A Day on the Kouilou River

On Saturday I was blessed with the unexpected opportunity to go on trip up the Kouilou River. That morning we left the ship with sunscreen and bugspray, packed lunches, and plenty of water. After negotiating with a driver to take us out to the river and wait for us for the very reasonable cost of 16,000CFA (approximately $32), the seven of us piled into a six person taxi. The forty-five minute ride was cozy with all of us crammed together, but I enjoyed it.

We arrived in a small village market beneath the bridge that crossed over the river. We had been there only minutes before our guide Boris found us. Seven white girls in a Congolese village do stand out just a bit, in case you didn't know. Boris led us through the village to where several dugout canoes lined the riverbank. Boris left briefly to get more gasoline for his outboard motor, and then we all loaded into the canoe.

Ready for a day on the Kouilou River

The trip was beautiful from the very start. The day started out slightly overcast, but as we went on it became a beautiful sunny day. The jungle reached all the way to the riverbank, the trees leaning out over the river, branches dipping into the water. From within the trees I could hear the sound of insects, a constant creeee creeee that was so loud that I thought there must have been thousands of them.  

We motored up the river for a couple of hours, calling out "Mbote" and "Bonjour" to all the villages that we passed. As we passed one village, we were invited to stop. We did so, and the women and children were so excited to welcome us into their village. They walked us through their village and showed us trees with cocoa pods in them. They cut a pod down for us and encouraged us to taste. The cocoa beans within the pod were covered in a soft, white flesh, and the women showed us how to suck on the beans until all of the flesh, which was mildly sweet, was gone and then spit out the bean. Then they took us further and showed us where they were clearing the jungle to make room to plant more sugar cane. Then they showed us where they were growing sugar cane. They had already harvested some and demonstrated how to remove the hard outer skin and chew on the sweet inner pulp until all of the juice was gone.

Sweet village boys

Yes, that is a knife he is holding

Village children waving Hello

They were so generous, and even gave us five sugar cane stalks to take with us. I felt so blessed by their hospitality. They sent us away, waving and calling their goodbyes. We continued up the river and around the island used as a chimpanzee refuge, then back down the river to where we had started. Our faithful taxi driver was there waiting for us, and after paying Boris and giving him two of the sugar cane stalks as a gift, we drove back to Pointe-Noire. It was such a wonderful afternoon and I hope to repeat the trip again in the future.