The Babongo People
The Babongo are hunter-gatherers who live in the forest of Gabon, Western Africa. The Babongo number around 2,000, live alongside several other pygmy tribes in the heavily forested Congo basin. They have no formal system of government or chiefs, and traditionally, each small group within the tribe had rights to the territory where they lived and hunted. They know the forest intimately, and are expert trackers - they can find a bee hive by following the flight path of a single bee. The countries they live in give them no legal right over their territory, and their way of life is in danger because of deforestation (source). Click here to view a segment on the Babongo from the television show Going Tribal.
Here is a clip of the Babongo immitating animal sounds. This footage is provided by Afrique Profonde, a non-profit organization working to preserve the traditional culture and rights of the Pygmies of central Africa.
