Witch Doctor, Banana Gin Distillery, & Pygmy Dancing on a Walk Through Bwindi Community
As culturally-sensitive tourists, we all agreed to go
on a "Community Walk" led by a local young man. Both the village and tour
guides earn money from these
activities, so that is good, too. The tour's stops were unexpected but
interesting and definitely gave us insight into the local people. However, we
did not
expect to hike over hill and dale, in torrential rains which caused "trails" to
become streams. We would have waited until the weather cleared
or not gone. All of us had wet, squishy hiking shoes for our gorilla trek
the next morning because nothing dries quickly in a rainforest.
Remember to
visit Lewa,
The Mara,
charter plane,
chimps,
gorillas,
and
giraffes and elephants..
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| We started our
Community Walk in the tea fields past Bwindi town. |
Early in our long
journey we walked on a single-log bridge over a small, full river. |
Then the skies opened up as we climbed up steep dirt trails that turned into muddy streams. |
We visited
banana beer & banana gin distilleries, known as moonshine stills in the U.S. |
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Another key visit was to the "traditional healer" or witch doctor.
We watched him put on his cow-skin hat, beard and vest, then
listened as he showed the herbs, roots, and seeds he gathered and dried. Though he said that he works with the local medical doctor when his clients are too sick for him to handle, he also claimed the he can cure all sorts of sexual and other diseases... |
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| The torrential
rains continued for 1.5 hours as we walked through farms & next to homes. |
Our guide took
us to the edge of the forest where suddenly a pygmy clan appeared to perform & set up a small curio market. |
Out of nowhere
came a couple of benches for us to sit while they sang & danced. |
Pygmy children
must become responsible when they are very young, yet they seem to be happy. |
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Even the littlest children danced along with the pygmy adults who jumped and thumped the earth, clapped and whirled. |
Zebu cattle
have giant horns but most seem too scrawny to provide a lot of milk or meat for families. |
We hope the
money we paid to be guided on this community tour will benefit the people needing it most. |
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