Day 28 - 30th March Visit a Malinke tribe village, see a Griot performance, and drive to the capital

Photo above - Griot music performers. More Photos below

Malinke tribe village

In the morning we drove for about an hour west, then turned down a track to a small village in the Malinke region. The Malinke are descendants of the ancient empire of Mali and we visited a community of ‘griots’ – traditional musicians and story tellers who play an important part in conserving the traditions of West Africa.

Griot performance

There was the usual excitement in the village as we arrived. A lot of people were by the well gathering water for the day, so I had a go at that. Then we were invited by the chief and elders to take a seat in the shade of a tree to witness a performance of traditional music and dancing, with all the villagers standing behind us and joining in in some of the dancing. I actually liked the music and singing in this performance most of all those we have seen. They used a megaphone for the vocals which made it sound a bit indie.

Back on the road

After saying our goodbyes and thanks, we headed back on the road, which up to this point today has not been too bad. Most of it has been broken up tarmac, but they have actually filled in the holes.

At the next town we stopped for lunch in a very local cafe. A couple of guys spotted us looking at their bottle wine which they must have bought in, and offered two of us a glass. This is one of the things I love about travelling, the spontaneous kindnesses and interactions, even though we do not share a language or culture.

Another breakdown

Afterwards, we got back to our drive to the capital. Almost immediately we found ourselves travelling between two huge areas of rice paddy fields. The road was generally more tarmac than dust so we made good time.

Unfortunately it was not long before we had another breakdown, one of the 4wds developed a radiator leak. We stopped at a village and got some water from their well, but the water was leaking straight through on to the ground. We filled it to the top, and continued on.

A mile or so later, we had to stop again as one of the cars’s door came loose! You could not make it up! We took a screwdriver to it, but in the end had to tie it on to the other door. It had basically been shaken loose by the bad roads. After starting up again, we had the ultimate irony just around the corner…a toll booth where we had to pay to go on the next stretch of dirt road and broken up tarmac!!

Arrival in the capital

In this time, the car with the broken radiator had limped on. We caught up with him quite soon, and then continued together. As we got near to Bissau, the land was very flat and low lying, and I could imagine this area floods during the rainy season. The road did not get any better, until suddenly we were in the outskirts of the city on a three lane tarmac road.

Bissau is the capital and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. It has a population of about half a million. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, and its administrative and military centre.

The city was not particularly busy despite the fact that we arrived at about 5pm. Good wide roads, patient drivers, and the city is quite spread out. Finally stopped for the day at our hotel.

Tomorrow, we get a boat from Bissau, and cruise over to some islands where we will stay for a couple of nights.