By accident we found a really beautiful place in the eastern part of Guinea Bissau. Our guide book (7 years old lonely planet) had a little symbol on the map without specifying what it was; it looked like a hut so we thought about some kind of accommodation and took the turn off.
We drove through a beautiful forest, a bit spooky even in some parts, until the forest opened and we came to a big wide open area with a river and rocks and potholes, grass and forests around - really beautiful. We stopped and had a nice walk/run over the rocks, cooling our feet off in the little pools. The dogs loved it too and had a good run and Lara even fell in one of the mud pools! It was fun and we decided to spend the night there.

We then saw a group of people a bit further up and drove over to see what was happening. It was a group of people who came for a few days for the 1st May party (Labour Day) which is a big event in Guinea Bissau! People took days off and had lots of parties all over the country, with music and beer and self-made cashew-liquor. Very cool atmosphere and those people had been there for a few days already (unfortunately that was obvious by the rubbish piles around their place).

We camped in another area (a bit further away from them where it was quieter and cleaner) and started a little camp fire and the preparations for the night. We are now quite good in setting up our camp and getting ready before dark. I really enjoy sleeping in the car, we have built a good system between 2 rows of seats and a plastic table with shortened legs in the middle and a big mattress on top – we have quite a big bed and can really stretch out which is very good and important, especially when it is hot and you need space around you and don’t really want to touch anything/anyone. The dogs have their own bed and like it too.

We had coffee at the river the next morning, went fishing (unsuccessfully so far) and enjoyed that beautiful place a bit more, including funny zebra-like fish in the pools.

Ja, that was really cool. Definitely a good spot and next time we see that symbol on one of the other lonely planet maps we will probably take that turn off again.