The Show to Survive

2012  Human Rights Documentary| Bambui, NorthWest Region, Cameroon 

What a bleak future for Billy and for the Baka Pygmies!

Billy, is a young Chimpanzee living in a small zoo in the northwest region of Cameroon inside a private Tea Estate. Billy's family, his mama and younger sister, were at the entrance of the zoo receiving visitors with their show. They live free inside the zoo contacting with all the visitors and were extremely kind and smart, looking deep inside our eyes and playing with us visually and emotionally. 

This was not something they had been trained to do. Their Mama asked us, very sincerely, to be seated and to enjoy the show. Naturally, we hesitated, there were too many questions in our minds, but they were clearly happy and contrived to make us relax. 

In his own little way, he works hard making shows, every day, to alert humans to his plight and to help in the fight to save all primates. Billy left a seed inside our hearts and the urgency to appeal for his cause.   The Baka Pygmies, The other side of the story. 

The Baka pygmies in the southern Cameroon have been living in the forest for thousands of years. I visited a Pygmy tribe living close to the river Lobe. They are the first tribe living along this river, about half hour by boat and closest from the civilisation. 

Ongoing development projects in the region are fragmenting the ecosystem, making the future bleak for thousands of Baka hunter-gatherers, referred to as the Pygmies, who are the original inhabitants of the forest. For the pygmies, life out of the rain forest is unimaginable, the government said it had cushioned the Baka from the hardships through the Pygmy Resettlement Program. 

This scheme aims to get the indigenous people out of the forest and resettle them on roadsides. Minister of Social Affairs Irene Nguene says it aims to give the Pygmies a “better, more settled” life. Today, Baka people are selling their souls, making daily dancing shows for tourists to make some money!

Related Article: “Ancient Baka culture in Cameroon under threat” by Ngala Killian Chimtom, Yaounde, Cameroon