A former colonial trading post at the mouth of the Casamance, Carabane is reached by pirogue: an island with no cars, between mangrove, beach and forgotten buildings.
Carabane was the first French settlement in Casamance, in the mid-nineteenth century, and long remained the region’s main port. The Breton-style church, the old trading house and the small cemetery still tell that story.
The island is reached by motorised pirogue from the fishing village of Elinkine, crossing bolongs lined with mangrove. Once there, everything is done on foot: there are no cars and no tarred roads.
Between the beach, the orchards, the pirogues coming home at dusk and the silence, Carabane is as much a place to rest as a step back into Casamance history.
Photo: Ji-Elle, domaine public
