The Pygmies

July 20, 2011


Besides beautiful bird watching and gorilla trekking, Lake Bunyonyi is well known as the home of the African Pygmies, or Batwa peoples.  Katie and I took a day to visit with them in their village.  The pygmies are well known for their short stature and their status as one of the last hunter-gatherer forest peoples still existing today. 


We travelled how? By canoe!

But we let someone else direct the canoe.  His name was Captain Nelson.

Captain Nelson and our guide, Johnson

We passed Punishment Island - where they used to send all the unwed pregnant girls.  I told Katie that it probably should be her home.

Emily: "Oh, look! There is a bicycle in that canoe!! Wait, isn't that a song?"

Katie: "Um, no.  I think the song is 'a bicycle built for two'.  Not a bicycle in a canoe."

Emily: "Right, yeah, I knew that."

The pygmy village sits on the side of a gorgeous hill. 



This hill is also the home of a unique bi-weekly canoe market.  People canoe their goods for sale from across the region.  We were lucky to arrive as the market was setting up.

We were met by the pygmy tribe with a beautiful welcome dance.  We were truly honored.

After the dance we were able to spend some time with them and communicate through our guide.  I think they were so excited to see us because we looked really strange to them.  I'm guessing they were particularly taken with Katie's height and blonde hair.

I was completed humbled by their smiles and warm nature towards us.  I was surprised by how connected I felt to these people.  In some small way I understood how it felt to exist in Uganda and never blend in - always to be pointed at and made separate. 

The Ugandans and Rwandans do not accept the pygmies as part of their country.  The government has restricted the places where they can hunt and gather, thus destroying vital elements of their dying society.  The pygmies are struggling to survive in an unwelcoming environment.

To learn more about how to protect and empower pygmy tribes across the world, visit the Forest Peoples Programme.