Why do many tourists go to Africa, what attracts them so much to the hot, uncomfortable and inhospitable continent? This land offers its guests safari, where popular quests "Find 5 of the most famous local animals in the wild", magnificent landscapes and amazing tribes of Africa to visit.
In Africa, you need to forget about civilization. The tribes, which have been living on the territory of the African continent for a long time, wanted to spit on the borders of the countries that the white people laid on their savannah. Aborigines live in their villages, communicate or feud with neighboring tribes, sometimes they start wars that the rest of the world is not able to cope with.
In some African villages, white people have not yet been seen. Tourists simply do not reach them.
The first steps towards real aborigines
To be a guest of some authentic African tribe, one desire and a heap of banknotes is not enough.
Organized tourists are usually taken to special villages where Aboriginal people in national dress perform wild spear dances, sell bead and shell crafts, and charge a photo fee. In such settlements, it is difficult to understand how the African tribes actually live.
Those travelers who want to see with their own eyes the daily life of a real African village should do the following:
- get to any major city;
- find there a travel agency or an experienced driver / guide who will become a guide, translator and negotiator with the head of the community;
- take small gifts with you to the village and be ready to make a "voluntary" donation to the village fund;
- be friendly, smiling and ready for anything - eat any treat so as not to anger the elders, participate in javelin throwing competitions, etc.
There are many tribes in Africa, whose representatives only recently learned about T-shirts and slippers and can give real military weapons for electronic watches. We have selected 3 of the most exotic for you.
Basa (Liberia)
There are 4 tribes living on the territory of Liberia. Bassa is one of them. The Bassa villages are conveniently located on the road from the airport to the capital of Liberia, Monrovia.
Before exploring the village, you need to get permission to travel from the leader of the tribe, whom the aborigines call "chief". Since the tribe lives off the sale of rubber, the elder will definitely try to sell a batch of rubber to a naive white man. When he refuses, Grandpa Chief will demand payment for a walk around the village.
Bassa villages are quite large and consist of several hundred houses. However, the size of the settlement does not make it rich. People live here as in the Stone Age. They have one well, from which children usually carry water to their homes - in huge eggplants. The kids are also engaged in unloading the goods brought to the village.
There is no electricity in the village, local residents cook food on fires or in iron barrels right on the street. They eat everything that they could get. Despite such living conditions, people here are kind and welcoming. They will definitely be called to the fire and try to treat them to roots, fish caught in a lake not far from the village, or small animals that resemble gophers.
There is a small market in the center of the village. They sell used clothes that wealthy Europeans send to help African countries. Nobody shares free humanitarian aid with the natives. The presence of even such clothing indicates that the benefits of civilization are gradually reaching the most remote corners of the globe.
Tofu (Benin)
Settlements on Lake Nokue on the territory of modern Benin began to appear in the 16th century. They were founded by the Tofu tribe, which was later joined by representatives of other communities.
People began to organize villages from houses on stilts not because of a happy life. On the water, they escaped from local sorcerers who supported warriors who earned a slave trade with Europeans. It was believed that shamans, faced with the element of water, are absolutely powerless.
So the tofu people decided to settle where no one will find them - on the bulk islands and in the houses built between them on Lake Nokue. The most famous tofu village is called Ganvie. She is a candidate for inclusion in the UNESCO List of World Landmarks.
People in the village of Ganvier live in houses on high piles driven into the muddy bottom of the lake. Structures are flimsy, stagger at the slightest movement inside. The walls of each house are covered with fungus inside. The toilet is just a hole in the floor; the kitchen is a hearth made of bricks.
Water from the lake must not be consumed. Aboriginal people collect drinking water from a pipe that runs from the mainland.
The village of Ganvier is quite wealthy. There is a school on a separate island, another piece of land is occupied by a hospital, and a little further there is a church and a mosque.
You have to use boats to move between houses. Locals delight tourists with their various floating facilities - pies, flat-bottomed boats.
In addition to Ganvier, there are a dozen more similar villages on the lake, so if you want to see a less popular place, arrange a trip to them with your guide.
Suri (Ethiopia)
The villages of this tribe can be found in the vicinity of the city of Mizan Tefari. Before communicating with representatives of the people of the Suri tribe, you need to introduce yourself to their leader, the Komoru.
The Suri are a warlike tribe that is in constant enmity with the three neighboring tribes of Ethiopia. Every year in the fall, the tribe organizes spectacular competitions in which the most daring warrior is determined. Suri beat to blood on long poles - dongs.
The main wealth of suri is cows and goats. Tourists are usually treated to fresh blood strained from a slaughtered goat. Drinking hot blood is believed to improve your health. It is impossible to refuse to the owners who are presenting refreshments.
One cow can be exchanged for a Kalashnikov assault rifle. In a war, machine guns will never be superfluous.
Suri girls who are getting married cut the lower lip and insert a clay plate into it, as required by custom. Local men think it is very beautiful. The larger the plate in the lady's lip, the larger the ransom must be paid by the applicant for her hand. Standard kalym - 30 cows.
