Pygmies of Zaire

Zaire is a wild country and to get across the border from Uganda you fill in the requisite forms and get your passport and visa stamped. Formerly the belgian congo, Zaire is now independant. Zaire can be difficult to travel in. Malaria is rampant so make sure you take your medicine. Banks do not usually have any money so changing money in Zaire can be a challenge. Keep a fistful of yankee dollars on you to survive. Beni has a medical center if you get sick or need to have a checkup. Malaria is a real threat in Zaire and the medicine does not always protect you from getting it. The strains are mutating all the time.

MOunt Hoyo is the home of the mbuti pygmies. The roads in zaire are said to be the worst in the world and getting around in Zaire is very difficult even with a four wheel drive vehicle. It rains most of the time and you can get stranded in potholes for days at a time. The red mud is sometimes almost a meter deep in some places and you have to dig yourself out. This type of road is completely normal in Zaire. It may be a bad idea to travel on your own in Zaire. You may be able to hire a four wheel drive and a driver.

The mbuti pygmy people are the native inhabitants of the ituri forest regions. They are only four feet tall and ten families can make up a village with four or five people to a hut. Mbuti pygmies have not had much contact with white people and are skilled hunters that use poison tipped arrows to hunt their prey in the forests in the ituri. Caterpillars are part of their staple diet. The Mbuti pygmy people respect the forest and only take what they need. The women and children make dams in the rivers to catch tiny crabs and fish. The rains can make conditions really dreadful. The Mbuti pygmies look in each others hair for ticks and fleas and other pests. The pygmies sing from dawn to dusk giving thanks to the spirits of the ituri forest.

Another trek that you can do in Zaire is to visit the Mbandaka pygmy tribes people that live in the tropical rainforests. You can start at the town of Mbandaka then drive in a four wheel drive to the town of Ilema which is twenty nine kilometers away. The village chief welcomes you and pigmies do their traditional dances. You can buy fruits and vegetables at the market and for meal the speciality of this area is Congolese Chicken. Another stop off to the village of Samba and Buya where the pygmies have unique wooden sculptures. Next stop can be Ikoko which is near Lake Tumba which you can cross in a traditional canoe to Bikoro on the other side of the lake. Here you can visit the jungle park and see the local flora and fauna which is unique in this area of Zaire.

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