People of the Congo Rainforest - the "Pygmies"

Recommended Reading + Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo by Kate Jackson + In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz by Michela Wrong + The Last Hero by Peter Forbath + The River Congo by Peter Forbath + Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad + Facing the Congo by Jeffrey Tayler + The Troubled Heart of Africa by Robert B. Edgerton + The Forest People by Colin Turnbull

Today the African rainforest is home to some of the most celebrated tribal people, the so-called Pygmies of the Ituri forest in northern Zaire. The tallest of these people, known as the Mbuti, rarely exceed 5 feet (1.5 m) in height. Besides the Mbuti, there are three other major rainforest peoples of Africa: the Aka (Central African Republic and northern Congo), the Baka (southern Cameroon), and the Twa (central Zaire river basin). Together these groups account for some 130,000 to 170,000 forest dwellers distributed over a large area of forest. The result is low population density; the Mbuti average fewer than one person per every one-and-a-half square miles (four square kilometers).

African forest people tend to be noticeably smaller than those from the savannas, the Pygmies being the most extreme example. Their small stature undoubtedly enables them to move about the forest more efficiently than taller peoples. Additionally, their smaller body mass allows pygmies to dissipate their body heat more efficiently.

These peoples live in bands that range in size from 15-70 people depending largely on outside factors -- hunting, trading, disease, and forest area. These groups tend to be nomadic, moving to new parts of the forest several times during the year and carrying all their possessions on their back. Their nomadic lifestyle is less damaging to the rainforest environment because it allows the group to move without over-exploiting the local game and forest resources.

When they establish a settlement, they clear any undergrowth, small trees, and saplings, leaving the canopy-forming trees intact. Under the cover of canopy, the pygmies are protected from the powerful tropical sun and can better harvest such entities like honey and game. By leaving the canopy intact, when the group leaves, the area can quickly return to semi-primary forest. Their huts superficially resemble igloos, with a domed latticework formed with saplings and wall of shingled tree leaves.

Most African forest people spend much of the year near a village where they trade bush meat and honey for manioc, produce, and other goods. A forest family will almost always trade with the village family of its choosing, and once determined, usually continues to trade exclusively the same family. Sometimes, the relationship between the forest family and the village family will be passed on to future generations. The forest people could stay in the village if they choose, but instead return to the better life of the forest where they have less disease, cleaner water, less work, more choices, less uncertainty, no need for money, and less disputes. Studies have revealed that African forest people have better health and dietary intake than other populations in Sub-Sahara Africa.

The day to day life of the forest people is probably simpler than that of the villagers. The women do most of the gathering, using baskets they carry on their backs. Men concentrate on hunting and the collection of honey-perhaps the most prized, highly sought-after forest product by the Mbuti and other forest peoples. The Mbuti will climb over 100 feet (30 m) into the canopy to reach the honey-containing beehives. When they reach the nest, the climbers burn a type of wood which produces a smoke that stuns the bees and enables the Mbuti to break into the hive and collect the honey.

African forest peoples are excellent hunters and each forest group specializes in their own hunting method. For example, the Efe people almost exclusively hunt their prey (over 45 species of animal) using bows and arrow. Other groups use both bows and arrow and netting to capture their prey. Although in these groups, men do most of the hunting of arboreal animals using bows and arrows and crossbows, women play an important role in the capture of ground dwelling animals. The men arrange the nets into a semi-circle and form a wall up to one kilometer in length of hunting nets and the women scare animals into the nets where the men use spears to kill the game.

Traditionally forest people hold a great deal of respect for the animals they hunt and do not to over-exploit the game. Even so, the bush meat trade has increased beyond sustainable levels over the past few years to meet the growing demand of the expanding village populations. Additionally, African forest peoples are being hired as trackers by ivory poachers to track down the endangered forest elephants, whose tusks are more valuable than those of savanna elephants.

AFRICAN FOREST PEOPLES TODAY

The small number (in proportion to the Sub-Sahara population) of forest people are highly threatened by destruction of their homelands and official government policies to end their forest traditions. No legal land titles have been granted to African forest peoples by Central African governments. During the 1980s and first half of the 1990s, according the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, Africa lost the highest percentage of rainforest (10.5%) of any forested realm resulting in a further decline of the forest peoples. Much of the deforestation is the result of the expansion of villages, due to population pressures, into forest areas, and commercial logging by multinational corporations. Logging is especially problematic because logging settlements and roads into the interior, open huge tracts of previously inaccessible forest to rapid colonization. Logging camps not only bring unwanted colonists, but also bring disease to the forest people who lack immunity to outside diseases like Malaria. In addition, the loggers usually do not bring manioc and produce to trade with the forest people, but instead introduce money, tobacco, and marijuana. Game is becoming scarce for the pygmies from poaching by loggers and the noise created by their heavy machinery and chainsaws.

The recent civil war and mass exodus of refugees from Eastern Zaire, undoubtedly had some effect on the native forest peoples. Thousands of refugees retreated into the rainforest. The extent of the interaction between the refugees and the natives is largely unknown at the time of writing, though in some areas pygmies were having difficulty trapping sufficient amounts of meat.

Table of Contents

Stats
Congo People
Congo River
Congo Deforestation
Congo Forestry
Congo Conservation
Photos from Gabon
Rainforests
- - -
Congo Map
Satellite Image
Congo Fires