Reforestation · Environmental commitment · Casamance
Plant a Tree in Casamance at Le Papayer Ecolodge
On our seafront hectare at Cap Skirring, facing the ocean and the beach, we plant real trees and real flowers every year. Here is the map of the forest — and you can plant your own.
The forest from above
A drone view of our hectare, from the garden all the way to the ocean.
Kibalaou, “the little forest”
The other day, I ran into my former gardener. For years he walked by my side; he knew Le Papayer Ecolodge in its very first days, when there was almost nothing here. He gazed at the trees for a long moment, then said to me, very softly:
“It has become a forest.”
Just a few words. But from him, they held a whole lifetime.
Le Papayer was born on a narrow strip of land, between the rice paddies and the sea. The elders called it Kibalaou — “the little forest,” in kutail, the Diola dialect of Djiembering. It was a place you passed through: to reach the beach, the grown-ups would take the children by the hand and cross this canopy of trees where wild animals still lived. You moved through the shade, you listened closely, you stayed a little wary — the forest was alive.
Then came the axes, the felling of timber, the pressure of people — ever more numerous, ever more hurried. The little forest declined. One by one, the animals left to seek silence and shade elsewhere. Kibalaou was nothing more than a name.
So we planted. One tree, then ten, then hundreds — for the memory of the little forest, and so that one day children might once again cross the shade down to the sea. The day my gardener said “it has become a forest,” I understood that Kibalaou was being reborn.
The grounds lie at Cap Skirring, in Lower Casamance (southern Senegal), between the rice paddies and the Atlantic Ocean: one hectare, roughly 80 m of sea frontage and 125 m deep. Discover Casamance. State of the forest — updated: September 2026.
Real & virtual. The illustrated landscape evokes our real plantings, funded by an annual budget of Le Papayer Ecolodge. Below, planting is a virtual gesture: your tree or flower appears on screen, on the grounds, with your name. But it can become very real: guests who wish to do so plant, during their stay, a real tree or a real flower on site — with their children or not. By staying at Le Papayer Ecolodge, you help the real forest of Casamance grow. On the ground, the capture of CO₂ is very real: plants absorb it through photosynthesis as they grow.
Cap Skirring · Casamance
The Forest
of Le Papayer Ecolodge.
Between rice paddies and ocean, a small living world. Your planting has its place here.
- Trees & palms
- Flower beds
- Your planting
A garden that grows with you
Every gesture leaves a trace.
Choose a tree or a flower and watch your planting take its place in the landscape.
🌿 The calendar of the living in Casamance
What blooms, fruits, or is planted as the seasons turn — and what you can choose from for your own plant, just below.
November – January
Cool dry season
- 🌸 Bougainvillea dazzling bloom
- 🌼 Frangipani fragrant flowers
- 🌸 Desert rose the adenium in bloom
- 🥭 Mango tree in flower
- 🌳 Vène (African rosewood) the rosewood
February – April
Hot dry season
- 🌺 Hibiscus bright red
- 🌸 Ixora blazing clusters
- 🌼 Lantana shades of orange
- 🌳 Kapok tree the sacred giant
- 🌴 Coconut palm the seashore
May – June
Before the rainy season
- 🌼 Allamanda yellow trumpets
- 🌼 Jasmine evening fragrance
- 🌳 Flame tree red bloom
- 🌰 Cashew tree cashew apple
- 🌴 Rônier (African fan palm) iconic palm
July – October
Rainy season (the rains)
- 🌺 Heliconia red of the rains
- 🌸 Plumbago sky blue
- 🌳 Baobab plant during the rains
- 🌳 Kaïcedra (Senegal mahogany) plant during the rains
- 🌴 Papaya tree our emblem
🌱 Plant your tree or your flower
Choose a species and dedicate your virtual planting to a name and a date.
Photo and species profile
With this tree, you'll earn:
Leave your email: we'll get back to you to arrange the real planting at Le Papayer Ecolodge.
Your garden, your points
Your turn to grow the forestCarbon
0game points
Your trees and flowers move this score forward.
One tree: +200
One flower: +5
Biodiversity
0game points
Your flowers put pollinators in the spotlight.
One flower: +20
A score dedicated to living things
Virtual game: the points are educational, with no equivalence in kilos of CO₂ absorbed and no carbon credits.
Physical planting: a tree or flowering plant really does capture CO₂ as it grows. This real effect depends on its growth and its environment; the game's points do not quantify it.
Trees and flowers: why two scores?
The proportional approach — the Carbon score. A tree earns 200 points; a flower, 5 points. This difference highlights the tree's role in the game while still giving a small reward for every flower. It's a playful scale, not a measured ratio between their carbon-storage capacities.
The thematic approach — the Biodiversity score. Each flower also earns 20 points on a separate counter. In nature, well-suited flowers can provide nectar and pollen to pollinating insects. Their value therefore goes beyond carbon alone.
From the virtual to a physical planting. On the ground, plants really do capture CO₂ through photosynthesis. A tree stores carbon in its wood and roots as it grows. Flowering plants also capture CO₂; well-suited flowers can additionally feed pollinators. Trees contribute to biodiversity too. The game highlights these roles; its points do not measure the real capture, which depends on the species and the growing conditions.
Points are awarded only once per virtual planting and stay tied to the plantings saved on this device. Finding a planting on the map or reloading the page earns no extra points. Your previous plantings are counted automatically.
Ecological references: INRAE — photosynthesis and real CO₂ capture · INRAE — trees and carbon storage · FAO — flowers and pollination. The points scale is specific to this game.
Your plantings
- You haven't planted anything yet… put down the first sprout!
Why we plant: a forest to pass on
In Casamance, the forest is not a backdrop: it is living infrastructure. The kapok tree, a giant that is sometimes sacred, anchors the soil with its buttress roots; the vène, that precious rosewood, is a legume that helps keep the soil fertile. By the sea, where the African sun scorches everything, these trees are vital: they cast shade, hold in the cool and the morning dew, and offer a habitat for birds. Yet these species are now among the most threatened: illegal logging and the international timber trade, together with the demand for fuelwood, are eating away at forests once thought to be protected. To cut down a tree here is not merely to lose wood: it is to weaken a soil, a climate — and sometimes to erase a sacred grove, that is, a part of a culture.
That is why felling trees is now strictly regulated here — even on private property — and can be punished with a fine by the Water and Forests service. Here, we plant; we do not cut. And every tree is put into the ground at a carefully calculated spot: a small sapling today may become a majestic giant, and it needs room to grow.
This forest belongs first of all to future generations. That is why we plant real trees and real flowers every year — and why we invite the youngest to do the same, so they grasp how fragile this inheritance is. Against the axe, every tree returned to the earth is a gesture. Choose your species, plant it in our forest, and discover the ones that make Casamance so rich: it is already a way of understanding why they must be defended.
A people of the forest
The Diola are a people deeply bound to the forest: rice farmers and gatherers, they know each of its species — and know it far better than the sea. Their world, their food, their spirits — everything comes from the trees. This intimacy shows even in the way they find their bearings: in Casamance, there is almost always a village nestled beneath tall trees, often kapoks. These giants rise from the bush like green sentinels you aim for from afar: before maps and GPS, it was on them that people relied to know where they were. In Casamance, you navigate by the trees.
The forest that heals: plants, bark and mystical baths
In Casamance, the forest is also a pharmacy. The Diola have always drawn from it a knowledge passed down by the elders and traditional healers: the bark of the caïlcédrat (the kaïcedra), long used in traditional remedies, the decoction of baobab bark, the leaves of the nguer, the roots and fruits of many other trees. Each species has its use — remedy, herbal tea, poultice — and this knowledge lives in people's memory as much as in the trees themselves.
There is also the invisible. The Diola prepare mystical baths from bark and roots — to purify themselves, to protect themselves, to call on luck or to calm the spirit before life's great milestones. The forest is not only wood: it is a place of healing and of the sacred. To make it disappear is therefore not only to lose trees — it is to lose a medicine, a memory and a part of the soul. By replanting, we keep this living pharmacy alive.
These uses belong to traditional pharmacopoeia and local culture; they are not a substitute for medical advice or treatment.
The sacred grove: initiation and secrecy
Some groves, in Diola country, are not to be entered: they are sacred. It is there that the Bukut takes place, the great initiation of the boys. Every twenty to thirty years — sometimes longer — the villages announce the ceremony, and the young men withdraw into the sacred grove, away from all eyes. What is passed on there stays secret; all that is known is that you enter as a child and come out a man, with a name, a place in the community and the right to start a family. All around, the village dances, masked, to the rhythm of the drums.
The women, for their part, have their own sacred grove — forbidden to men, just as the men's is to women. There they celebrate their rites, fertility and protection, in a space no outsider ever crosses. These reserved groves are often among the last islands of forest never cut: the rule of secrecy and respect has protected, without even meaning to, an untouched nature. To fell these trees would be to erase, in a single stroke, a belief, a memory and a refuge for the living. It is also for them that we replant.
🎧 Listen to the ambient sound: a traditional ceremony in Casamance
Go further
Explore Casamance & Le Papayer Ecolodge
🏡 Le Papayer Ecolodge
Our eco-friendly ecolodge, 100% self-sufficient, on the seafront at Cap Skirring: stay, dining and booking.
📖 Discover Casamance
The complete guide to southern Senegal: nature, mangroves, Diola culture, traditions and travel tips.
⚡ The ecolodge's off-grid self-sufficiency
Solar and wind, 100% off-grid: preserving the forest is part of the same commitment to respecting the living world.
🛶 Immersive excursions in Casamance
Guided outings: pirogue trips through the bolongs, 4x4 safari, sport fishing, Diola villages and kitesurfing.
🌊 The mangrove and bolongs of Casamance
Mangrove trees, fish nursery, threats and the replanting of this vital ecosystem.
🌳 The forests and sacred groves of Casamance
Exceptional flora, classified forests, sacred groves and sustainable resource management.
🎣 Fishing and the villages of Casamance
Small-scale fishing, major landing sites and the life of the fishing villages.
🐢 Ecological protection and biodiversity in Casamance
Ecosystems, protected areas and the conservation of a biodiversity unique to Casamance.
📔 The story of our excursions in Casamance
Our travel journal: stories and images from our outings in Casamance.
🎬 Our 7 excursions in Casamance on video
Seven filmed experiences, from the ghost hotel of Djiromait to the pelicans of the mangrove.
Frequently asked questions about our environmental approach
What is the difference between virtual planting and real planting?
The interactive map on this page is a playful tool, ideal for awakening children and adults alike to ecology. The real action, though, takes place on our hectare: during your stay at Le Papayer Ecolodge, you plant a native or fruit tree with your own hands. It is recorded in our register and you follow its growth, for future generations.
Which native tree species can be planted in Casamance?
We favour the species of the Lower Casamance biotope: the kapok tree (the landmark tree of the villages), the kaïcedra (Senegal mahogany), the vène (a precious wood threatened by logging), the baobab, the flame tree, as well as fruit trees that are vital for wildlife — mango, papaya, cashew.
What is “Kibalaou” and why protect it?
Kibalaou means “the little forest” in kutail, the Diola dialect of Djiembering. This wooded cover once linked the rice paddies to the sea, at Cap Skirring. By replanting it, we fight coastal deforestation and recreate an ecological corridor essential to biodiversity.
Why is the forest so important in Diola culture?
In Lower Casamance, the forest is a sanctuary: the sacred groves shelter the Bukut, the great initiation rite, and provide the traditional pharmacopoeia (bark, roots, mystical baths). To fell the forest is to destroy both biodiversity and a part of Diola identity.
What is the best season to plant a tree in Senegal?
The ideal period is the rainy season, from July to late October: the abundant rains ensure that young shoots take root well. The rest of the year, nursery care and some plantings continue thanks to our ecological water management.
Where is the Le Papayer Ecolodge Forest?
The Papayer Forest is on the hectare of Le Papayer Ecolodge, at Cap Skirring, in Lower Casamance (southern Senegal), on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. The grounds stretch between the rice paddies and the sea, with about 80 metres of ocean frontage and 125 metres of depth.
Can you plant a real tree at Le Papayer Ecolodge?
Yes. During your stay, you can plant a fruit tree or a native species with your own hands on our grounds. It is recorded in our register and carries a plaque engraved with your name; you follow its growth over your successive stays, for future generations. As it grows, this tree really does capture CO₂ and store carbon. The amount depends on the species and the growing conditions; it is not measured by the game's points.
How are my Carbon and Biodiversity points calculated?
Each virtual tree earns 200 Carbon points. Each virtual flower earns 5 Carbon points and 20 Biodiversity points. The two scores are separate and are calculated from the plantings saved on this device, including previous ones. Each planting counts only once: reloading the page or finding it on the map adds no points. Clearing your plantings also resets your scores to zero.
Do the game's points correspond to CO₂ actually absorbed?
The Carbon and Biodiversity points reward only participation in the virtual game; they do not measure kilos of CO₂ absorbed and are not carbon credits. A physical planting, by contrast, really does capture CO₂ through photosynthesis as it grows. This real effect varies with the plants and the conditions of the environment: the game's scale cannot put a figure on it.
Want to plant a real tree for future generations?
The virtual is good; the soil is better. During your stay at Le Papayer Ecolodge, come and put your hands in the earth — with your children or not — and plant a fruit tree or a native species for real. Every tree planted as a family is recorded in our register and carries a small plaque engraved with your name; you will follow its growth over your successive stays. And we seal it all with a friendly drink together, beneath the great kapok tree.