Bubaque

Bubaque is the hub of the Bijagós and the only island in the archipelago the scheduled ferry reaches, which makes it the door everybody comes through. The port village has guesthouses, a few bars and the boatmen who run everything onward. A sand track crosses the island to Praia Bruce, a long empty beach backed by palms on the southern shore. Bijagó villages inland keep a matriarchal society and initiation rites that outsiders very rarely witness. The ferry timetable rather than any plan of their own tends to decide how long people end up staying.