Guinean philanthropist paradise
Here in the orango island , where the only two-legged animals will be the group of travelers and the hotel's native staff, you will come across the occasional hippopotamus, monkeys and hundreds of baby green turtles. In the heart of a National Park that can only be accessed by boat and once a week from the black continent, a group of biologists, environmentalists and nature scientists manage the project Orange Park Hotel without labels or pretensions or exploitations or practically any promotion.
Hippos are the island's usual 'neighbors'
Red colobus flood the branches of Cantanhez, on the mainland (visited on one of the circuits)
The question is very simple: three bungalows, four rooms in two of them and one with two other rooms, a lounge bar where you can watch the sunsets (not to be missed) and one goal: to live this authentic and unique experience so that revert the benefits of the hotel (if any) in provide outlets for certain needs of the local population of the tabankas (villages) of the neighboring islets . In this way they have already built a nursery (if not the children in the rainy season could not teach), with the donation of some clients; an infirmary (where two nurses are paid), a boat to come and go during excursions... Different initiatives that are emerging and that, either because the clients so wish or because of the collaboration of private foundations, are carried out successfully and remain to the bijagó population.
This is relaxation in the Bijagós
This unique mini-resort lost in front of the coast of Guinea Bissau was built after the area was declared Biosphere Reserve : “When the owners wanted to abandon it due to family problems, an anonymous philanthropist saw that the CBD Habitat Foundation (by the way, Spanish) was successfully carrying out nature conservation and development cooperation projects and so we inherited the management so that it they end up managing it on their own”, explains Ana Maroto García, one of those responsible for the project at the foundation.
Inhabitants of the islands that collaborate in the project
JOURNEY NOTEBOOK
The archipelago is made up of 88 islands of all sizes, of which only 21 of them are inhabited . A good number of these are sacred places for the Bijagós, which has allowed them to be preserved as they were. The ** Orango Parque Hotel ** is located on the island of Orango. The experience suggests shake off the culture of consumerism and put on the suit, metaphorically speaking, of the Bijagó ethnic group, an animist ethnic group (their religion conserves nature) whose members make up the 17-person team that works at the hotel, which has a total of 20 beds.
Camino Anor, one of the routes to take in the archipelago
Green turtles, here all nature is respected as a religion
In the different tours that are carried out around the islands, the guides explain the Bijagó traditions and ceremonies that they find along the way. One of the nights, a small presentation of the project is made to explain how they collaborate directly with your stay. The Authentic Guinea Bissau tour combines the islands and the mainland: group of 6 people, from €1,239/each (does not include flight, insurance or visa). The Savage Islands circuit It is carried out on different islands: group of 6 people, from €1,067/each (without flight, insurance or visa).
*More information in CBD-habitat Foundation (Gustavo Fernández Balbuena, 2, tel. 914 156 052. Ask for Ana Maroto).
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