Day 16 - 18th March Drive deep into the forest to see isolated Guere Tribe, and explore Man

Photo above - the Jongleurs of the Guere tribe on Cote d'Ivoire. More Photos to follow below

The long and dusty road

Today we started off at 7.30am by picking up a 4 wheel drive. We are driving for about two hours into the jungle to visit an isolated settlement of the Guere tribe. We are hoping to see their mask dances and if lucky, a dance of the ‘jongleurs’, a rare performance involving initiated women with white painted faces.

As we travelled bumpy dirt road through the jungle, we passed through several small villages, and people always stared as we went past as they so rarely see a vehicle other than motorbikes driven by other villagers.

The road is not passable during the rainy season, and in fact it is so rutted in places, that despite very little rain, there are still large puddles across the road that make it very slippy. The road for the first hour was wide enough for two vehicles to pass, but during the second half of the journey, we turned onto a road, that was less a road, and more a wide footpath, with the undergrowth scraping the vehicles on both sides.

Jongleurs of the Guere tribe

We finally arrived at the village to hear the sound of drums and percussion. Although we have now seen several tribal ceremonies in four different countries, I never get tired of them. This one was a bit different again. The main purpose is to form part of an initiation ceremony for young girls to eventually become priests, and advise the village on spiritual matters. The girls were about eight or nine and had white masks painted on their faces. They would all be dancing, then one would break away and run to a guy with bells tied round his legs, who reminded me a bit of a Morris dancer, and they would fling themselves into his arms. He would then variously fling them in the air, allow them to contort themselves whilst he held them, or lift them high above his head, and twirl them around. He appeared to be a kind of master of ceremonies.

Each girl did this a couple of times, one rather dangerously carrying a machete in each hand, whilst being tossed around. Then the girls took a seat with the musicians, and one by one from another part of the village, mask dancers appeared, and did their own individual dance. The masks seem to represent animals, like a monkey, or a cat. The whole thing was fascinating.

Another day another market

Again villagers were very friendly and grateful for us coming. We only travelled for two hours in a 4 wheel drive from the nearest town, but it is still the case that some of the villagers will not visit or see a town until they are in their teens or even twenties.

Half way back on the return journey we stopped at a village called Todrodrou that was having a weekly market to exchange goods with neighbouring villagers. Lots of smiles and handshakes again for the strange white people.

Brief look around Man

We returned to the hotel for lunch, and then I walked back down to the main street to get haircut. We set off again at 4pm to look around the town of Man. First up we stopped at a spot known for Mona Monkeys, and sure enough there were plenty there, including a mother carrying her baby. Next we stopped in the Muslim area of town and saw one of the mosques there, then visited a carpenter who makes various kinds of masks.

Finally we returned to the hotel at 6pm. Tomorrow we have a long day’s drive to cross the border into Liberia, with a stop in the forest to look at some kind of liana bridge.