Mouthwatering Blend of Batwa Culture and Bakiga Hospitality (Coming Soon)
We are making significant headway towards launching responsible Batwa “Pygmy” boat trips on Lake Bunyonyi! What we initiated in August is now on track to…
Batwa “Pygmies” are one of the oldest peoples in Africa. For centuries they roamed the forests looking for fruits and honey, and hunted with bows and trained dogs. Around 1500 they were reached by the migrations of the Bantu peoples. As the Bantu cut down the woods for their agricultural needs, Batwa numbers dwindled over time.
In the 1980s and 1990s they were evicted from national parks in Rwanda and Uganda without compensation, becoming the poorest of the poor. Recently the authorities have shown more understanding and progress has been made. Please be cautious when offered to “see the Pygmies” and avoid exploitation of the Batwa.
Related articles (for those published before 2021 please see Batwa “Pygmies” on our old blog):
We are making significant headway towards launching responsible Batwa “Pygmy” boat trips on Lake Bunyonyi! What we initiated in August is now on track to…
Volunteering with Batwa “Pygmies”? Not the easiest thing in the world, yet potentially highly impactful! Londoner Edd had selected it from our long list of…
Our Batwa friends from Rwamahano happily received six months of accumulated funds this week. They got UGX 2,130,000 (USD 570) that we had saved from…
We previously talked about Rwamahano, as an example of Batwa “Pygmy” groups we work with. These indigenous people originate from some of the oldest humans…
This week we accompanied the last group of tourists into the wilderness of Echuya Forest and to the famed ritual tree of the Batwa “Pygmies”.…
For the tenth episode of SEE AFRICA BREATHE AFRICA (we are now in the double digits!) I was sent on a mission to visit the…
No and yes and no. On the one hand, there is some serious danger that you will contribute to the culture of begging that can…
38mm, 1/250s, f/5,6, ISO400 The Batwa are in many ways the Gorilla Highlands region’s forgotten people. The original inhabitants of this part of Africa, the…
The sad story of the Batwa “Pygmies” of the Gorilla Highlands reached its dramatic peak when they were kicked out of national parks. This was in line with the…
The Batwa “Pygmies” are one of the oldest peoples in Africa and their origin is unknown. They were hunter-gatherers, roaming the forests in bands foraging for honey, wild yams, fruit, stems…