The Road to Kisoro - The Batwa of Mgahinga

I woke up the day after with a stonker of a headache. I simply didn't realise how dehydrated I was from the epic descent. Armed with a big bottle of water, we left at around 8am. The drive would take us right across the Queen Elizabeth National Park (is it surely beyond the motivation of the Ugandan government to keep naming one of their most important national parks after a monarch from their colonial past ?!) on a very smooth tarmac road. The conditions of the principal roads have impressed me much more than their naming of national parks. This national park is mostly a vast savannah. We didn't see any animals at all as far as the horizon and none attempted to cross the road. As midday approaches the temperatures rise and so most seek shelter from the sun. Traffic was light, which was not surprising for a Saturday morning, and the drive was pleasant despite my throbbing head. We crossed a major channel that connects Lake George in the interior of the national park to Lake Edward (that Uganda shares with the DR of Congo) before climbing the eastern side of the Albertine Rift and then heading out of the national park. A significant section of the route was murram as there were some major road projects going on between Ntungamo, in the Ankole region, (the birthplace of the current president Yoweri Museveni) and Kabale.

The journey through Southwest Uganda culminates at the triple point of DR Congo, Rwanda and Uganda (Courtesy of Ezilon)

The landscape became more hilly, prominent with smooth mounds of extinct volcanoes that were now grazing lands, suiting the pastoral lifestyle of the Ankole people. We stopped by Kabale to get money and see about some lunch. It was now midday and pretty much rush hour at the cash point. The usual fiddling for maximum withdrawals by us foreigners was drawing gestures of impatience from locals queueing behind us. It was still too early to order lunch here so we got some chapatis and pre-ordered food at the Golden Monkey restaurant in Kisoro, at Ema's suggestion. The approach to the Virunga volcanic region is quite a treat. The grazing lands now became farm lands, neatly terraced around the rolling hills with a quilted blanket effect. The new Kabale - Kisoro road was impeccably smooth though some of the reinforcements on the cut hillsides looked quite weak and possibly prone to landslides during the future rainy seasons..  In one long view, Lake Bunyonyi was just as magnificent as its meaning (''place of many little birds''), as if a body of water suddenly flooded the hill cluster, creating islands and a vast shoreline.

Stunning sunset over Lake Bunyonyi (Courtesy of Africa Geographic)

Market day on the lake in dugout canoes (Courtesy of All Posters Images)

We arrived in Kisoro. The goat stew that we ordered was somehow transformed into a beef stew. Nothing is ever certain when it comes to restaurants in Uganda, based on our experience. The stew was very tasty nonetheless! We had booked to stay at the Amajambere Community Camp right at the gate to Mgahinga National Park, that harbours 3 great mountains, Muhabura, Sabinyo (both extinct volcanoes, and Gahinga (a dormant volcano). It also has a gorilla group that had recently returned, as the story goes, from Rwanda after a debacle with a big silver-back bully. There was a mix up with the booking at the camp. It seemed that our booking never arrived at the camp! Some frantic phone calls later, under some rather inconvenient afternoon rains,  we had to concede to stay in a dormitory, not the planned individual banda. We were appeased (at least I was) by a fantastic chicken and chips dinner (the best I've ever had in Uganda...believe me we ate a lot of chicken and chips out here!) and some really pleasant dorm mates.

Sabinyo in the Kinyarwanda language means ''Tooth''. 

That night, one of the camp managers introduced himself and the community activities that they organise. This includes a tour of the Batwa community and their activities. I had read a bit about their plight since their displacement from Mgahinga National Park after it got gazetted. The Batwa people are part of an extensive group, called Twa, across central Africa, known for their hunter gathering lifestyle in the tropical rainforests. Their average short height and consistent traditional way of life triggers puzzlement and often derogatory attitudes from communities around them and indeed the anthropologists who attempted to chronicle their origins and culture. It has thus added negative connotations such as the word ''pygmy''.

Most tragically in 1992, this area was gazetted by the government as ''The Mgahinga Gorilla National Park'' and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site to protect the 350 endangered mountain gorillas within its boundaries. You need to think again about the meaning of heritage and the role of national and global organisations in shoving out people, who have been stewards of this habitat for hundreds of years, and paradoxically naming the area after gorillas instead of the people that have been respecting and protecting their environment all along. Such a move, in my opinion, suits conservation tourism as an exploitative industry rather as a dual leisurely and educational activity. 

Their current state is quite pathetic, deprived of their traditional livelihood and thrust into a semi-modern, conservative, agrarian society and most who couldn't adapt resorted to begging and succumbed to alcoholism. Quite cynically, the camp manager mentioned that it is best to visit the local Batwa community before 9 am as most men would be too inebriated by 11 am. His reference to ''these Batwa''  didn't give me much confidence that they are being treated as equals amongst other communities. It put me off doing the community tours of the Batwa homes (Jason was put off all Batwa related activities altogether!).

I wasn't sure if I would do any tours in the park this morning as my feet were still in pain and blister ridden. I was determined to at least slide towards the park visitor centre to see what goes on there. After squeezing my mangled feet into the trekking boots, there was a better feeling of confidence in my feet. As I had breakfast I decided there and then to do something. At 9 am I headed towards the park gates. I asked the rangers assembled at the gate about the various excursions. I was then directed to the visitor's centre, an elaborate building with information displays and a mini auditorium whose construction was heavily funded by foreign donors. Ironically, there was actually no UWA staff on duty on my arrival but 2 people also looking to get on an excursion.

I was noticing a trend of being notified of the importance of punctual arrival to trips only to spend an hour hanging around before anything actually takes off. One ranger, in military police-like uniform, turned up but just seemed to hang around. Finally someone in charge turned up with other colleagues and we, the 3 tourists, discussed our preferences with them.  They looked at my trekking boots and announced that I needed to hire rubber boots since it rained a lot the night before. I said that I wanted to do the excursion that needed the least amount of walking. The Batwa ''Pygmy'' Trail was the best, they said, so I reluctantly accepted it. It turned out that the other 2 were also interested in the Batwa Trail. They both were volunteering with an organisation contracted by the UNHCR to provide medical services to the refugees from DR Congo who are being sheltered at a camp just outside Kisoro Town. Mark is from Alaska, USA and Mary from Alberta, Canada. We assembled in the mini auditorium for a briefing. About 7 people turned up: 5 Batwa men in traditional attire, one UWA ranger and a UWA guard / tourist police officer with an enormous rifle.  I didn't catch all the names but remember that the UWA ranger was called Luke and the Batwa leader had a name that approximated to Daudi.

The presentation clearly announced that the UWA were representing the Batwa and were to transmit our questions to them. Luke mentioned that Daudi understood English but couldn't articulate himself in the same language. To what extent this was true was less important than the unfortunate fact that we could not have frank and direct discussions on the current Batwa situation. It was to be a well orchestrated, almost stage managed, trail with Luke towing the official UWA line. So we hit the trail starting by witnessing a Batwa ritual gratitude to God for all the bounty that exists within the forest. It is completed with a tap of the forehead on a branch. I too tapped my forehead on it just to go with the flow and as a mark of respect, something that I suspect is not well distributed around here.

A couple of metres down the trail, one of the Batwa men got out a dagger and started digging out earth under a bush. Luke explained that they were extracting wild honey from stingless bees - how I have never heard of such a convenient method of honey extraction I have no idea! First, a hive of bees, then a hive of honey. The hive has a curious leaf like structure, completely different to the hexagon matrix of stinging beehives. By the way, it is not as yet possible to domesticate these bees for commercial honey production. I had a taste of the honey, which was dark with a consistent viscosity and pleasant, sweet, musky taste.

Harvesting wild honey

Extracting the wild honey

On a nearby stream another Batwa man pulled out a bunch of thick, wide bamboo sticks and collected water. They are naturally segmented and so water cannot leak downwards. The top was bunged with a clump of grass. We also learnt that both fresh and cooked food can be stored in these sticks for days when the hunt is long and food is not readily available. Now, the main reason that we had a guard with a rifle is to protect us from buffalo attacks in case we came across a herd. They usually are easily startled and resort to aggression if fleeing is not an option. Forest buffaloes are smaller but more aggressive than their savannah cousins. The guard normally fires in the air to scare them off. Buffaloes are part of the conservation equation, so shooting to kill is normally unthinkable.

We spotted some buffalo footprints and by now I could distinguish the two-toed hoof marks from others. Also some buffalo faeces, very strandy from the grass fibre but wet indicating that they are fresh and that a herd moved through just a few hours before. The Batwa now did a dance of joy and gratitude before the hunt. To me, this was a sorrowful number as they cannot truly hunt under the current circumstances. There was supposed to be an introduction to Batwa hunt techniques in this clearing but the guard spotted buffalo movement so we had to move to higher ground as he cocked his rifle. You could hear the snorting of the irate buffalo. The forest buffalo have an interesting tactic of retreat and ambush. Because of their poor eyesight they are not at ease at close quarters. Their reaction is to flee into hiding and then attack when confident of their retreat position and scent of the "enemy". The guard fired his weapon upwards to make sure that no such thing happens. On the trail, as with any (which was self-evident in the Rwenzori!), one has to be mindful of what they step on. Red ants normally cross footpaths on their superhighways between anthills and their resources, so one has to be careful not to become a vertical superhighway and get stung at the bottlenecks! One of the Batwa demonstrated one type of vine that they use to make belts through a process of stripping, drying and binding. I observed later that they also use them to bind bamboo beams together for structures.

Making belts out of vines

We had a break at a rest hut that was listing. This is because an elephant one day decided to rest on it and even knocked out the centre support pole! We had been walking through the secondary rainforest upto now - this is the contentious gazetted part that resulted in the displacement of people from 1991 not long after the conclusion of the Ugandan civil war. Now were entering the bamboo zone. This is a favourite area for the Batwas to build semi-permanent structures across the undergrowth and preferably in a clearing within the bamboo forest. We were shown one example of it but obviously it was just a museum piece of no current function. It has a high bed with straw and animal skins as padding and sheets respectively. This is for the man and woman. The children sleep on mats, with animal skins, on the floor and near the entrance. It may seems reckless, since wild animals are likely to wander in but one usually places sharp stakes planted to the ground within and pointing outwards. I was not fully convinced of this setup as snakes and other dangerous animals could still slither in. Usually, for the Batwa, one becomes an adult at the age of 15 and moves into their own hut. We were shown a treehouse, mostly made of bamboo, where children can stay whilst men are hunting and women doing gathering activities. This prevents them from getting attacked by animals and it is also a double-edged sword: they can practice shooting at prey with bows, arrows and spears if any suitable animals comes within their range.

Photo opportunity at the rest hut

Sentinel at the tree-safe-house

The Batwa men now taught us how they make a fire. This involves 2 sticks: one with several slots etched along the length, one with a hollowed end and a sharp wooden pick nailed inside. The stick with the pick end is repeatedly spun, at the pick end, on one of the slots. The friction create saw dust. It is the saw dust that starts smouldering before creating a faint glow. The men normally immediately place dried twigs to kick start a full fire. In this case, to my confusion, they chose to light a cigarette! Mike exclaimed that he hoped that they aren't picking up this bad habit. I suspected that tobacco smoking might not be a traditional Batwa pastime, and certainly not the commercial sort. We got some nervous smiles as responses then we pressed on. Also within the same vicinity was a miniature, even by the diminutive Batwa scale, shrine where they pray to their spiritual deity. These prayers are usually led by the group leader but I understood that not much of that is practiced anymore since the gazetting of the park, or rather deportation of the Batwa.  A short while later, we were shown a special leaf that the Batwa use before hunting to help calm the nerves. It literally  lowers your blood pressure. Luke commented that it is like chocolate for the Batwa people, in other words a delicacy. This was obviously a comment for western touristic digestion. As I cringed, I realised that there is a  certain degree of truth in the sense that chocolate does have medicinal qualities though I didn't test the flavour of this particular leaf. We returned into the secondary rainforest, still in the direction of the trail, moving up a hill.

Making a fire

Mt. Sabinyo was in full view but with its peak under cloud cover. Finally we found a safe spot to witness the hunting simulation, to highlight the day's simulations! One Batwa man played the role of an animal whilst the rest were the hunters. I could describe it as best an educational farce. Both educational and farcical, which sadly lowered the dignity of the Batwa people further still in this reduced view of Batwa culture.  On we go, another interesting sight - stone-like spheres hanging from a tree - wild pumpkins. They are actually not edible for humans but elephants love them when unripe, and then gorillas covet them when ripe. They do have a use for humans though. Batwa children have been using them to make dolls and also imitate the herding boys of other communities, pretending that the pumpkins are animals. Once again, this is an UWA translation and unless there is means to communicate directly with knowledgeable Batwas, it is hard to tell how small the pinch salt that I take shall be. The Batwa demonstrated several plants used from life to death, especially during times of mourning a loss. One is for strength and the other for invincibility. I was beginning to imagine the psychedelic effects of these herbs. Mary, the Canadian, even more curious on this matter wondered about which of these plants have been tested in a lab.

The penultimate part of the trail was the Batwa cave - the Garama Cave. There is a legend behind this cave, created after the solidification of a series of lava flows thousands of years ago. There is fabled to have been a Batwa king who resided within this cave and held court there. He apparently would direct the affairs of the community from there including raiding other communities for food and weapons, which were stored in one of the caverns. The ceiling is low and varies as you go along, so you have to make sure that you don't graze your head on the ceiling. The end of the show featured a Batwa women's chorus group already assembled within the King's den. They then proceeded out of the cave with us remaining inside the Batwa grotto ride of Disneyland Uganda. We saw them again in an opening that on a clear day gives great views across to Eastern DR Congo.

The last dance, hopefully not forever

Also check out the The Batwa Trail Photo Album here.

July 21st 2015: And.....how uncanny! Vice News did an article this year on the plight of the Batwa, taking the same exact photo of the Batwa man in the tree house with a bow and arrow. Check it out here.