Man: Liana Bridges at Lieupleu

As soon as we arrive in the restaurant for breakfast this morning, I pick up a message that Mathias sent us last night (the wifi doesn’t reach as far as our room).

With the suggestion yesterday that the performers come to a village nearer to us, these dances seem to be jinxed. Is it the spirits that are playing games with us? I suggest an alternative plan, which Mathias accepts.

Breakfast

I still have several little Marmite tubs left that I brought with me, so I just pick up some bread and butter from the buffet. David has cereal – the only container he can find for it is a coffee cup, and when he asks for cold milk to go with it, that also arrives in a cup.

The manager brings out some little fried balls that he insists we should try. They are a little like the Scotch Eggs we get back home, except the egg is surrounded by potato, not meat. They are good.

The Grand Market of Man

With our hotel’s location, we again have to drive through the centre of the main market giving me opportunities for drive-by-shooting (taking photos from a moving car).

An overview of the market as we come down the hill from our hotel

It's not the cleanest or tidiest market I have ever seen

Lieupleu Village

The village is well off the beaten path, and we pick up another facilitator named Abou to help us gain access to the village. We hang around taking photos of the local ladies while Abou engages in some deep discussion with the village elders for quite some time to be able to let us cross the famous Liana Bridge. We can’t just turn up, as they have no idea who we are, and the bridge is very sacred.

The local ladies playing to the camera

The water is low in the river at the moment

You can see from the 'bridge' how high the water can go

I guess the low water makes it easier for doing laundry

The modern bridge

Mathias (in black on the right) and Abou are still discussing permission to cross

The liana for the bridge is bought from Liberia, and taken down to the river where it is left at the waterside and all non-initiated locals and anyone not from this village are ordered to leave the area. It is believed that the spirits build the bridge overnight from the materials left here the previous day.

David finally gets the go-ahead to walk over the bridge, but first he must take his shoes off.

Abou leads the way

Mathias very kindly carries David's sandals to the other end of the bridge, to save him from walking back barefoot

It's not as easy as it looks - the 'steps' are uneven and steep and David is not used to walking barefoot

He makes it to the top

It's swingy, and very narrow - barely the width of one of his feet, making is slow going

He eventually reaches the other side

Now all he has to do is get back down again from the bridge

The obligatory group photo at the end

On the way back to the hotel, Mathias rings the hotel for the lunch menu, and he orders for us.

More drive-by-shooting in the market.

Lunch

We both chose the chicken sandwich for lunch, and it is packed with filling, toasted and served hot wrapped in foil. While very enjoyable, it is way too much, especially as it is accompanied by a portion of fries.

We spend the afternoon with some much-appreciated chill time in the hotel.

Dinner

We both ordered beef stroganoff earlier this afternoon, which is very tasty, while some pieces of meat are not as tender as I would have liked.

Thank you to Undiscovered Destinations for arranging this incredible adventure.