Griô Trail & Quilombo African Roots

A Quilombo is a settlement where escaped slaves took refuge and built communities in resistance against slavery, where they restored African culture and way of life. This tour gives an experience with traditional quilombo communities, led by the Griôs (the persons that have kept the knowledge of their ancestral traditions and given to the new generations). This program promotes the community based sustainable tourism, and reinforces the importance of maintaining the Griô’s work for the oral traditions in those communities. That’s about the culture heritage not physically registered, such as habits, storytelling, customs, expressions, food techniques. Several of those cultural manifestations are presented during the visit.

Departure from Salvador at 8am to the region of Reconcavo (Bahia Cove), passing by sugar cane and cocoa plantation for a short visit. Then, continuing to the Quilombo community of Engenho da Ponte. Here we’ll follow the Griô to visit the churches, listen to a short talk and a presentation of the traditional “esmolas cantadas”. We will also see how the community produces dende oil, manioc flour, honey and syrup, and watch a presentation of traditional quilombo dance and the famous samba da roda (the original samba that plays the roots of this rhythm from the XIX century). Then, we continue to Cachoeira (Bahia’s wealthiest town during the Imperial Brazil) and remains one of the unique cities to display important Baroque architectural heritage in Bahia. After crossing the colonial bridge over the Paraguaçu River, we’ll be in Sao Felix town, and visit the traditional cigar factory working since 1873.
Our option for lunch can be either with the quilombola community or at a farm restaurant in Cachoeira town.