Africa Queen : Bissagos Islands (Documentary, Discovery, History)

[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a return to the roots of africa off the coast of guinea-bissau the africa queen is heading for forgotten islands hidden villages animist rights dazzling white beaches at the dawn of the 21st century the bijagos islands are still waiting to be discovered [Music] rocked by the movement of the atlantic ocean this boat will take us on a surprising voyage far far from our own ways of thinking sorry about it bisal the capital of guinea-bissau a country the size of switzerland with a population of one and a half million a small spunky country that put up 11 years of resistance to finally win its independence from portugal in 1974. [Music] [Music] this blind musician is well known around the port he's a bijogo a native of the group of islands will be visiting off the coast [Music] the tone of his voice the rhythm of his music and his creativity all reflect the soul of his ethnic group the bijogos a handful of guineans living on a remote little-known archipelago of 88 islands that is still untouched by modern consumer society in the port of bisaw there are several boats getting ready the bijagos express heads out every friday afternoon according to the tide it's the only regular link between the capital and bubake the main island of the bijagos the trip takes about four hours and the boat arrives after nightfall a stone's throw away the africa queen is waiting till it's time to weigh anchor this worthy corvette is almost 60 years old and she's getting spruced up to receive the passengers from europe travelers eager for a taste of african sounds adventure [Applause] of bisal between trips this is when usman the cook on the africa queen does his shopping he has to buy supplies for a whole week of meals on board local produce to be served up with a wide variety of fresh-caught fish jackfish dorad snapper barracuda all to be served up with usman's personal touch [Applause] i do skewers everything that's good purees [Music] and a wide variety of crops grow there but the only export produce are cashew nuts and palm oil now after years of exploitation by self-serving leaders the country somewhat forgotten by the international community is struggling to get back on its feet the be so guineans are largely animists and in the more remote regions the ancestral beliefs and traditions are still deeply rooted [Music] in this district of the capital the youngsters are rehearsing for carnival which will take place in a month this evening the passengers will get to know their boat the africa queen and tomorrow at daybreak they'll awaken to a new world [Music] the africa queen leaves the port of bissau and after a night at sea drops anchor off the eastern coast of the island of kanye back the african queen flies the guinean flag but the crew is 90 senegalese [Music] where there's an important maritime academy or they're from morocco from tunisia they still don't have a maritime academy school here in guinea you really have to know the zone on account of all the sound banks you see here on the charts so it takes a lot of concentration and you really have to be careful very careful and get to know the area experience really helps [Music] even though the bijagos lie on a busy sea route and are quite close to the mainland they have remained unspoiled of the 88 islands only about 20 are inhabited in addition to the problems of navigation there are also the torrential rains that batter the islands every day during the winter season from april to september in 2008 the unesco took up the case of this unspoiled realm and designated the islands a world biosphere reserve [Music] [Applause] every time we approach a village i have the visitors wait while i go ahead and let the villagers know that they're about to have a visit so that they're not taken by surprise then i come back and get the tourists and we all enter the village together it's like when you visit someone's home you say hello this way they know what to expect so they're in a receptive mood has been working on the africa queen for 20 years over time he has become the boat's ambassador to the bijogos he never comes empty-handed the villagers are always grateful for his gifts especially fish and medicine if you have a party or a ceremony they have their rules so every village in kanye back has its empty gas cylinder here on the island of kanye back the passengers are about to make their first encounter with the bijagos villagers their first impression is that of a normal african village it takes an experienced eye and a keen sense of observation to see that the bijog society has very strict codes that it's important to respect [Music] we have to wait for permission first you have to ask for permission or entry visa i'm not sure so we'll wait for nico to get here otherwise we may run into problems we can't just go barging in trees are the pillars of bijog society the bijogs always build their villages in the shade of the kapok trees away from the beaches they plant their rice paddies beneath the palm trees they build their houses from leaves and branches they live in these temporary dwellings while they cultivate their crops on the sacred islands if you look carefully you'll notice a jungle gym for the children a dog house and in the crown of the palm trees bottles of palm sap they'll ferment this sap to make palm wine that the men get together to drink in a special men's lodge set up outside the village this is the drinking horn for the wine these woven leaves are like sign posts in the forest and if you can't read them you could very well get into trouble as for the social structure it is very tightly organized every member has their exact position and it's been like that since the dawn of time family the house belongs to the woman and she even designs her own house with the help of her friends and the woman goes and gathers the straw for the roof here it's the woman who chooses her husband there are seven to ten children in a family so the father changes the separation takes place when the man is initiated next year you go off for the initiation the woman already has another husband in view for when the men enter the initiation period they have to leave the village they go live in the forest for about seven months and during that time they're not allowed to address [Music] once permission has been granted we can ask all the questions we want well there's black she doesn't want me [Music] with or without the visitors life in the village goes on as normal each villager goes about their business just a group of laughing children tag along with the strangers the meeting of the two cultures often makes for misunderstandings for the europeans know nothing about the bijog's way of life and the villagers likewise have no more than a vague idea of what europe is like [Music] and they usually ask us to dance for them so they can take pictures they even asked me to go climb a palm tree to harvest the palm wine i all i know is that they eat well i don't know what they eat but i'm sure they eat well for ages the mainlanders lived in fear of the bijago islanders they would surge out from the sea like vikings in their perugus with the bull's head on the bow and pillage the coasts even the european navigators in their imposing sailing ships were not spared but colonization put an end to their maritime expeditions the bijogs now only have small inoffensive pirogs with their weekly incursions into the bijog territory which is now a unesco natural reserve the tour operators realize that they are treading sensitive ground the biodiversity of this archipelago is unmatched on the entire african coast the marine fauna counts over 155 species of fish the beaches of this rich biotope are also home to five of the world's eight species of sea turtle [Applause] wouldn't like to be a boat skipper in these waters we saw them sailing in less than one meter of water nearly skimming a rock right at the surface [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] it's just magic when it comes out of the water i'm bringing there's no comparison with fishing in europe catching a barracuda that's pretty good this is one of the best usman cooks up the daily catch and serves it on board there's also a part reserved for the villages that the travelers visit and when the catch is really good they store it for the coming weeks you see the big barracuda we caught up this is a guinea jack this is a cynical jacket sometimes we have the dinner ready and then they come along and they they want to eat their fish we caught this barracuda or this snapper we'd like to eat it they like that it's better when we're ashore they sell fish there's a butcher a pastry shop all the supplies we can get hot meals here on board we have to make our own pastry we have to cook the hot meals we have to clean up and do the dishes we have to do everything on board but you get the experience it's good [Music] [Music] foreign like elsewhere in the region rice is a staple food in the bijagos islands they grow it in a very well-kept forest it's the men's job to clear the ground then the women and children do the planting tend the shoots and come up with clever ways to scare the birds off right near the rice fields they set up a village of temporary huts they stay a few months working their crops then after the harvest and threshing the villagers will all head back to their permanent dwellings which are usually on another island but rice is not enough they have to complete their diet by hunting and gathering in addition to rice we eat roots wild maniac we find it in the forest and make flour from it we also gather berries that grow near the shore and we eat palm nuts this rice here is not enough for the whole family because there are so many of us [Music] they gave us two plots of land to work but we didn't get enough rain this the year isn't good it won't be enough [Music] it's back home after the harvest all the generations pile in to return to their permanent village before the rainy season but this is not their traditional purug it was lent to them by the hotel so that they could make the crossing more quickly and keep the rice from getting wet a concrete example of the indispensable solidarity that exists between the ancestral property owners and the new settlers [Music] the africa queen has been coming to these islands for two decades and has always practiced the system of exchange with the villagers no money ever changes hands between the boat and the villagers but each party is duty-bound to be generous these totems you see here are all gifts and all of us who work on board as well the magic of the totems has done a good job protecting this boat for it came out of a french shipyard in 1952. the conscientious and caring crew keep the africa queen perfectly ship shape so even now it doggedly continues sailing under the power of its two original diesel engines so that means it is one fine hunk of hardware who manages to dig up the parts we need to keep the motor running smoothly [Applause] [Music] in the bijagos every moment of life is decided by the spirits and in order to speak with them one has to make the appropriate offerings in most of the ceremonies it's the omogrande who call upon the spirits with a display of vehemence these men have made it through the initiation when they were 27 they left their wives and families to go off to the sacred forest for several years on the island of kanye back the right lasts seven years a record compared to the usual practices in africa when they come back to society with the prestigious title of omogrande they can take another wife they are considered wise men and they intercede with the spirits in most of the bijog ceremonies here the chicken serves as a messenger the way it runs around when its head is cut off and the color of the entrails are all so many answers to the enigmas of life they say that the spiritual powers of the bijog are very strong and that many politicians come to consult them people come from the world over to ask favors of the spirits first they come to make their requests then they come back to thank the gods we even had people come from america the same rules apply to this luxury hotel set up on the sacred island of ruban the ancestors approved the construction and the traditional bijoghos rules about sharing are part of the everyday routine no walls no fences the spirits have to be able to protect and ensure the prosperity of the establishment through the intermediary of the omogrande [Applause] we have to carry on doing everything that our ancestors did it's like our school if you fail you remain ignorant when the initiates speak you can't stay with them you're not allowed to listen to their conversation even if you have a job for some time off for the ceremony then you go back to work you have to you always have to go to the ceremonies here in ponta anchaka many of the employees come from the bijagos islands they were trained by the hoteliers and very quickly adapted to the demands of hotel work their presence is also a link with the village that sold the land to the hotel for outsiders who settle here always have to bring something positive to the [Music] community [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah [Music] in the past before the first hotels and encampments were set up the outsiders that visited the bijagos were mainly fishermen and shark fishermen in particular the fish-laden waters were and still are quite tempting for the nearby senegalese and guinean fishermen to settle on the islands one has to be able to adapt and to offer the islanders something they don't have former french guinea he's a fisherman and like many before him he came to try his luck in this zone that is specifically protected from the big factory trawlers alia has been accepted here in the bijagos mainly thanks to his wife kady she is a healer a gift she inherited from her mother since she arrived in the bijagos islands with her husband the bench outside their hut is always crowded with villages waiting to consult here this old man has been practically crippled with pain for several weeks but what's worrying him is that his brother who lives on another island is suffering from the same symptoms he's come to consult for the two for he suspects that rather than a real illness there are some mystical forces at work khadi casts the kaori shells and then starts to read them she speaks nalu a very rare language her husband translates into portuguese creole but the patient speaks only bijogo so they need a fourth person to complete the communication alone in most of the islands money isn't used so as payment the villagers give kadhi poultry goats or sacks of rice caddy and her husband have now been fully assimilated into bijog society they are useful to the community by the grace of god we can take care of everyone even people that couldn't be cured at the hospital we heal young and old people of all ages even the most complicated cases [Music] so that means we stay once i wanted to go back to my home but the people here asked me to stay the big function on the basis of exchange if you want to stay you have to show them that you have something to offer them [Music] the southernmost port of call of our crews on the africa queen is the island of zhao viejira a sacred island reserved for growing crops but where they've allowed an encampment to be set up claude was a shark fisherman before the bijagos natural park declared sharks a protected species he came here with his wife and family from kazamonts in senegal to start a new life his wife marie knows the king of menic and he's invited her to a ceremony the family has been taking part in the everyday life of the village for several years now they ship merchandise to bisau do medical transportation and other odd jobs it's the tribute they pay for being allowed to live a quiet life here they need help they manage pretty well on their own but they still need help especially when it comes to health and hygiene they need help they're fervent believers they do a lot of ceremonies they spend a third of their time on ceremonies they believe in their god and they're really inscrutable they're not complicated you have to respect them it's their law their rules and not just anyone can come and settle here it's complicated you have to prove your good will you can't misbehave if you step out of line they'll send you packing right away they're very very conservative they're not great hunters or great fishermen they live and survive completely on their own it's a or the amazonian indians but the tribes here live in remote regions and have nothing to do with the government of guinea-bissau it's a characteristic of the b cell very [Music] special [Music] do they have spiny lobsters here lots of them oh better than yesterday we got four barracuda a jackfish some bonito pretty good the people here are not used to seeing tourists land on their islands especially the younger ones so they might behave a little strangely but it's just out of curiosity they'll come up to the tourists and want to touch them i even saw little bijogo lift up a young french girl's dress to see what was underneath but it's really just curiosity so you talk to the islanders you tell them they're like you they're white but they're like you the tourists on the other hand sometimes you tell them how things are here they say no it's not possible and when they come they're surprised they think why didn't i bring such and such a thing they really need that but you have to explain to them that these people don't need all that if you give them money what are they going to do with it we mustn't create needs if you create wants and needs it just means problems for them later on [Applause] amy wears three hats on the africa queen chambermaid in the morning bartender in the evening and when they stop over on an island at lunch time she gets out her first aid certificate and her nurse's uniform last sunday i noticed this boy but i didn't have my kid with me then so i couldn't take care of him but today i'm going to dress his wounds if it's not me it has to be the captain or the commanding officer only the captain the commanding officer or myself are authorized to dispense medicine i don't think these people have such a hard life they've been living like this since they were born we could never live this way never there's no way especially for me i couldn't stay out in the bush even a single day i really feel for these people of course they're used to their way of life and you can't compare life here with a rich country with lots of money here they don't have any money but they managed to go on living their lives just the same [Music] in addition to the navigation the regular work hours the excursions the crew of the africa queen also exercised their talents as fishermen always respecting the regulations of the natural park [Music] when we have a good catch we give some to the villagers who live on the island on each island where we catch mullet but we do this mainly to catch bait fish we can't use frozen bait it would really be a shame to come here and fish with frozen bait when you can catch it so easily right here on the spot [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] on land and sea the conventions are respected to the letter in the time-honored tradition of cruises there's an unavoidable event a veritable maritime ritual the captain's evening [Applause] [Applause] the crew is always ready to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty so to speak these men were born in the mangrove swamp so they're used to gathering oysters from the roots but even they are impressed by the hard life that the bijogs lead there are no connections between the islands just one hospital for the entire archipelago there are few schools and poor attendants even in the most remote communities of mainland africa the way of life has evolved the ecological equilibrium the bijogs have maintained since the dawn of time is of course quite topical now but it still is subject to the outside world that comes knocking at its door more and more often the world doesn't stop turning people migrate and colonization is a thing of the past globalization we live in a time of globalization so even if we don't want to we have to accept it to keep up with the evolution of the world these people need hospitals schools they've said that they want schools and medical assistants that's why they have to do a trade-off they give up something to get something in this day and age you can't live the way we lived 100 years ago it's not possible if you're young in the bijagos it means you're strong you've lived through the severe rainy seasons and childhood diseases thanks to their masks and dances these girls will get to see bisau the capital when they participate in the annual carnival competition where the bijogs are always a big for the most part the young bijogs live their everyday life in the forest they don't often get the chance to ride the boat to the main island bubake where the local government and shops are concentrated the town boasts a cyber cafe and a discotheque open to those with hard cash for barter is no longer accepted here [Music] fidel has done his very best to continue his education but he doesn't forget the traditional costume when the occasion calls for it the tug of war between the traditional and the modern started very early for this native son of bubaki you fall at the instead of going to school because nowadays if you go to school what will you have to eat if you didn't do any work so it's come on when the passengers visit the schools they often give the teacher a gift of school supplies for the children now he's going to give a few little tests to see who does the best because there's not enough material for everybody it's a way of motivating them so he'll give tests and choose the first 10. [Music] really takes place out in the sacred forest not in the classroom how to climb a palm tree how to cast a net how to guide a rug through the mangrove swamp these are all skills necessary for survival on these islands growing up without becoming a homo grande is simply unthinkable the king of this village died recently now they have to pick his successor from among the omo grande but in the bijagos the status of king is more an ordeal than an honor for if the king is not up to the task his days are numbered the men are afraid to be named king because it means leaving your family and it's hard living on your own so they try to go off and hide being named king means a lot of responsibility the problem is they sometimes die after two or three years it's our problem so everyone's afraid they're preparing for a ceremony here in the village of bijante and everyone is invited it's a village ceremony that often takes place at the beginning and end of each harvest and every time the village is facing an important decision a hut made of woven palm fronds stands behind the three irans the wooden idols that symbolize each sector of the village each person's place is strictly set by his or her importance [Music] was recently chosen as the new king of bijante even though he's quite young he has already been initiated and has a rightful claim to the title of omogrande the king is very attentive to the strict observance of the protocol in his presence the ritual must take place without the slightest error of gesture word or order the king is convinced that if the spirits are not happy he's the one who will have to pay the price he still recalls his recent designation it was july 22nd around 8 in the evening they took me and i couldn't say anything when they grab you they take you off to a sacred place and there you just have to submit because you don't know what is going to happen to you you have to keep quiet it's a decision taken by the village it's not my will it's not like in other countries [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] a sacrifice takes place at each ceremony the more important the request the bigger the animal the blood and entrails feed the communication with the spirits of nature the ceremony is the occasion to speak out in the presence of the whole village and under the authority of the king each person can voice his or her opinion today the sacrifice was requested by an outsider she stays apart outside the circle of initiates the discussion is all about her presence on the island and her request for permission to promote tourism in the bijagos if the hotel anchaka wants to add an extra bungalow the question must be put to the spirits [Music] [Laughter] [Music] huh once again it's the chicken that has the final word in all these questions [Applause] foreign [Music] these are two totally opposite worlds even i who are europeanized i've seen through them that i'm not truly an african african i'm african by my skin i'm african because i was born in africa but i don't have the african culture that i learned about through visiting the bishop who lived as maybe my grandparents lived the ones who are right they have no needs they don't know the market i think they're right so [Music] oh [Applause] so you

Channel: Stop Over - Documentary, Discovery, History

Views: 2,292,372

Rating: 4.5649257 out of 5

Keywords: travel, adventure, boat, sail, trip, ocean, sea, river, sailboat, cruise, stopover, stop, over, Queen Elizabeth 2, Royal Clipper, Le France, Le Norway, Sun Boat II, Classica, Vat Phou, Bolero, Wind Song, Silver Cloud, destination, voyage, capitales, African Queen (NRIS Listing), bijagos, chile, French Polynesia (Country), Stopovertv, Discover, Travel, travels, explore, Stop Over, History

Id: g_gK1BNtLMI

Length: 61min 40sec (3700 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 21 2014