THE NAWA FALLS

They are located 3 km from Soubré and a good 100 km from San Pedro, including 2 km of unpaved tracks, downstream of which three waterholes form a sacred site. Not to be missed if you have the time and opportunity, and preferably visited in the company of a guide who will tell you the history of the region and its inhabitants, are the Sassandra River Falls or Nawa Falls. The waterfall is reached after a short walk through cocoa plantations, tall grasses, forest and wet rocks. Remember to bring appropriate footwear. The "lèkès", spiked rubber shoes commonly known in France as "chaussures méduses", are a good alternative, and can be purchased locally. Surrounded by lush vegetation and rocky outcrops, this impressive site features waterfalls 5 to 6 metres high, the roar of which can be heard for miles around. Downstream from these bubbling rapids lies a spring considered sacred by the local population. According to the Grand dictionnaire encyclopédique de la Côte d'Ivoire, this watering place was discovered by a certain May (or Mayo), chief of the Magwé tribe, and became one of the Magwé's main holy places. Called Nawa or Kougey ("path to the afterlife"), this spring is said to reflect the double of any dying Magwe. For the people of Soubré, this site is a privileged place of pilgrimage and meditation. The initiates, guarantors of tradition, perform rituals here and communicate with the benevolent genie Nawa, the figure of the "protective mother" who brings success, abundance and fertility to the natives. The sacred nature of the site is evidenced by the presence of pieces of white cloth tied here and there to the branches of the trees, and bottles of alcohol - most certainly offerings - a troubling reminder of the typical practices of Japanese Shinto, according to which divinities are potentially incarnated in each element of flora and fauna, and of the universality of ancestral animist religions that elevate nature to the rank of divinity. The grandiose beauty of this spectacle, blending the blinding white of the foam with the intense green of the vegetation under an azure sky, borders on the sacred, even for the non-believer. Not to be missed on any account if you come all the way to this remote region to visit the Taï forest.