Ponte Biambo and an epic ride to Aman Jungle Camp

I rode from Gorilla Groupo to the northern point of Ponte Biambo for a wild camp, the ride was good with the road turning into a single track to the beach at the point. The following text describes the camp and yet more adventures!

The wild camp at Ponte Biambo was excellent, i arrived in good time to make a campfire from the plentiful supply of bone dry driftwood and cooked my meal, made coffee and enjoyed the company of the fire, I didn’t need the heat as it was still very hot so I sat by the fire and watched the world go by. 

There were fishermen returning home from a days work who all waved and shouted greetings as they sailed past, various birds, kingfishers, vultures, storks and colourful birds of paradise in bright red, yellow and green vivid colours.

As I was preparing camp for sleep I met a local man, probably in his early sixties, who was hunting pigs with a really old what appeared to be a black powder flintlock rifle. He was careful it didn’t point in my direction ( I was pleased with his cautionary action) and we exchanged a few words in broken French. Following that interaction I got into my tent and had a good nights sleep despite the old and very weathered lighthouse still being in operation!

Last evening I had observed many storks making their way home after a days fishing and was visited by a flock of vultures who closely inspected my camp after my exit for my evening walk along the coast, it was a little strange to be honest, I must smell a little bad!!

I woke early for a comfort break and noticed a couple of head torches coming around the peninsula, they went off into the village maybe hunters or night fishers, I don’t really know?

First thing this morning a local couple came over and asked for water, I gave them what I had in a bottle, they drank it all and left with the bottle, I was glad to be of service and it was a small price to pay for a very nice evening.

The vultures were back (did they actually leave? Gulp!) and the storks were swimming back to feed, I expect it’s a daily occurrence and I noted to myself that it was nice to have seen the full cycle of their daily routine.

Leaving last nights wild camp at Ponte Biambo was quick and relatively easy. The ride out was 21 miles of sand road and despite the occasional difficult section the ride went well. Right at the end there was glass all over the road, last night there was an accident where a 4X4 and a local bus had a head on collision, both vehicles were badly damaged and left at the side of the road, it didn’t look good.

Back on tarmac towards Bissau and turning away from the city to head South I thankfully miss most of the traffic and skirt around Bissau. 

I have set my self quite a goal today, I’m heading for Camp Aman in the south of Guinea Bissau, it’s a remote jungle camp and I have a six hour ride ahead of me so I get my head down and do the job in hand.

Road conditions are relatively good for most of the ride but I have a couple of off road sections to negotiate. The first is about 50K and is OK, I manage good speed on this section often similar to the usual tarmac road speed which helped to count down the miles.

The main road is strewn with potholes, all of which are impossible to avoid, I clatter through some and avoid most which is a relief.

The last section is marked as unpaved road out onto the southern peninsula of the Country, Some sections are wide and fast and others are narrow, with water and deep gullies and slower but I make good progress and I’m about 40K from the camp. I have to take a left onto another unpaved road but I just cannot find the turning, so I ask a local who points me to a small track between the mud huts. 

‘Are you sure’ I ask? The guy is sure so I take the ‘track’ well to be honest it’s a footpath through the jungle, there is the occasional double track but mostly I’m dragging both handlebars through the dense and encroaching jungle, the path is obviously well used but hell what am I in for now?

The path runs through dense vegetation and drops into waterholes and mud patches, the bike is well suited to this and I make steady progress through the jungle. 

A couple of turns pass and the track widens, you would just about get a 4X4 down here if you didn’t worry about the paint! The track continues to deteriorate as the miles roll on, I’m not short of time so I ride to survive! At one point a Toyota Land rouser comes in the opposite direction, he is having a hard time and the cruiser fills the whole track. I have to ride into the jungle to let him pass, it’s not so easy to get back out either!

The track is now truly terrible, how on earth they mange here on this road I will never know, I have many pictures to demonstrate this too, but to be honest it really is very hard going, the sun is blazing above the high canopy and I’m soaked to the skin in the hot and humid jungle. I have a couple of moments where the bike almost goes down on the slippery surface but somehow I manage to hang on, I’m muddy and wet and the bike is ploughing through the worst conditions I think it’s ever seen, but the little CRF soldiers on regardless, what a perfect machine for this journey. 

I’m running very low tyre pressures which helps a lot but I’m careful not to give it too much as I am not using rim locks, a more powerful bike would have probably spun the tyre on the rim by now and I would have had that to deal with too, it’s useful that the bike is not so aggressive.

Many reptiles run across and along the tracks in front of me, there are some impressive lizards over here, some are almost a metre long and boy can they move fast! I nearly hit a goat, a pig and several chickens throughout the day at one point a green parrot nearly hit my helmet, but thankfully they all escaped unscathed, me too!

It really is hard to describe how hard the riding is in these conditions but as ever I’m just getting on with it, there are sections you would never believe navigable but somehow I get through and thankfully I don’t drop the bike, some of the wet sections see water coming over the front wheel and I enjoy the coolness of the water and conversely wonder what pathogens I could be taking on board!

The track appears to go on forever, I pass through small settlements where almost everyone waves or shouts a greeting (well I think it’s a greeting!) Eventually I find the end and locate the camp. There’s no one around!

Parking the bike I search for staff and find a Spanish guest (the only guest I might add) who thinks I’m German, he has a little English and we pass the time of day and he shows his frustration about the camp too. He went to view the monkeys but said it was really difficult and not worth the money. He arrived by the same road on a 125cc Motorcycle taxi, he didn’t travel very far but the journey took six hours! He graphically explained that it was very challenging!!

I still don’t have a room so I walk into the village and buy water and an energy drink, the only cold thing I could find, I asked for a beer at the camp but apparently there’s none available despite the Spanish fella having just had one!

So back at camp and sat around waiting, I got fed up and decided to sort the situation out. They are frustrated that I don’t speak French, Spanish or Portuguese, I’m a little frustrated that we can’t communicate and I I need a room to shower, get changed and sleep. Eventually a teacher arrives from the local school, an English teacher too!

I explain that I want a room, they want me to take the most expensive room at 25000  CFA and I say I want the cheapest one for 10,000, if I can’t have that then I will leave and sleep in the jungle! It’s obvious I’m not moving on this so they let me have the whole block of 10,000 CFA rooms for my requested price! This is Africa at its best.

I decide to eat here tonight, I have food but their offering sounds good, I hope it’s as good as they say!

I showered with a dribble of water which stopped halfway through so I’m covered in soap and nothing! Eventually the dribble came back and I was able to finish my cleansing, I washed my clothes )which were pretty grim to be honest) I had wanted to wash my sleeping bag and mat too but it’s not going to happen here, just not enough water. I will have to clean my bag soon, I’ve been sleeping in it for over a month and dripping with sweat almost every night! It has a certain aroma which I don’t think is very sociable so that is high on my list at the moment. At least I wild camp quite a bit so there’s no one to complain but myself. It does smell quite bad though...

With everything sorted I’m here for the evening and move on early in the morning, the meal was lovely too and I got a cold beer which was a bonus, there was beer all along! I ate with the Spaniard and we chatted about our travels, he’s been to pretty much the same places as me with the odd exception which made for an interesting and informative evening.

There is only one road in and out of here so I have that to deal with all over again tomorrow, at least I will be fresh and ready to tackle the challenge. The Spaniard has another Moto taxi booked for the morning so if I’m up in time I might tag along for the ride, it could be fun!!

i can’t seem to post more than four photos so I will have to catch up with folks later if you want to see more!

Nicks bike at Gorilla Groupo, check out the front brake!! An old XT600, a rare sight out here in Bissau.

The road to Ponte Biambo in Guinea Bissau. Always smiling! Well nearly always….

I made coffee and cooked my meal in true wild camp style, the old lighthouse was still operational.

The vultures waited patiently, they were back in the morning too, or did they ever leave?? Gulp!

The sunset was one for the memory bank, one of many.