A race of hunter-gatherers, the Baka Pygmies, found in Cameroon, coexist with various ethnic groups of Bantu farmers, with whom they exchange goods.

With an average height of 1.5 meters, the Baka are, strictly speaking, pygmoids rather than pygmies. However, in everyday use, the term “pygmy” is used.

It is difficult to determine the exact number, as as a semi-nomadic group, they roam the rainforest and temporarily reside in specific areas that offer rich games and natural resources, but estimates range from 5,000 to 28,000 individuals.

They occupy the forest ecology and exploit the gifts of nature or the ecosystem. Over the years, important exchange relationships have developed between the Baka hunter-gatherer and neighboring Bantu cultivators. However, this relationship has been one of tolerance and has been characterized by hostility. The situation has been caused by the condescending attitude and derogatory remarks with which the Bantu describe their Pygmy neighbors, regarding the Baka as property they own, victims of racism and exploited on plantations as cheap labor.

One of the most important differences between the Baka Pygmies and their Bantu associates is the fact that they owe their total existence to the natural resources that nature has endowed in their habitat, the rainforest.

Like other Pygmies, the Baka are culturally, linguistically, and physically different from their Bantu neighbors.

They live in huts they call mongulu, which are single-family houses made of branches and leaves and almost always built by women. After preparing a framework of very flexible and thin branches, freshly collected leaves are embedded in the structure. After the work is completed, other plant materials are sometimes added to the dome to make the structure more compact and waterproof. In addition to the Mongulus, the Baka also build rectangular huts made of leaves or bark, as do other ethnic groups, only using clay and wood.

The Baka know the variety of forest foods and animals and the specific seasons in which these products can be easily found. Of the different seasons these pygmies experience each year, the three-month period of heavy and prolonged rains is the most important. During this period, when the forest is in abundance, the Baka leave their permanent villages for the deep forest and for several months they wander gathering food. The men perform the most prestigious, but undoubtedly most dangerous job of supplying meat to the group by hunting and trapping. The women carry their belongings in baskets and follow their husbands.

The types of hunting that are carried out in the jungle are with bows, poisoned arrows, crossbows, spears and traps. Contrary to what happens in other Pygmy cultures, the Baka are unaware of the use of hunting nets. The sacrificed forest animals are various species of primates, artiodactyls, rodents, etc., which are hunted at night. They set traps near waterways to hunt crocodiles, which are usually killed with spears.

Looking for food in the forests is one of the most important activities for the survival of the group, collecting yams, fruits, mushrooms, but in some seasons of the year it is possible that they will find small animals, such as termites and caterpillars.

Carried in baskets by the women, the products arrive at the camp and are shared by all the families.

Hunting is one of the most important activities, not only because of the provision of food, but also because of the symbolic meanings and the prestige traditionally attributed to it. Expert hunters are highly regarded and respected, especially if they specialize in the most rewarding and meaningful game activity – hunting the great elephant.

Massive deforestation these days deprives Pygmies of essential natural resources for their biological and cultural survival. Unfortunately, due to declining prey numbers and less frequent expeditions in the forest, hunting today does not provide the Baka with an adequate supply of animal protein, causing serious nutritional problems, especially in children.

With an inadequate diet and health problems, many live quiet lives maintaining a strong cultural identity and drawing the boundaries between their form of culture and that of the other ethnic groups in the forest.

Of all the aspects of nature that surround the Baka pygmies, they perceive the rainforest as the most valuable force with which they interact.

The typical Baka pygmy will not leave his forest home even in exchange for an ultra-modern palace in the city.

They have a deep knowledge and understanding of the forest and its products, including the healing power of plants, and are in fact the guardians of a huge natural pharmacy. Therefore, his whole life is occupied with the well-being of his forests.

“We were born and raised in the forest; we do everything in the forest, gathering, hunting and fishing. Now, where do you want us to make our lives?”

Mbeh: guitarist Baka

Baka Beyond / Baka Gbine

Music plays a central role in the life of the Baka. From an early age they have a keen sense of rhythm, as soon as a baby can clap, they are encouraged to participate in all community musical composition. There is music for ritual purposes, music to convey knowledge, stories and the history of the Baka people, and music for pure enjoyment. This creation of community music constantly helps to strengthen the bonds between the individuals of the groups.

Baka music is perhaps best described as bursts of harmonic singing, intertwined in a dynamic and rhythmic way. It’s quite mesmerizing and the ambient forest setting makes the overall effect mesmerizing.

Inspired by the magical rhythms and melodies of the Baka people, British musicians Martin Cradick and Su Hart founded Baka Beyond in 1993 after visiting tribal villages.

They recorded an album “Spirit of the Forest” under the name Baka Beyond, which led to worldwide recognition. Since then, the band has grown into a dynamic, multicultural live show with album sales of more than a quarter of a million copies.

They have played at WOMAD in the UK, the US and the Czech Republic and at the Glastonbury Jazz Stage; Musica Mondial in Sao Paulo, Brazil and many more festivals in the UK, USA, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal, as well as headlining the Vancouver Folk-Roots Festival. His tracks are often heard on television soundtracks, particularly on BBC nature programs, and have been nominated for BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards for listeners.

Su Hart says: “It was the incredible bird song that first attracted me, the women will gather before dawn to sing, enchant the forest animals and make sure the men’s hunt is a success. It is used singing and dancing by the Baka for healing, for rituals, to keep the community together and also for pure fun. “

With the continued help of Martin and Su, they were invited to perform at local parties, weddings and funerals in Cameroon. After recording their album “Gati Bongo” in 2000, they settled on the name “Baka Gbine” (Gbine translated means “help”).

The band includes guitarists Pelembir, Mbeh and Zow, percussionist Masekou, two women, Ybunga and Lekeweh, who bring phenomenal singing to concerts and traditional music.

Give it back to the Baka

Baka Gbine is one of the few groups that makes sure to put as much in the culture as they take out. The royalties earned from the sale of the albums are funneled back to the Baka Pygmies through the UK-based Global Music Exchange charity, or as the Baka call it, ‘One Heart’.

This ongoing relationship with the Baka community has helped them gain land rights and recognition as Cameroonian citizens, as well as funding their own medical center and a House of Music. All of these steps help protect the Baka culture, forest environment and the unique way of life of hunter-gatherers.

Roger Harrabin reports:

The biggest threat comes from a road into the rainforest that has been improved by the Cameroonian government with funding from the European Union.

The World Bank and the African Development Bank refused to finance the upgrade.

They said it would speed up the logging and hunting of endangered species. But the EU handed over the money without conducting an environmental assessment.

Steve Gartland, the man from the World Wildlife Fund in Cameroon, says the inevitable is now happening.

“Road construction programs tend to generate development in forest areas. As soon as forest areas are opened, poachers enter, leading to depletion of wildlife and deforestation,” he said.

Sixty percent of Cameroon’s forests are already being exploited.

Some companies destroy the forest by bribing laws that only allow the felling of selected mature trees. Others seem to follow the book, cutting down only the occasional large tree.

Forester Jean Francois Pagot admits that the most valuable species are being depleted because they are not being replanted.

He says:

“The main reason is the long life of the trees. Some take two or three hundred years to fully mature, and no wood license lasts that long, so the diversity of the forest is eroding.”

The Baka have found it harder to come by other types of meat since poachers started using the EU road to sell their catch from the forest reserve.

One Baka said: “They killed elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, panthers, buffalo, deer, all in the reserve.”

European Union (EU) taxpayers are funding wildlife conservation in this reserve, in addition to paying for the road that makes life easier for poachers.

The EU is now funding anti-poaching education projects. But hunting wildlife is too profitable for some to resist. Conservationists say it is a typical problem caused by the EU aid program. They say that aid from Brussels is often mismanaged and harms people on the acute end, such as the Baka.