Bafatá to Koundara: no sight of Guinness

The electricity in my Bafatá room went off around 5:30am and I almost immediately woke up. It does get quite cool at night, the temperature drops 20 degrees from +40 to +20 yet it’s still hot. I think this may be due to to house walls retaining the heat. Shower water on the other hand […]

Buba to Bafatá: everything lasts

I was worried that I should have gone all the way to Republic of Guinea today. Buba to Bafatá is 135km, 2 hours and here I was at the bus junction, before 9am. Bafatá is recommended by The Rough Guide to West Africa AD2008 as one of Guinea Bissau highlights. Pretty town with Portuguese red-roofed […]

Bolama to Buba: long road to the bars

I had my simple breakfast at about 7:20am and unfortunately at this time baguettes in Bolama are not yet ready, mine was a yesterday’s stale. I was hearing a hum coming from the jetty and I even thought it could be the pirogue but I didn’t worry much. People saying the transport is at 8am […]

Long lazy hours in Bolama

I stayed two nights in Bolama. I was told that the next truck back towards the junction village of Nova Sintra (from where you can turn left towards Enxudé and ferry to Bissau or continue straight towards Funacunda and Buba and the world) will leave on Saturday at 8-9am. Even though you can see the […]

Bissau to Bolama: dusty bush roads

This week Consulmar Guine ferry ran Monday to Thursday (they publish the schedule every week) at 8am. The ferry leaves from the port of Bissau. I arrived at the port around 7:45, there were already people at the dock. The day before when I asked at the ticket office what time I should be at […]

Sandpiercer to Choum

I’m in Atar, waiting for some voiture to Chinguetti to show up. I arrived in Atar before 6am, driver just let us sleep in the minibus from Choum. The town was still asleep bar the muezzin calls coming from many sides. As I walkes around asking for transport to Chinguetti, I was told there is […]

The Long Train from Nouadhibou

Interestingly, it wasn’t cold at night in Nouadhibou. I mean, out there on the street, the moment the sun set, chill set in and I began to wish I had long sleeve on me. But there in the room on a mattress that served as bed it was alright. I only used a single linen […]