Day 30 - 1st April An island village visit, and a final mask dance ceremony

Photo above - vaco bruto mask dance. More Photos below

Walk to an island village

After breakfast, a couple of us went for a walk to a nearby village, to see how the local people living on the island live. There is a regular boat service connecting people to the mainland, but no roads, just footpaths.

We walked through jungle, then along a mangrove swamp to another bit of coastline. We saw two villages both with approximately 10 huts. There were two old ladies in the first and a teenage lad in the second. None spoke anything other than a local dialect. I hope that there are more people living there and they are employed at the place we are staying.

Living in poverty

The huts were made of branches and matting of vines. These people have next to nothing, no schools, the boat is expensive for them, and anyway they cannot go over to the mainland unless they know someone there. The teenager rushed after us with some cashews in a big plastic tub, so we paid him the equivalent of a few pounds for a small amount, and the smile on his face was huge. All the time he did not say a word, apparently these people are very shy of foreigners.

Spent the rest of the morning chilling, before lunch, and then more chilling. Then at 4.30pm we took a short boat ride to a neighbouring island to visit a village and see a ‘vaca bruto’ mask dance.

Boat to the neighbouring island

The tide had gone out so we had to wade out to the boat for the 10 minute cruise to the next door island called Bubaque. This island was a bit of a surprise after the peace of our island. There were a couple of bars and restaurants, and a supermarket. We got a couple of tuk tuks to the village but the road was terrible. Dust rocks and holes. On the way we crossed the island airstrip (a flat piece of gravel) just as a light aircraft was taxiing!

Final mask dance

The village was quite big and all the villagers came out to watch the mask dance. This one featured male and female dancers, and three men dressed as bulls (sort of). Once again, I really loved the music, mostly drum based, and the atmosphere was great, with all the kids gathered around, and getting into it.

Caught the boat back as the sun was setting. This is my final night in Africa. Tomorrow after a morning on the island, I start the journey home.