Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa that covers 13,948 square miles (a little bigger than Maryland) with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to its north and Guinea to its southeast.

In the Bijagos Archipelago, the economy is largely rural, with many families living from subsistence farming and fishing. There is some tourist activity, mostly boat charters from neighboring Senegal.

Due to difficulties of communication with mainland Guinea-Bissau that persist to this day, the population has a considerable degree of autonomy and has shielded its ancestral culture from outside influence. The Bijago language is spoken along with Portuguese and creole.

There is a high diversity of ecosystems: mangroves with intertidal zones, palm forests, dry and semi-dry forests, secondary and degraded forests, coastal savanna, sand banks and aquatic zones. The archipelago was declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1996.

Our first island was Bolama. Though once the capital of Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau), it has a population of just 4,819 (2009 census) and much of its colonial era architecture is in a state of severe decay. The town is almost surrounded by mangrove swamps and is now mostly known for its production of cashew nuts. A shortage of fresh water meant that Bolama could never hope to develop into a major city and on 6 December 1941 the colonial capital was moved to Bissau. So many of the colonial buildings are abandoned and decaying.

I signed up for the birding walk. There is no pier in Bolama so we used our zodiacs to go ashore. Because the tide was low, the only way onto the island was up these very steep, narrow steps. It took 4 local men to get me up to the top, rather scary.

Once again, the birding group was way too large. We gathered under a huge ceiba tree next to this monument to an Italian plane crash.

We saw several of these Red-chested Swallows and Splendid Starlings

I stopped to photograph this goat with its two kids and suddenly I was two blocks behind the group.

The island is famous for the huge numbers of Straw-colored Fruit Bats. I saw lots flying around but wasn’t able to find them roosting for some close-up photos.

Eventually I caught up but most of the time they would concentrate on birds far away with their spotting scope.

Too many people!!

Here’s what I was finally able to get a glimpse of so all are huge crops:

Black-headed Weaver

Abyssinian Roller – so beautiful

Palm-nut Vulture - a vegetarian vulture~

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater - with a bee for breakfast

Senegal Coucal

Of course the children are always cute.

They were really attracted to the artist group.

Pretty plumeria blossoms

A metal statue of American President Ulysses S. Grant stood in the town until August 2007 when it was broken up by scrap metal scavengers. Grant had chaired an international arbitration committee that, in 1870, granted Bolama to Portugal rather than to Great Britain. The metal statue was replaced by this concrete statue.

Luckily by the time it was time to return to the ship, we were able to us a small jetty so didn’t have to use those scary steps again.

For the afternoon just before sunset, we had zodiac cruises around the island. I was able to see:

Palm-nut Vulture,

A Reef-Heron,

A Common Redshank,

A Great Egret,

And some Cattle Egrets.

We will visit a different island tomorrow.

Some more history of Guinea-Bissou: In the 19th century, it was colonized as Portuguese Guinea. Portuguese control was restricted and weak until the early 20th century, when its pacification campaigns solidified Portuguese sovereignty in the area. The final Portuguese victory over the last remaining bastion of mainland resistance came in 1915. The Bijagos, islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, were officially conquered in 1936, ensuring Portuguese control of both the mainland and islands of the region. Upon independence, declared in 1973 and recognized in 1974, the name of its capital, Bissau, was added to the country's name to prevent confusion with Guinea (formerly French Guinea). Guinea-Bissau has had a history of political instability since independence.

In the Bijagos Islands, people of different ethnic origins tended to settle in separate settlements. Great cultural diversity developed in the archipelago.

Bijago society was warlike. Men were dedicated to boatbuilding and raiding the mainland, attacking the coastal peoples as well as other islands. They believed that at sea they had no king. Women cultivated the land, constructed houses, and gathered and prepared foods. They could choose their husbands, and warriors with the best reputations ranked at the top of respected status. Successful warriors could have many wives and boats, and were entitled to one third of the spoils gained by warriors who used their boats in any expedition.

Bijago night raids on coastal settlements had significant effects on the societies attacked. Portuguese traders on the mainland tried to stop the raids, as they hurt the local economy. But the islanders also sold considerable numbers of villagers captured in raids as slaves to the Europeans. With colonization underway in other parts of Africa and the Americas, demand for workers was high and the Europeans sometimes pushed for more captives to be taken.

The Bijagos were mostly safe from enslavement, as they were out of reach of mainland slave raiders. Europeans avoided having them as slaves. Portuguese sources say the children made good slaves but not the adults, who were likely to commit suicide, lead rebellions aboard slave ships, or escape once reaching the New World.

Up until the late 1800s, Portuguese control of their 'colony' outside of their forts and trading posts was a fiction. Guinea-Bissau became the scene of increased European colonial competition beginning in the 1860s. The dispute over the status of Bolama was resolved in Portugal's favor through the mediation of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant in 1870, but French encroachment on Portuguese claims continued. In 1886 the Casamance region of what is now Senegal was ceded to them.