Buba

Buba sits on the Rio Grande de Buba in southern Guinea-Bissau, a tidal inlet deep enough that ocean-going ships once came up it, and the town was a trading point for that reason. It is quiet now, a market town serving the region with the Cufada lagoons nearby and Cantanhez forest to the west. Manatees are recorded in the river and mangrove lines the banks. The inlet is one of the deepest natural waterways in West Africa and proposals to build a port here have come and gone for decades. Mangrove covers most of the shoreline around the town.

History

The area was once part of the Biafada kingdom of Biguba, which gave the town its name, though the town only became prominent in the 19th century; from the early 1840s to the late 1870s it was the most important commercial centre in Portuguese Guinea. Fighting in Forria in the late 19th century, when Fula forces attacked Buba in search of slaves who had fled there, brought the peanut trade down and ruined the town's economy (Wikipedia, Buba).

What's there

• The tidal river - the deep inlet that ships once came up.
• The market - the trading centre for the southern region.
• The mangrove banks - the vegetation lining the river.
• The base function - the point for Cufada and Cantanhez.

When to go

November to May is the dry season and the roads are best. The rains from June make travel difficult. Market days are busiest.

Before you go

There is little arranged for visitors and facilities are basic. The road from Bissau is slow. Manatee sightings are extremely rare.

Nearby

Cufada is nearby, and Cantanhez is west.

Key facts