Day 31/32 - 2/3rd April Morning on Rubane Island, then to the mainland and flight home

Photo above - early morning on Rubane Island, starting my final day in West Africa. Photos to follow below

Back to the mainland

After a relaxing morning on the islands, and a light lunch, we sailed the 2 hours back to the capital Bissau on the mainland. The crossing was very smooth, and as we were crossing we saw a couple of ferries packed with people going out to the island we went to yesterday to see the mask dance. We also saw a large boat that had overturned, having presumably hit a submerged rock, because most of it was still above water despite being in the middle of the ocean.

Back to the reality of war and protest

On arrival at the container dock in Bissau, we got a minivan to drive out to the airport, about 15 minutes away. On the way we saw huge queues of traffic waiting for fuel at petrol stations. Obviously due to the Iran war, at least one garage had a gate across the forecourt entrance because they had run out of fuel!

We saw an increased police and army presence in the city. This is because of the murder/assassination of a social media activist near the city on the 31st March, the day we first arrived there !!

Final hours in Africa

I was dropped at the small international airport in the capital to catch a 6.15pm flight to Lisbon, Portugal. The flight distance of 1900 miles should take a little over 4 hours, getting in late in the evening. The airport has only been open for 3 weeks, has 3 departure gates only, and I was second in the queue through security in the middle of the day. There appeared to be only two flights leaving today, and one of them had departed, leaving just mine. There is one place to buy food, one toilet, and everything is in one room! I like it! On my arrival at the airport, the staff outnumbered the passengers, who numbered three!

Unusually, after going through the departure gate, there was a further passport check by local police, and when I got on the plane the cabin crew asked where I was from! The plane departed slightly late as apparently two people were not allowed on the plane, and there luggage had to be removed, however there was no problem finding a new window for our departure as we were the only flight leaving!

The flight arrived in Lisbon just before midnight, then there was a lot of hanging around in the airport for my 8am flight back to Bristol.

Reflections on West Africa

West Africa has been hot and humid, friendly and frustrating, colourful and chaotic, dusty and dry, poor and beguiling. My favourite parts have always been the village visits to see the amazing traditional dances and ceremonies, and the smiling welcome we always received, along with the random interactions on the streets with people who often had nothing, but would share their time, or in one case, a bottle of wine, with you.

West Africa has its own rules relating to the measurement of time, to the fulfillment of requests, and to the quality that is deemed acceptable. Agreeing to something happening at 9.30am just means that at some point before noon it may happen. Ordering meal A does not mean they actually have that meal, but they will happily bring you meal B, and be surprised that you are surprised! Arranging a car and a driver, does not guarantee that said car will not, lose a door, have broken air conditioning, or have a fuel leak. And there are always 3 or 4 locals to help or give an opinion, whether asked for or not. Perfect strangers will leap to their feet from where they had been sitting against a wall, and offer to help you reverse out on to a busy road, whilst arguing with two other people trying to do the same thing!

Road surfaces are so bad that 20mph average speed is optimistic. Dirt roads are dreadfully rutted as a result of the rainy season when some become unusable. Tarmac roads are not repaired, break up, and go back to dirt roads with the few remaining lumps of tarmac becoming something to drive around. At least three of the countries I visited are in the top 20 poorest in the world. There is also blatant corruption in several countries.

Despite all this, it has been a fascinating, gratifying, interesting, colourful, eye opening trip. Now for a long lie down.