The weaving of raffia mats is an important art and tradition for the Vili people who live near Mayumba National Park. Mats are exchanged for marriage dowries, to resolve family disputes, and they serve as a principal means of income for village women. With the money they make from selling their mats, they are able to buy for their families the basic goods that their family gardens don’t provide, like soap, clothing, and medicines.

In Mayumba, the art of mat weaving was in danger of disappearing, because the market for traditional crafts is not yet well-developed in the rural areas of Gabon and the price of mats sold locally was so low that it did not adequately reward the women who worked so hard to weave them. Furthermore, young girls were not interested in learning to weave because it was not a profitable activity.

This initiative, originally developed between Mayumba National Park and one village cooperative, has now expanded to include women from several villages, helping them to find a market for their artwork and encouraging the teaching of this tradition to their daughters and granddaughters.

Our goal is to not only assist in the preservation of this beautiful tradition, but also to help improve the overall quality of life in the villages through the development of village wellness funds. Financed by the profits from the sales of these mats, the funds will help to provide new mosquito nets to women and children, to continue the Mayumba Outreach Program's efforts to bring Health Education to the villages, and to facilitate monthly visits by the regional doctor and midwife.

The villages along the lagoon are not accessible by road, and boat transportation is very unreliable and infrequent, making it difficult for villagers to access regional healthcare centers. The nine villages our program works in are home to 504 women and 498 children, many of whom do not have a mosquito net to sleep under. What better way to support a previously dying rural tradition than to have it contribute to the well-being and health of communities that currently lack even the most basic of health support? 

For more information about ordering beautiful handmade traditional raffia mats from Mayumba, please contact us at info@mayumbanationalpark.com.

The first step in creating these mats is to go in a wooden dugout canoe to cut the raffia. Villagers paddle their boats to the swamps, with their machetes, to cut the spiny fronds.

After they have removed the spines, the women lay the strips of raffia in the sun to dry. Once the raffia is dry, the women work the strips to soften them enough to be woven and tint them using native plant dyes. At least two local plants are used to dye the mats. In Vili, the plant that is used to dye the raffia orange is called "Ngoundsi", and the plant used to make black dye is called "Maboundsi".

Finally, the women begin to weave. The weaving of a mat that is two meters by one meter demands at least four days of work, usually more, from morning to night. Altogether, the creation of a mat normally takes about a week and a half. Each mat is one-of-a-kind, a reflection of a valued tradition and finely developed artistic skill.

Click here to meet the artists who weave these beautiful mats.

The weaving of a mat is an expression of the heart. There are established designs, but the women are constantly inventing new ones.  Below you can find descriptions of a few designs whose names are known:

"Masefi": The small pinwheel diamond shapes are echoed by the larger diamonds that surround them. The pinwheel diamonds are said to represent seashells, giving this design its name.