Village Walk

As part of our chimp-tracking adventure, our guides took us on a cultural walk through the local village. Even though we have seen a lot of rural life (it's intended for tourists who just go straight from the airport to safaris and national parks then back to the airport) we still learned a lot of new things and thouroughly enjoyed meeting the people. People are our favorite part of Africa!!!!

We soon had a trail of children following behind us....

Some of the homes in the community:

We got to see so many things happening in their busy little community....

Cassava (a root vegetable that is a staple) being ground into flour:

G-Nuts (ground nuts/peanuts) being harvested:

Other crops being dried:

(Coffee, beans, soybeans, cassava)

(Cassava & sorghum on the roof, g-nuts on the ground)

Bricks being made:

Step 1: dig fresh soil & add water to make mud 

Step 2: shape them by putting the mud into the mold (behind the woman) then lay out flat to dry (covered with straw)

Step 3: after several days, uncover (remove straw) and stand them on end to dry more

Step 4: bake them in the oven (made out of the same bricks)

One woman proudly showed us her vanilla bean plants:

Some of the fresh beans (green) & black (after they dried);

They explained their banana "juice" making process:

They first cook the bananas, then mix them with their feet (like grapes), mix in a sweet grass, then add sorghum to speed up the fermenting process, and let the brew sit in these large canoe-like wooden vats for several days, covered with banana leaves.  The city council invited us to their meeting and all sat in a circle to watch us sample their juice (no pressure! ;) It was very sweet!

The futball hall where the village gathers to watch soccer games on TV:

Their local market:

(The tall stalk is sugar cane)

(Cassava & little bags of fish)

A local church that sits up on the hill above the village.

A larger banana market we passed in the van in a neighboring village: