Guinea-Bissau is a country I haven’t traveled to (yet). Distance, I’ve only come ‘close’ to Guinea-Bissau when I was in Cabo Verde less than 1000 kilometers away in 2019. I’d love to visit Guinea-Bissau as part of a bigger (overland) West Africa trip.
I hope that you can find posts about Guinea-Bissau on this page in the future. For now, perhaps read about other countries, such as Cabo Verde, Spain, or Morocco?
Things I’d Like to Do in Guinea-Bissau
- Hitch with Bissau-Guineans. I heard the roads aren’t much and it’s unlikely to be for free for a tourist like me, but I have dreams of traveling down the (incomplete) Trans–West African Coastal Highway. However, I still expect to still take shared taxis (clandos)
- Visit the capital city Bissau. I’d like to visit the São José da Amura cathedral (which doubles as a lighthouse), the central mosque and the National Ethnographic Museum. If the vibe is good, I’d also like to see the Chinese-rebuilt presidential palace up close. I’d also like to go to the Island of Bissau (with lighthouse) and Bandim Island in the Geba River estuary, but I’m not sure if there is organized transport
- With the official language being Portuguese, I hope I’ll still remember the bit I learned before and during the pandemic. They also speak over a dozen local languages, so I’ll have to see what it’s gonna be
- Travel far off to some remote parts. In the Bissagos Islands (Bijagós), the island of Poilão piques my interest mostly. The islands are a deltaic archipelago created by the last big rise in sea level. There’s also a national park called Orango on the islands, where the African grey parrot (of Apollo and Frens fame) and saltwater hippos live
- Just like the Netherlands, Guinea-Bissau is a small deltaic country without high mountains, but with lots of rivers. I hope to go kayaking somewhere in nature, especially in Bissagos. I’m hoping to spot manatees and turtles there
- Learn something about the history of Guinea-Bissau in terms of colonial occupation, slavery, and independence. There’s the Memorial to Slavery and the Slave Trade in Cacheu, the Hand of Timba monument in Bissau, and I’ve known about Amílcar Cabral since visiting Cabo Verde. I’d love to learn more
- See cats in the wild. By cats, I mean caracals, servals, leopards, lions, and the African wildkitty
- Other animals, such as birds, warthogs, snakes, African painted dogs look cool, but I’d like to keep my distance from dogs
- Make sure to travel there in the dry season from November to April. It will be hot either way
- I’d love to eat a lot of millet and learn more about it since it’s a grain I’m unfamiliar with. As for other local foods, I’m very stoked to try local cashews (my favorite nut, they even make cashew juice), eat plantain, cassava, and other local veggies, and grains of paradise (pepper-like spice)
- Take a (vegetarianized) cooking class. This is a type of activity I’ve seriously never regretted doing. I would like to make a vegetable caldo de mancarra (a peanut stew and the national dish, normally with chicken), caldo de tchebem (a palm nut stew with meat or fish), cafriela de frango (Bissau-Guinean version of the Senegalese yassa. So yes, chicken). If things get tough trying to be a vegetarian, I might have to eat chicken
- As for sweets, there’s donete (little donuts) and fidjós, which is another fritter, sometimes made with banana. Any kind of research into what food there is in Guinea-Bissau leads to very few results, unfortunately
- Finding info about Guinea-Bissau is a real challenge, so I don’t know if their national brewery Pampa has reopened. On Untappd, I found a micro brewery called Comercial Santy that has a pilsener called Djumbai and a lager called Pepita La Fresca. Not sure if any of this is real. I’m mostly expecting foreign import beer from Portugal, Senegal, and Morocco to be available in Bissau and beyond
- If there’s time, visit the old capital of Guinea-Bissau called Bolama. It’s connected by ferry
- Enjoy some local festivals or culture. Carnival isn’t really my thing, but the one in Guinea-Bissau is quite famous in the region.
- Relax on some beautiful beach
Map of Things to Do in Guinea-Bissau
Here’s a preliminary map I made with all the places and then some marked. Note that I haven’t been to Guinea-Bissau yet, so I can’t give advice about open border crossings and such.
If you know cool places and things to do in Guinea-Bissau, comment at the bottom of this page so I can always find your suggestions again! Tips are especially welcome if you are Bissau-Guinean or have lived there for a while
Are you a travel blogger and do you have good posts about Guinea-Bissau? Drop them in a comment below and I’ll read them!
gschneusig from Pixabay
Valéria Rodrigues Valéria from Pixabay
Valéria Rodrigues Valéria from Pixabay
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