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8 Night Adventure in the Bissagos Islands

From Dakar to Dakar
  • Le Lyrial
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Le Lyrial

Ponant Cruises
4 Stars
  • Cruise #: 13932793
  • Departs: Mon, Apr 7, 2025
  • Returns: Tue, Apr 15, 2025
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    Oceanview
    Call to Book1-800-427-8473
    Balcony $7,300
    Suite $12,460
    *Prices are per person based on double occupancy
    Includes taxes & fees
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    Itinerary Summary

    Day by Day Details

    Cruise Segment of Itinerary

    Monday - Apr 7, 2025
    Day
    1
    Dakar, Senegal
    • Dakar, Senegal
    • Depart: 18:00:00
    On the tip of the African continent, the buzzing capital of Senegal stretches along the narrow peninsula of Cape Verde. You may be overwhelmed by its sheer size, but Dakar will win you over with its richly diverse districts, appealing cultural scene, and rich natural surroundings. In the historic center, you'll enjoy the pell-mell of colours and tasty delights in Kermel Market. Far from the effervescence of the city, Goree Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is known as a place of remembrance, having once been a slave trade outpost. On the other side of the plateau, the wild Madeleine Islands are protected by a national park. ...
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    Tuesday - Apr 8, 2025
    Day
    2
    • Vanimo, Papua New Guinea
    Some 20 kilometres off the coast of West Africa, the Bissau-Guinean archipelago of Bijagos is famous for its abundant biodiversity. The richness of its marine animal and plant life afforded it the status of Biosphere Reserve listed by UNESCO. Of the 88 islets and islands in the archipelago, only 23 are inhabited. At Maio, still called Chedia, and at Formosa, you can meet the Bijagos people and get to know their ancestral ways and customs. In this region, cut off from the rest of the world and secluded from Western influences, you'll discover how locals really live. ...
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    Wednesday - Apr 9, 2025
    Day
    3
    • Carache, Guinea-Bissau
    In the midst of a rich natural environment, you will enjoy a fascinating encounter with the Bijagos, who have been successful at taming their environment and preserving their ancestral way of life. Five villages provide a home for the island's few thousand inhabitants, who rely on a subsistence economy: they take from nature only what they need, they cultivate rice, breed chickens and pigs, fish on a small scale, and use all the parts of the oil palm. Cob huts with thatched roofs are the traditional dwellings. Among other things, you will be able to enjoy a wonderful show of authentic traditional dancing. ...
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    • Kere, Guinea-Bissau
    The private island of Kere is an unspoiled Eden, a one-hectare (two-acre) stretch of tropical forest in the heart of the Bijagos Islands. One original feature of this island is that a small, sustainable, and fair-trade ecotourism business was developed upon it. On the island's magnificent beach, a Frenchman has set up a business to show people around this exceptional natural environment or to take them out for some game fishing, particularly in search of tarpon, a fish weighing over a hundred kilos (220 pounds). The bungalows made from earth and straw blend into the idyllic setting and reflect the mindset of the islet's owner: authentic and respectful of nature and people. ...
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    Thursday - Apr 10, 2025
    Day
    4
    • Orango Island, Guinea-Bissau
    Some 20 kilometers off the coast of west Africa, the Bissau-Guinean archipelago of Bijagos is famous for its abundant biodiversity. The richness of its marine animal and plant life afforded it the status of Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO: dolphins, green tortoises, monkeys, striped antelopes, and hundreds of thousands of migrating birds find refuge here. Composed of five islands and several islets, Orango is the largest and most mysterious island in the archipelago. Its national park and marine protected area lie in the heart of the Biosphere Reserve. During your zodiac outings, you will set off to discover this preserved environment, home to the Bijago people, the true custodians of this sanctuary. ...
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    Friday - Apr 11, 2025
    Day
    5
    • Orango Island, Guinea-Bissau
    • Uno Island, Guinea-Bissau
    Covered in beautiful savannah, paddy fields, and lush forests, the island of Uno, or Ilha de Uno, is one of the most populated in the Bijagos archipelago. In its many villages, life follows the pace of the everyday scenes and traditions of the Bijago people. The lifestyle of these island people remains relatively untouched by colonial domination and external influences, and still honors animist beliefs and rites, such as the fanados, which are coming-of-age initiations for young men and women that involve them spending four months in the forest with the village elders. By sanctifying the natural environment, the islanders are protecting the archipelago's unique biodiversity. ...
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    Saturday - Apr 12, 2025
    Day
    6
    • Joao Vieira Island, Guinea-Bissau
    In the far south-east of the Bijagos Islands, Joao Vieira is a small unspoiled island in the Joao Vieira and Poilao Marine National Park. This park, where a number of sacred sites can be found, is home to a wonderful biodiversity. On the practically uninhabited island of Joao Vieira, the Bijagos have set up temporary camps for fishing or for collecting the fruit of oil palms. Like everywhere else in the archipelago, the local population displays ingenuity to adapt to this incredible environment. ...
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    • Cavalos Island, Guinea-Bissau
    A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the island of Cavalos is the second-largest nesting site in West Africa. Here you will be able to observe many bird species, including terns, in particular near the freshwater lake. Take a stroll on the beach full of shells, stretching all the way around the island's 6-kilometer (3.8-mile) circumference. Some rocks have mango trees growing on them, which just rise above the surface during high tide. The interior of the island, blanketed in palm trees and high grasses, is inhabited by a colony of wild pigs. ...
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    Sunday - Apr 13, 2025
    Day
    7
    • Bolama, Guinea-Bissau
    Bolama, the capital of Portuguese Guinea from the late 19th century to the end of the 1930s, is shrouded in the surreal and poetic atmosphere of a ghost town forgotten by time. Along the streets covered in ochre earth, the vestiges of neoclassical colonial buildings hint at what was once the sumptuous government palace or the governor's residence. Now neglected, this hard-to-reach natural harbour surrounded by mangrove swamps once served as an outpost for keeping a close eye on the Guinean population that had come to seek refuge on these remote islands of the Bissagos archipelago to escape their colonisers. ...
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    • Canhabaque Island, Guinea-Bissau
    Canhabaque Island, also known by the name Roxa, is covered in lush vegetation and boasts pretty beaches alternating with rocky formations. The first island in the archipelago to be inhabited, it is today home to a community of around 2,500 inhabitants, spread across various tabancas (rural villages). Long closed to tourism, it is considered the most traditional island in the whole archipelago in terms of customs and lifestyle. It competes with Caravela for the reputation of the most beautiful island. It has an animist and matrilineal society; women are highly predominant in the management and maintenance of balance in the tabancas. ...
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    Monday - Apr 14, 2025
    Day
    8
    • Caravela, Guinea-Bissau
    Dotted with authentic and wild landscapes, the Bijagos archipelago is a constellation of islands covered in savannah, forests of palm trees, mangrove trees, silk-cotton trees, baobabs and, in large part, mangrove swamps. From the island of Caravela, you will be able to set out in a Zodiac dinghy to explore the mangrove and observe the African grey hornbill, palm-nut vulture, kingfisher, weaverbird, and some of the many species that fly to this region each year. It is the second-most important site for migratory birds in West Africa, after Banc d'Arguin in Mauritania: herons, curlews, red-chested swallows. In full immersion, far from the beaten track, your discovery of the archipelago will take on an air of adventure. ...
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    Tuesday - Apr 15, 2025
    Day
    9
    Dakar, Senegal
    • Dakar, Senegal
    On the tip of the African continent, the buzzing capital of Senegal stretches along the narrow peninsula of Cape Verde. You may be overwhelmed by its sheer size, but Dakar will win you over with its richly diverse districts, appealing cultural scene, and rich natural surroundings. In the historic center, you'll enjoy the pell-mell of colours and tasty delights in Kermel Market. Far from the effervescence of the city, Goree Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is known as a place of remembrance, having once been a slave trade outpost. On the other side of the plateau, the wild Madeleine Islands are protected by a national park. ...
    Read More
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