Chimps hate me, Pt. 2

I forgot to write about two things relating to Semiliki NP in the last entry.

1. In December there was an outbreak of the ebola virus in the area. I didn't find this out until I was already there, and you can imagine how comforting this was to discover. It's contained, apparently, but if my internal organs start hemorrhaging than I will not hesitate to seek medical attention.

2. The Semiliki area is home to one of Uganda's two groups of pygmies. The other group is around the Rwanda, DRC, Uganda border area, and while they're ethnically similar, the two groups are apparently quite different culturally. The group I visited are basically part of a Congolese group in its easternmost extension. I'd heard that its quite weird, somewhat depressing to visit them, but I was in the area and my curiosity got the best of me. I had not wanted to visit them because I think visiting them is kind of like treating them as freaks, and you have to pay, and I don't like the idea of having to pay to see someone. Paying, in my opinion, adds to the feeling that you're at a circus show. In the end my curiosity got the best of me, and supposedly the money does help the communities.

So, the visit was short, and while I don't regret it, I don't think it was meaningful in any sort of way. They all want you to buy their handicrafts, and if you pay even more they'll do a dance for you. The pygmies are small, but not dwarf small, you'll see in my pictures when I post them. Traditionally they lived in the rainforest and hunted the animals, but since the creation of the national park they've been kicked off this land and forced into a govt. built village. Until an agreement was made that gave a certain percentage of park revenue to the community there was quite a bit of tension as you can imagine. Today they are allowed to hunt again in the forest, although not the chimps, elephants, or buffalo. The King of the village showed me his home and his stash of opium, which he was quite proud to show me. They are also allowed to legally grow marijuana, and smoking it is part of their cultural traditions. Not sure about opium, but I doubt they smoke it legally, but I sincerely doubt there's any enforcement of the law in this community. All they wanted was for me to give them money, so after a little bit of walking around I decided it was enough and headed out. The pygmies are discriminated against, often robbed by neighboring communities, their women are often sexually assaulted by neighboring communities' men. In fact the large number of rapes, and subsequent pregnancies in some cases has meant that genetically the pygmies are becoming more and more mixed with non-pygmies, with implications regarding the future of the community. It's small in any case, no more than a few hundred. So their situation is not great, and they'll probably continue to struggle in a last of ways for the foreseeable future.


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