Things to Do in Central African Republic in August

High water in August lets wooden pirogues slip through hyacinth channels. You drift past stilt houses painted the same turquoise as old French colonial shutters. Diesel from the outboard mixes with wood-smoke. Someone grills capitaine (Nile perch) on a charcoal bucket. Sun drops fast at 17:30. The river turns copper. Phone cameras catch the light without filter.

The M'Bari River swells so wide the waterfall becomes a single 250 m (820 ft) silver curtain. You hear it before you see it. Mist drifts across the road like smoke. Rock faces shine black. August is the only month you can stand on the old French suspension bridge and get soaked in spray without tour-bus queues. Savor the solitude.

Every Wednesday and Saturday the forest markets spill out of Mbaïki's main square. Pyramids of wild mangoes glow orange. Baskets of koko leaves smell like fresh peas. Caterpillars the length of your finger sizzle in red palm oil. August rains keep dust down. Temperatures stay tolerable for once. You can linger. You will linger.

Rain softens the leaf litter. It kicks up that earthy, peppery smell you only get in equatorial forest. Elephants move to clearings where salt licks turn to mud wallows. Tracking them is quieter because the ground stays damp. August humidity is fierce. The canopy is so thick you rarely feel direct rain. Sweat anyway.

After evening storms the tarmac on Avenue des Martyrs steams like a bain-marie. Vendors wheel out trestle tables and charcoal stoves. They grill goat brochettes brushed with peanut sauce. It caramelises into sticky crust. You eat standing. You wash it down with iced bissap that stains your tongue magenta. You will smile.