Trekking through the bush to the Dayi River

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Knowing the Dayi River was somewhere west and not far from Have, I asked two of Florence’s (our cook) nephews, Richard and Samson, to escort Celia and I to the river. They confirmed that we could hire a fisherman there to take us out in a boat (hand hewn from one log). The 1.5 hour trek from Have-Etoe town to the Dayi River took us past town residents’ farms growing mostly cassava, yam, maize, and okra.

Nearing the river, I was surprised by an old village, the original village of Have, where villagers, far from town, make a quiet living fishing and rice farming. Tilapia is the premier fish catch. After meeting the young fisherman and his family, we trekked further to the river, where a new life opened before our eyes. Life on the river seemed a world away from anywhere I’d seen in Africa - even from the fishing communities on Lake Victoria in Kenya. The soft green vistas of 18” tall rice stalks made me think of Southeast Asia, where I’ve been only through the eyes of various media. Though the people here are African, I had another flash of the interrelatedness of everyone around the globe - especially rural farmers in developing places.

Our canoe ride was as delightful and serene as the life around the river. I know the fishermen are as poor as the farmers, but the fisherman’s life seems a bit freer than a farmer’s. I suspect I have a false romantic notion, due to my own feelings serenity and joy around and on water, but I felt a brotherhood amongst the fishermen, including their young boys, and a feeling that they had some adventure in their lives, and a communion also with the water and the fish. But farmers can love the land, and each has their place.

Prior to the Akosombo Dam that transformed much of the Volta River into Lake Volta, the river Dayi was a seasonal river - a receptacle for water during the rainy seasons. Now we were being steered between remnants of trees drowned when the dam changed the landscape. The river/lake is beautiful, as is all the land around it. Rice fields, fishermen, boats, nets hanging to dry and blowing in the breeze, open huts where the fisherwives clean, gut, dry and smoke fish - and feed their families, fishermen mending nets, naked boys (and men, when we aren’t there) with clothes drying in the sun after swimming, fish in the boats, and green growth of all types-in all directions.

Our canoeist/fisherman steered towards friends on the shore that had just come in with a catch. I had hoped we could buy from them, but they gave us seven or eight beautiful medium sized tilapia (fresh fish for dinner!). Whenever I get disappointed with the occasional greedy person, I must think back on lovely people like the generous fishermen. We then reversed our blissful journey, which I could have continued for hours - and we still had the 1.5 hour walk back to Have Etoe town. For rowing four passengers, the fisherman asked 2 cedis, almost $2 - I gave him $5 with a huge thank you. His big smile told me he I had paid him fairly.

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Photos

Fishnets and Rice Fields
from "Trekking through the bush to Dayi River" by Denise Ward

Fisherman with Tilapia Harvest
from "Trekking through the bush to Dayi River" by Denise Ward

Watching the Fisherman
from "Trekking through the bush to Dayi River" by Denise Ward

Trees from Another Time
from "Trekking through the bush to Dayi River" by Denise Ward