We want to present you with a different tourism proposal, a new way of understanding tourism that is spreading throughout the world thanks to a society that is increasingly aware of the need to establish a more sustainable relationship with the planet's resources and with its inhabitants. with whom we share it.

El Orango Parque Hotel It is much more than a tourist establishment, it is a project of Responsible tourism and sustainable that makes tourism compatible with biodiversity conservation.

It is located in Guinea-Bissau, a country where we find a combination of exoticism and mysticism that captivates. An enjoyment that comes from knowing its people and delving into its culture.

Guinea Bissau is located south of Senegal, bathed by the Atlantic Ocean, where the Bijagós Islands (where the Orango hotel is located). A country the size of Switzerland but with a population seven times smaller.

The majority of its population is of an animist religion, a fact that explains the close relationship between the local fauna and flora and its culture. A manifestation of its traditions is the Orango Carnival, a festival of great cultural interest, full of color and symbolism.

A nearby paradise, islands that have managed to maintain their traditions and offer themselves to the visitor authentically, just as they are, with their postcard landscapes, warm and comforting.

Twenty of the eighty-eight islands that make it up are inhabited, as is the case of the islands of Orango, Bubaque, Uno or Canhabaque, but many others are sacred and therefore remain uninhabited.

For the Bigajó ethnic group, the soil is sacred and does not belong to anyone, it belongs to everyone. They live from fishing (very abundant), from growing rice, collecting mollusks, and from palm trees, which they climb to exploit the sap and fruits from which palm oil is extracted.

El Orango National Park It was created in 1998 and covers an area of ​​more than 150.000 hectares in the Bijagós Archipelago, off the continental coast of Guinea Bissau.

It was the first protected area declared in Guinea Bissau and, without a doubt, it is one of the places with the greatest biodiversity in the country and in Western Africa.

The main reason for its declaration as a national park was to house the westernmost population of the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). Hippos that have adapted to living between the fresh waters of the islands' lagoons and the salt waters of the channels between the islands.

But there is much more, a multitude of species of birds, manatees, monkeys, two species of crocodiles and up to five species of sea turtles choose the Orango National Park to lay their eggs. A concrete example: the sacred islet of Poilao is one of the most important places in Africa for the nesting of the green turtle.

The Orango hotel is making the enormous ecotourism potential of Guinea Bissau known to the rest of the world, continuously researching the cultural, historical and natural values ​​of the region and designing, based on them, new tourist products. And, of course, listening to the population of the Orango National Park about their needs, so that together we can ensure that tourism activity has an impact on an effective and sustainable improvement in the quality of life of the local population.

It is managed by the Associacao Guiné Bissau Orango, a non-profit entity that participates in a project to develop ecotourism in the country's National Parks.

The hotel reverts its profits into development cooperation microprojects that directly benefit the local population of the Orango National Park. These projects are chosen at the initiative of the beneficiaries themselves. Until now, special emphasis has been placed on health and education issues.

However, the hotel has another even more notable positive impact on its surroundings, which is the creation of numerous jobs, making an excellent contribution to local development and valuing natural resources, highlighting that their conservation is more useful. than unsustainable exploitation.

In operation since 2005, the proposal continues to develop and evolve with a line that is increasingly committed to responsible and sustainable tourism, which is making it possible to make accessible a destination endowed with landscape and ecological characteristics that make it unique, accompanied by a culture authentic local, with people of friendly and hospitable character, and an overflowing nature as a backdrop.

A real project ecotourism that brings you closer to the reality of local culture with knowledge and respect.

Orango is waiting for you, do you feel his call?

A abrazo.