Qualla: Orango National Park https://qualla.com/orango-national-park en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/e/9/u/x/orango-national-park-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Orango National Park https://qualla.com/orango-national-park Orango National Park: Introduction https://qualla.com/orango-national-park/ Photo credit Joehawkins, CC BY-SA 4.0. Hippopotamuses are not supposed to live in the sea. Yet on the islands of Orango National Park, in the southern reaches of Guinea-Bissau's Bijagós Archipelago, a small population of them moves through brackish channels and salt water, fording tidal flats between freshwater pools. There are perhaps two hundred of these animals here, smaller than their inland cousins, and they are the reason much of the world has heard of this remote scatter of mangrove islands at all. The park was established in December 2000 to protect them, and the maze of water, palm savanna, and tidal forest they depend on.

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Image: Joehawkins | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/9/u/x/orango-national-park-wp/e9ux-orango-national-park-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Orango National Park: The Hippos That Took to the Sea https://qualla.com/orango-national-park/ Photo credit Joehawkins, CC BY-SA 4.0. Orango's hippos are among the few populations on Earth known to swim in salt water and graze along ocean shores. They are not a separate species, but they have adapted to a place where fresh water is scarce and the tide rules everything. By day they shelter in inland pools and cr...

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Image: Joehawkins | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/9/u/x/orango-national-park-wp/e9ux-orango-national-park-the-hippos-that-took-to-the-sea.mp3 0:06 2 full Orango National Park: Where Women Hold the Land https://qualla.com/orango-national-park/ Photo credit Joehawkins, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Bijagó who live across the archipelago organise their society along matrilineal lines, and on Orango the pattern runs deep. Women choose their husbands, own the houses and the land, and govern much of village life. Spiritual authority rests with priestesses who tend the sacre...

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Image: Joehawkins | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/9/u/x/orango-national-park-wp/e9ux-orango-national-park-where-women-hold-the-land.mp3 0:06 3 full Orango National Park: Queen Okinka Pampa https://qualla.com/orango-national-park/ Photo credit Joehawkins, CC BY-SA 4.0. In the village of Eticoga stands the mausoleum of Okinka Pampa, remembered as the last great queen of the Bijagó. Ruling Orango in the early decades of the twentieth century, she is credited with abolishing slavery on the islands, widening the rights of women, and shielding her p...

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Image: Joehawkins | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/9/u/x/orango-national-park-wp/e9ux-orango-national-park-queen-okinka-pampa.mp3 0:06 4 full Orango National Park: A Country of Mangrove and Tide https://qualla.com/orango-national-park/ Photo credit Joehawkins, CC BY-SA 4.0. About 160 square kilometres of the park are mangrove, and those flooded forests are its hidden engine. Their roots cradle the young of molluscs, fish, and sea turtles, feeding a food web that reaches far beyond the islands. On higher ground, oil palms rise above savanna shrub and...

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Image: Joehawkins | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/9/u/x/orango-national-park-wp/e9ux-orango-national-park-a-country-of-mangrove-and-tide.mp3 0:06 5 full