After a very quick shower in the camp we had booked a community walk in town. The guide was already waiting. After a quick introduction we started that community walk. As we walked he informed us about Bwindi and also asked a lot of questions about Switzerland.
First stop was a small waterfall at a stream where the locals would meet. On the way he also showed us some old tee plantations and other stuff.
Then we visited some medicine man, who travelled different countries and is told to have helped lots of people simply with herbs, roots, berries etc. He received us in a hut at his place where he sat and smiled as we came. He had a few herbs, bowls and other things piled on a table just next to him. Surprisingly there were also a few books around, one of them was about birth control. Just when we took a seat some other group doing a community walk arrived at his place. And we even knew these guys as they were also in our gorilla trekking group in the morning. It’s been the ladies with the three porters. They had a very nice female guide who took over then. She told us a little about the medicine man’s work and translated as he didn’t speak English. One could also speak French with him. Anyways, he then introduced us to some of the local plants that he uses for medical treatments and also demonstrated how to prepare the medicine and how to intake it. We then were allowed to ask a few questions before we said good bye.
On the way to the next stop our guide spotted a tiny chameleon in a bush and told us about a women’s life in Bwindi until we arrived at a small banana farm where there was already a table prepared with some bottles, cups and mugs. Then we were told about different kinds of bananas like the big ones we know or the small sweet bananas or the ones that are used for cooking which is called Matoke and some other which is used to brew banana gin. She then told us that one can make banana juice which we also tried. Then she told us about banana wine which tasted a bit like cidre. Finally we also tried a sip of banana gin which tasted a bit like Vodka or maybe a bad Grappa. In any case it was strong and didn’t taste like banana anymore. We were then shown different kinds of banana trees and a banana pit that they use to store and ripe bananas.
We then moved on to the last station. We met with a group of pygmies who used to live in the woods before they had to move when the community built the National Park. They used to live and hunt there and used basically all the resources one can find in the woods. It’s always a bit sad to see when such things happen. One of the pygmies collected us at a meeting point and lead us to some tiny village or camp where a group of pygmies waited for us. They did not live there but used it to demonstrate their former way of living to tourists. One could tell that these people were very poor. I mean, I’ve met many people in Uganda and most of them were poor, but these guys seemed to be the poor amongst the poor. They showed us some of their tools, weapons and huts and one of them demonstrated how to make fire using two pieces of wood. Within 30 seconds he managed to lit a cigarette which was very impressive. After that the whole group sang and danced a few traditional tunes. When they sang the last tune they asked us to join them and so I soon found myself dancing hand in hand with a Pygmy boy till my legs muscles became sour. After thanking them for their demonstrations they sold some carvings, jewellery and other objects to whom was interested. Then our guide insisted on leaving quickly so that we could not even say good bye to the other group that joined us at the medicine man’s home. It was already getting dark and he – even though he was a pretty short guy – rushed away in a high pace. We didn’t feel like running the whole way back but when he explained that he had to walk another two and a half hours to his home we understood. After that unexpected round of jogging we came back punctually to the lodge for supper.
What a day…
a small waterfall at the stream in town – a perfect meeting point
Medicine man
some of the ingredients and tools he uses to making traditional medicine
demonstrating how to intake the medicine
on the way to the banana farm we met that guy
at the banana farm we first tasted banana juice, then banana wine and finally banana gin
a bunch of bananas
one can tell the difference between the different banana trees from the colour of the stem
they store and ripe the bananas in banana pits
Then we visited a group of pygmies. One of them showed us around and demonstrated
some of their traditional tools, huts and weapons
a group member demonstrated how to make fire
after not even a minute he was able to light a cigarette… bravo!
then they sang a few songs and danced some traditional dances
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