Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
or assisting a handicrafts group. Whatever you
choose to do, you'll find yourself the guest of
honour at a village feast once the task is done.
And like so many other days on this trip, you'll
be dancing with the villagers to the rhythms of
their drums long after the sun has set.
157 BoATIng THE BolongS,
SEnEgAl
For many years civil war kept outsiders from
visiting Basse Casamance, a fertile strip of
southwestern Senegal. It's a shame, as despite
its recent troubles, and the ongoing presence of
the army for reasons of security, the region is a
tropical idyll unspoiled by mass tourism. One of
the big draws is the bolongs - river tributaries
with mangroves growing on small islands, which
create a network of green tunnels. Birds build
their nests in the mangroves' branches, oysters
grow in their roots and fish flourish in this
submarine ecosystem.
On the week-long “Villages, Bolongs and
Beaches” trip through the region with Help
Travel, your journey starts in Ziguinchor, a
multicultural harbour town where you can
watch stevedores hauling crates of mangoes and
bananas onto boats in the port. You'll then head
east along the river on a handcrafted canoe,
piloted by a local guide, past flocks of flamingos
and stands of purple jacaranda. On occasions
you'll stop for a visit to rural villages where,
thanks to the many community development
programmes that Help Travel undertakes, you
and your local guides will be greeted like friends.
Towards the end of the trip guests get involved
in these programmes themselves and spend a
day working alongside some of the villagers -
perhaps constructing a well, working in a school
Need to know
Minibuses depart daily from
Tambacounda to Ziguinchor - most leaving early
- or you can catch a twice-weekly ferry from Dakar.
Accommodation is in local guesthouses and family
homes. For details of itineraries, lodging and rates,
and to customize your own itinerary, visit
W
www.
helptravel.org;
T
+221 775 160 653.
158 SnorkEl Around CHuMBE
ISlAnd, zAnzIBAr
In the turquoise waters around Chumbe Island
Coral Park, 6km off the west coast of Zanzibar,
there are around four hundred species of fish
and two hundred species of stone coral. Quite
simply, this tropical island nature reserve is
home to one of the world's richest coral gardens.
On day-trips to the reserve from Zanzibar,
you can follow snorkelling trails along Chumbe
Island's shallow reef (fishing and scuba
diving are prohibited in the reserve's waters,
though you can dive neighbouring reefs). On
land several nature trails comb through the
island's protected coral-rag forest (home to
pied kingfishers, fish eagles and peregrine
falcons) and you can climb to the top of Chumbe
Lighthouse. Though there are no beaches as
such, it's possible to walk all around it at low
tide, when you can poke around rock pools for
crabs and starfish.
But the best thing about Chumbe is that you
can stay the night on the island in beautifully
designed bandas (two-tiered bungalows) with
thatched palm roofs. Rainwater is collected and
stored in cisterns under the floors of the bandas,
where it's heated by solar power to feed the
showers and basins. The clever design of the
roofs ensures that there's plenty of ventilation
- though you can detach a removable side-wall
The Bolongs - river tributaries
with mangroves growing on
small islands - are unspoiled by
mass tourism
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