Bwiti Roots

Bwiti Roots is a registered non-profit that holds iboga ceremonies in the Bwiti Fang tradition of Gabon. It runs initiations in the ancestral village of Ntann and shorter retreats in Europe, Africa and elsewhere, and it has held a winter solstice iboga retreat in Puerto Morelos, Mexico.

Approach

The founders are Audrey Braddock Ndjogo, a Bwiti Nima, and her father Roger Osingui. Audrey’s mother, Séraphine Avome Ntoutoume, was a Nima who died in 1999 and was buried in Ntann; Audrey was later initiated there by her aunt, Maman Ogningue. Roger first went to Gabon in 1977 and met Bwiti through Séraphine; the project took shape after he and Audrey went back to the village in 2019. The nine-day initiation includes plant preparations, cleansing rituals and two ceremonies with iboga root bark. Retreats outside Gabon last three to five days and, the organisation stresses, are not initiations. In Puerto Morelos, two overnight ceremonies were paired with a temazcal, sound healing and a tree planting.

Who it is for

Retreats abroad are meant for people who cannot travel to the village. Initiations are limited to six people per group and about four a year, which the organisation says keeps the tradition from becoming a tourism model.

Practical details

The Puerto Morelos retreat took 6 to 12 people at $2,150 to $3,150. Initiations start and end in Libreville, and most visitors need a visa for Gabon. The team speaks English and French, and ceremonies are held in Fang with translation. All proceeds go back to Bwiti communities in Gabon.

Care and safety

Applicants go through a medical screening, since some medications do not mix with iboga, and a retreat is preceded by a phone consultation with a medical and psychological assessment and a consent form. A special diet is required in the weeks before an initiation, and integration calls follow the return home.