in 2011, the house-arrest of the prime minister by the military (and threat of killing him) in 2010, and the assassination of the president by soldiers in 2009 (a day after a top military leader & rival of the president was killed by a bomb).
Avoid any political demonstrations and stay clear of any large presence of military on the streets. Many western nations lack a diplomatic presence in Guinea-Bissau, which means you will have a much harder time if arrested, detained, or in need of consular assistance in an emergency. There is no US or UK embassy in GB. The US & UK embassies in Dakar, Senegal are accredited to GB. The US has a liaison at: Edifício SITEC, Rua José Carlos Schwarz 245, Bairro d’Ajuda (tel.(245) 325-6382).
Do not trust hotel safes, and stay away from any nightclubs not attached to major hotels.
If you are arrested, be prepared to pay a bribe. However, it is not recommended to bribe officials directly. Simply ask if they can pay the fine for you, because you do not understand the customs procedures. Then leave the country as soon as possible.