Meeting the Dozo

We are at Odienne in the Ivory Coast, we arrived today at lunch time, just the time to have lunch and rest an hour at the hotel and we leave immediately to visit.

Today we meet the Dozo, a caste of warriors and hunters; they are not an ethnic group but part of the Mande or Malinke and are the descendants of the powerful kingdom of Mali.

In the past they were a real army and took an active part in the civil war that has battered the Ivory Coast in the past years; today they are only a sort of private police that protects villages and people.

If you want to become a Dozo you must apply and a teacher will teach from scratch everything you need to know; moreover they have to face a series of rituals that are secret and therefore cannot tell us about them, only the Dozo are aware of them.

The Dozo enjoy great respect from the population also because they are attributed magical and healing powers, this because they know very well the plants and their healing powers; they also use amulets, that are believed to protect them from weapons and to sharpen their senses.

We arrived in a place where a group of Dozo are, when we got out of the car they met us playing some musical instruments and singing; we followed them and went with them to a building without walls.

First they danced and played for us, then they made themselves available to tell us a bit about them and to answer our questions; it was a good time and they were happy to see us so interested.

At one point the leader of this group of Dozo looks at Silvan and tells him "do you want to join our group?"

Who knows how it came to him to say something like that, obviously Silvan kindly declines the offer.

When we finished with the questions, we left and the Dozo came with us bringing their musical instruments; most of them went ahead of us on the bike but some climbed into the car with us.

We drove a few kilometers and, near a hill, we went down again.

We followed them along a path that first runs along some cashew trees and then continues towards the rocky hill and a grove, that is right at its feet.

From here you climb up a hill, only 20 meters high, but to climb the path is rocky and there are some difficult and slippery points; once at the top, however, you can enjoy a 360 degree view and you can admire a rock that they consider sacred, in fact there are some sacrifices nearby.

They play their instruments while we look around and take pictures.

When we come back down the hill they start to dance around the fire, playing their musical instruments: a sort of guitar with a sound box made with a pumpkin and wooden flutes.

At one point they did the fire dance, some of them took the incandescent embers and put them in their mouths, they bitten and licked them, a bit like the Kotokoliin Togo.

Although we have already seen some populations "eating fire" it always has a certain effect.

After the dance we returned to our car, we accompany them back where we met them and then we continue to our hotel.

It is almost 6:00pm and we are a bit tired, even if we are happy with today; now, however, a little relaxation is super deserved!