Text and photos : David and Anna Bosum
Our names are David and Anna Bosum. We are the owners and operators of Nuuchimi Wiinuu Cultural tours. We welcome your interest in the Cree community of Oujé-Bougoumou, and invite you to join us on a fascinating adventure and cultural experience. We offer snowshoe and dog-sledding adventures in the winter, and river and lake canoe trips in the summer. We offer specific five (5) and eight (8) day winter packages and five (5) and seven (7) day summer experiences. We would also be pleased to design customized trips of varying lengths to suit your specific touring interests.
All our excursions begin and end at the Cree community of Oujé-Bougoumou where you will be given a tour of both the modern and traditional villages. In Oujé-Bougoumou (the name means "Place where the people gather"), you will see a unique heating plant which reflects the Cree tradition of conservation, fed by waste sawdust : it sends out heat to every building in the village via underground pipes. You will see buildings that combine a traditional astchiiugamikw (tepee) style with modern architecture. You will hear of our struggle to build the community and learn why we won a United Nations award for excellence.
While in the village, you will be staying in a traditional dwelling in our cultural village where you will be warmed by a crackling fire and lulled to sleep by the fragrance of spruce boughs. Or, if you prefer, for a little extra, you have the option of staying at the Community’s comfortable, fully equipped Capissisit Lodge. In the bush, you’ll be staying in a heated canvas tent with a spruce bough floor that will give you all the warmth and comfort of a small cabin.
During your journey, you will learn about our special relationship with the land. Living close to this land, we tend to think of it as a living entity - something that can be hurt if we don’t treat it well. So we take what we need from it and leave the rest to grow and flourish for our grandchildren. A visit to one of our camps offers an intimate window to our way of life where you will be introduced to traditional skills, practices, past times, medicines and stories.
Contact
Nuuhchimi Wiinuu
David & Anna Bosum
74 Opataca Meskino
OUJÉ-BOUGOUMOU, Quebec, G0W 3C0
Tel. : 1-800-745-2045
Tel. : (Office) 418-745-3212
Tel. : (Res.) 418-745-3629
Fax : 418-745-3500
Email : creeculturaltours@hotmail.com
Web site : http://www.ouje.ca/tourism/nuuhchimi_wiinuu_winter_summer.htm
Web site : http://www.ouje.ca/tourism/cultural.htm
Recommanded package
Winter Cultural Tour
Those who notified us they will be arriving by plane will be met at the Chibougamau Airport and driven to the cultural village. Those driving here can drive right to Oujé-Bougoumou. Your first evening will be spent in the cultural village in Oujé-Bougoumou. Here you will formally meet the other members of your trip and be treated to a meal of traditional food. While in the village, you will be staying in an eenougamuk (traditional dwelling) where you will be warmed by a crackling fire and lulled to sleep by the fragrance of spruce boughs. Or, if you prefer, for a slight surcharge, you have the option of staying at the Community’s comfortable and fully equipped Capissisit Lodge.
The next morning, after breakfast at Capissisit Lodge, you will be taken onto the land and, in winter, onto the frozen lake. We will be using snowshoes to travel the way our ancestors did. But we will be accompanied by dogsleds and snowmobiles, so you can take a break along the way. In the bush, you’ll be staying in a heated canvas with a spruce bough floor that will give you all the warmth and comfort of a small cabin. You will spend two nights here so there will be plenty of time to learn new skills and try snowshoeing, dog sledding, traditional cooking, sewing, craft making and much more.
On the third full day of the trip, you will move to an island in Opemiska Lake, set up camp where you will check fish nets, continue being shown various traditional skills and practices, and take part in more winter time fun activities.
Day Four takes you back to Oujé-Bougoumou. As with all of the days, the journey is a major part of the experience. Along the way, you experience how we traveled ; you get an intimate introduction to the land and a deeper understanding of how we live in harmony with our surroundings. In the evening, it’s back to the village and your eenougamuk, or to your room at the Lodge.
Day Five - Departure : After a breakfast at the Lodge, you will have the opportunity to take a guided tour of the award-winning community of Oujé-Bougoumou and visit the local handicraft shop and then, for those traveling by plane, be driven to the Chibougamau Airport and your flight home.