Reaching Remote Pygmy Tribes in CONGO Documentary - Sebastian Tirtirau

[Music] during the last 500 years contact between white civilization and remote tribes has followed two routes both with disastrous consequences for indigenous peoples [Music] today when most tribes are reluctant about contact with outsiders explorer sebastian tirtiro travels around the world asking them what kind of future they want to build [Applause] sebastian and gabby are on their way to the democratic republic of congo where they're planning on returning to visit old friends in the pygmy tribe [Music] gabby is sebastian's congo specialist at sebastian's request he went to the congo in 2009 and spent almost two years with the pygmies the congo is one of the most dangerous locations in the world so planning is vital we're flying into entebbe uganda and then reach congo by road through the casindi checkpoint from here we travel to beni the first city inside congo itself once all authorizations have been granted we head for aloya the closest town to the people we're hoping to visit the bamboote pygmies why why did we choose uganda to go to congo it's the most logical place we're close to the border from here we organize motorcycles rides from here we organize how he enters into congo plus we worked in north kibu which is the closest province here from a political point of view uganda is one of central africa's most stable countries this is why a lot of western states and companies use it as a base from which they can manage their political and commercial interests in neighbouring countries such as the democratic republic of congo however uganda is one of the poorest nations in the world with a third of the population living on less than one dollar a day still from what gabby is saying it seems things in congo are much worse than here central africa is steeped in religion most inhabitants are devout christians to the point that even their small businesses receive christian names the influence of the church is very strong here and this could prove especially useful once we enter congo don't go too fast we need to find transport for our expedition into the congo if you want to get around cheaply and easily in kampala you rent a border border the taxi cabs used by locals our first option is to buy a few motorcycles in this part of the world motorcycles are the vehicle of choice for the poor which would work to our advantage in congo however the prices are too high [Music] buying five motorcycles would take a huge chunk out of our budget and with the rampant corruption in congo you never know how much such an expedition will end up costing so we're left with the option of renting a car though cheaper there are disadvantages cars are a symbol of wealth in congo and are often pulled over in armed robberies it's a risk we're going to have to take every time i start planning that i'm going to congo there is this tremendous anxiety and tension in my bones and it it's due to the fact that both the first time i went and the second time i went to congo i had a lot of a lot of trouble being electrocuted in 2007 left him with serious after effects when he undergoes intense strain his body goes into powerful convulsions that can last for a couple of hours affecting his heart and immune system this time the convulsions are too strong the next day sebastian goes to a hospital in empebe for a checkup it was very high last night it was very high last night i have a nurse with me and he she has been taking your breakfast it was very hard now at least it has been a bit down but you will get a blood test and medication a couple of days which you are going to stay here but in congo it is not advisable you are not going to travel there because your health does not allow and given that yesterday night the conversions were so frequent we need to first attend to you the next couple of the couple of days yes please yeah so we can do blood tests here with yes everything we are going to do it okay but the other one maybe you have friends who are just going to continue with that yeah i have the group that can go there yeah yeah okay let's be there like that for you are going to stay around here and we do some investigations okay yes please thank you very much you're welcome so if something like this happens while i'm in congo then gabi has to come with me to the first hospital which is about 100 kilometers away which would cut another four days short of our trip and then the whole the whole success of this expedition i think would be would be jeopardized so i rather um go back myself and um i leave the crew in the hands of gabi my trusted friend gabi works with me for the past three years he's spent the most time in congo he worked with the pygmies way more extensively than than i did i'm i'm taking off back to namibia and canada and see if i can fix this before we do some some other expeditions we leave for the congo soon we will enter one of the most dangerous countries on earth gabby's mission is simple to visit the pygmies and find out what they need after that sebastian will try to arrange aid for the next expedition to congo once we reach the border customs the process of paying bribes begins and it won't end until we leave the country okay [Music] [Music] the paradox of loving this country and its people and fearing to go into this country because from the border all the way to when you get out of the country um it's it's a constant pressure constant constant tension and stress and i never enjoyed that too much last time i went to lubumbashi kasumbalesa in southern congo we spent five days in the border just to cross with a car inside inside congo and it's been very very tough to deal with that you pay the taxes then tomorrow they come up with a new tax and there's in higher prices and higher evaluations and so forth by the time you have all the papers the chief doesn't want to put the last time because he has a wedding he doesn't care he wants to go and do that by the time you finish everything and people know you have all the papers you want to live you want to leave from the place then uh 20 people surround your car and say no i'll show you i showed you where to park you owe me five dollars i showed you where the gate is you owe me five dollars everybody's asking for money and this is this is very depressing for people they want to visit congo because i think they will have more visitors if they will loosen up a little bit [Music] because of the cumbersome procedures crossing the border took a very long time and now that sebastian isn't traveling with us we're in a much more difficult situation we need to travel to benny by night in eastern congo nobody goes out after dark especially in the cities where crime is rife fortunately gabby has friends in benny and he tries to get an update as we move on it seems there are serious security issues in the area so we hope that we'll make it safely to the city the biggest problem of all are the soldiers because some sometimes they are not paid so during the day they are okay but during the night they just become bandits looking for you know their salaries so the seller is not coming from government so that's why in congo no one no one is traveling during the night from six o'clock in the evening until let's say seven or six or seven o'clock in the morning nothing is moving you just sit inside or stay wherever you are and wait for the light to come because uh congo congress population they they used to say a soldier is a soldier during the day but there's a rebel during the night so watch out on our way we can see signs of rebel troop hijackings many of the drivers when attacked lose control of the vehicle and end up driving off the edge of a ravine [Applause] it's close to midnight when we finally reach benny and take shelter with venom an old friend of gabby's the next morning we begin to find out why this is a dangerous time to be in this area as you know we go through war for 13 years almost and this part of congo is the most which has been attacked with rebels the situation that we are living now is that many people in this part of congo they have been corrupted to kill each other for their personal things personal ideas personal business and this has last now like two months one month ago people are dying every night and this is due to the problems that i've told you like uh two days ago they have killed some but some two people in their homes some guys came to their home and they start shooting for any reason but after so many investigations and so many foundings they found out that uh some of them they are against the government they would like to do this to make the government feel that it's not responsible the government is doing nothing for the security of the population and some of them do it because they would like to get some posts they would like to be some people in the government they would like to to get jobs by force by doing this because after they get investigation they maybe they can look for the people who did it and when they find them for the reason they will be asked why they did it they can try to explain that they would like to have some post in the government situation so instead of putting them to prison they will give them post in the government yeah because even if you put them in prison they have a big team you can put one person in prison but the following day those people come to attack that's the situation so you're saying now the the is not good travel at night or whatever it's not good to travel at night because they are on the way all night after eight o'clock at night pm they start they stop in the bushes on the way in the forest to try to see people who are coming with their car they attack them they kill when the the conference uh we call it coferos de berlin this berlin conference that happened in 1885 when the when africa was divided into countries they divided the country so some uh some one days people speaking run the language some of them went on the path of congo and these people they kind of get this double double nationality you will find someone who is at the same time herondis but he calls himself a congolese yeah so that one has been a very serious problem that has created the civil war the conflicts in the congo have been going on for over 130 years at the 1884 berlin conference the congo was deemed the sole property of leopold ii of belgium he received full rights over this wealthy part of central africa during his dominion it's estimated that 10 million natives were massacred accounting for around 50 percent of the total population in 1908 the belgian state bowed to international pressure and refused to tolerate leopold's abusive regime transforming the free congo into a belgian colony in 1960 under the leadership of patrice lumumba the congolese succeeded in gaining independence from belgium but the suffering of the congolese tribes didn't stop here lumumba was assassinated shortly after independence and in 1965 another cruel political system this time a local one started to oppress the people under the leadership of mobutu one of the most paranoid dictators of all africa in 1997 the anti-mobutu forces started a civil war aimed at ousting his regime from power the civil war lasted six years and it's estimated that 5.4 million people were killed today after almost 150 years of genocide the congolese people still live a hard life north kivu located in the eastern part of the country is an especially dangerous place [Music] there's no transport infrastructure no electricity grid and practically no state involvement in public health and education the majority of the hospitals and schools are under the protectorate of christian churches and humanitarian foundations which struggle to pay the basic running costs for these places they lack the financial resources to do anything more it's the unknown of everything in the country it has no infrastructure you don't know if when you when your petrol is finished if you can fill it up somewhere people don't have things luxuries like that you stop you get a little bottle of two liters and you put petrol in and then you move on hoping you're gonna find something later you also encounter this this pressure as an outsider because they have no tourism they don't see much white people or foreigners there the moment they see you they look at you as a as to bag of money [Music] rebel groups are still hiding in the impenetrable forests attacking the official state army or civilian populations whenever they need supplies un troops have been here since the civil war and intend to stay until the rebel factions are eradicated these troops of u.n they want to stay in congo of course they cannot just stay here doing nothing because we've never seen them shooting and doing the real thing as army men they keep going around and where they are found it's always places where minerals are found so i think they have a hidden agenda that is making them staying long here yeah these people are i think most of them have nothing have no job they are jobless so they come to to get job in congo and they look at themselves more precious than congolese the way i look at them and yeah of course when one dies the whole world will know but when a hundred congolese can die even a thousand but no one will make it an issue so this is real this is a very serious problem congolese are dying millions of congolese have died but no one seems to care about it but only one want one soldier of monique if he dies then all the radios will speak about it in congo it's not enough to have a visa wherever you go you'll need several authorizations that you can only get if you know the right people reverend kisunzu helps us fill out the forms and puts us in touch with other pastors along our route then he accompanies us to the local information office to help speed up the authorizations church leaders are highly regarded here and the authorities trust them [Music] in a country where you're not even allowed to film the landscape thanks to our microcam embedded in a pair of spectacle frames we can even film in the authority's office if we're found out we could end up in prison they gave us their approval to get in the pygmy area of course not without 100 dollars but this first time we got the receipt so it's okay and they also promised us that in case that the rivals will kidnap us they will do all their effort to send the government troops to save us everyone wants to come to congo all these americans europeans and many nations want to come make some business with congo so that they can grab everything they have so i don't think these problems of security that we are having these problems of civil war will end i don't think so because whenever we have such problems that's when people get advantage of coming and stealing because if the country is well organized then many people may not get chances to come in and and get whatever we have the democratic republic of congo holds 80 percent of the world's coltan reserves more than 60 percent of the world's cobalt and produces 18 of the world's diamonds it's the world's largest supplier of high-grade copper and holds about half of the hydroelectric potential of the whole continent in june 2000 the united nations established a panel of experts on the illegal exploitation of congolese resources to examine links between the wars and natural resource exploitation in 2002 the experts reported that 119 different companies were involved in the mining and transportation of congolese minerals including a large number of british american belgium and south african firms the conflict in the congo has created a win-win situation for all belligerents the only loser in this huge business venture is the congolese people so all these are riches that the lord has given to congolese but one thing that hurts me is that congolese are not they don't have the chance of getting advantage of all those of these riches uh they are poor and i think the poorest man lives in congo we're leaving for our loya a village located on the edge of the rainforest which will be our base camp for the next few days not very far from where we are sebastian has some good friends that he visited in 2007 the laguara tribes they're some of the most remote tribes on the planet [Music] okay [Applause] [Music] i heard about you and i've always wanted to come to see you all we just learned that their part of the forest is packed with rebels who kidnap white people for ransom so we decide to head straight for the pygmies very recently like few weeks ago a white guy was they say picked up by the miles in the forest and they don't they still don't know what's happening there so we should be very very careful and i think we will we wouldn't sleep in a pygmy camps as we hoped and we have to come back each evening in the main village there are several things out there that you have no control over the jungle diseases malaria yellow fever typhoid fever and in my life and in my experience you know where i'm planning planning so many things at once and doing so many expeditions i need to to have control over these unknown factors and in congo you never do of course for those that live there like gabi the situation is different he learned and adapted to live with the people and find the cracks in the system so he can survive on the way madebro and musavoli are expecting us just as reverend kisunzo promised they helped us with the authorizations necessary in the villages we come across naturally not without the required bribes [Music] in congo the state doesn't take care of the roads but the congolese are always able to find solutions every friday morning the men gather to do community work most of the time they fix the roads as they do all the maintenance work they see the road as theirs and ask for a toll from passers-by and especially from car drivers the road is long and difficult and we can't get to our destination by sundown it's already night when we reach a lawyer are extremely rare in this area many of these children have never seen a white person they react with a combination of fear and or which is hard to overcome during the next few days they will follow us at a distance everything we do is interesting to them even sitting in a chair doing nothing at all [Music] gabby however is experienced and knows how to get closer to them this child is asking for money and gabby's willing to give it to him if he comes closer [Music] in just a few days their attitude changes and there's no way we can go anywhere [Applause] [Music] alone [Music] a lawyer has approximately 50 000 inhabitants which for congo represents a small town the people in this area are members of the banande tribe part of the larger bantu tribal family here in the countryside the village tribes are more peaceful and the only major dangers are rebels and soldiers household tasks are usually done by women even if these include strenuous jobs like carrying firewood these women are carrying loads of around 100 pounds each the men are mostly involved in procuring money for the family such as selling handmade wood articles extracting palm oil and selling it at the market in the city is also a good source of income most of the children attend school the system is based on the old european curriculum and teaching methods and there are also good teachers sadly many of these children will never use the skills learned in school since there are few opportunities in the country societies in africa used to be peaceful so i don't know how the devil works with the education because education was supposed to bring peace education was supposed to help people to give peaceful life with others but the more people get educated the more crazy they become so this is a real mess [Music] after a period resting in a lawyer it's time to go into the jungle and meet the pygmies we buy salt soap and machetes it might not seem like much to us but they will be highly appreciated before we leave we stop for petrol the pygmies are just 30 miles away so two or three bottles each will do for the return trip [Music] on the way were pulled over and called to the local army office as usual we prepare some money just in case [Music] the lieutenant informs us that the my my rebels are in the area and he can't let us go into the forest without an escort we're not sure what one man could do against an army of rebels but this is hardly the time to argue [Music] the term my my comes from uh kiswahili word which means water my mice water and they are called like this because in in the war from 1995 till 90 till let's say 2001 they were using magic water uh to become bulletproof so yeah it's it's a bit of nonsense but that's the way it is and uh this rival group is formed majorly out of children inevitable if you are a white guy or if you are from uganda or from rwanda and you are traveling into congo your potential target for them because they just don't like foreigners to get into their country the road through the jungle seems extremely difficult to us but we're told it's in much better shape now since it hasn't rained for a few days and the soil is dry gabby is experienced in riding a motorcycle through the jungle but in situations like this he has to leave things to the professionals or risk plunging into the river motorcycle and all what's up [Applause] on our way we come across a christian mass combined with strong african elements [Music] finally after a day journey we meet our first pygmies we find them near a village in the jungle by now we're used to the children being terrified of white people and bursting into tears at our presence the pygmies are scattered around the forest as usual looking for food they do know however how to find each other we meet up with some of them then cross the river in order to find the rest we know that the maimai rebels are based across the river so we don't want to hang around there for too long about half a million pygmies are believed to live in the congo river basin where they eke out a subsistence existence the forest is their only hiding place but even here they're the victims of many abuses both sides in the civil war regarded them as sub-human believing that their flesh can confirm magical powers if eaten these remote tribes are social outcasts although they were the first inhabitants of these places they have no land no rights and no voice in society it seems it was a perfect job for sebastian after hearing about them in 2007 he organized his first expedition to the congo [Music] my name is sebastian from canada for five years what really broke me when i saw the pygmies for the first time was there the tremendous sadness that you can see on their face the sadness in their eyes and talking to some of them they explained to me if you've seen the things we've seen if you've been through the things we've been you would understand because these people have been decimated by the rebels eaten killed burned right in front of their wives and children in what it's called the ritualistic cannibalism uh in the former war of congo and um you know nobody really cares about these people nobody really pays any attention to them they call them the thieves of the jungle because they have no land they have to survive as they as they can today even if the abuses are scarcer their lives are far from easy once we get them all together we give them the gifts and we're astonished by how much these small items mean to them and the joy that they bring [Applause] because i spent such a long time away from these people i was afraid they will not know me anymore and also that they will be afraid to speak to us or they'll be afraid to meet with us but as you saw as we saw everything went well and they're very happy to see us so i'm also happy because i i got to see them again the bamboote pygmies are among the very few tribes left on the planet that are still nomads they move from place to place looking for fruit fish and other sources of food if they want a bigger catch of fish they form large groups and head for a small river where they can use fishing nets seems that a young pygmy girl likes a member of our team so she caught him by taking care of him the thing that made me be so close to them is that they they are in fact children they act like children they play like children they live like children they they create relationships like children even the the name of the of their tribe in israeli language means children also [Music] the plan is for some of them to splash the water and scare the fish into the other pygmies nets however once they reach the fishing spot it all turns into a game and the outcome is pretty much what you'd expect they never store food instead they just gather enough for the day is a pejorative turn meaning dwarf people they themselves prefer the term forest people and when we see them climbing trees we understand why [Music] [Applause] freedom is the very essence of their way of life they're used to doing anything they want anytime they want to [Music] once they've decided where to stay for the coming days they can't [Laughter] if it's necessary they'll build a house this takes about 20 minutes no planning permits no utility connections and most importantly no 25-year mortgage [Music] misawa okay pretty guys okay dances aren't conducted according to any schedule and need not take place on special occasions [Music] [Music] oh cooking is a new thing for them not long ago they ate everything raw including meat their food is usually simple based on plants gathered in the forest and on cassava flower which they boil into a sticky dough while the food is being prepared gabby wants to make sure that sebastian's project in the area is still in use after his first visit here in 2007 sebastian found out that many pygmies no longer want to drink water from the river and started building natural water filtration systems it looks very simple and it's very basic but it's very helpful first because there was no spring coming out so the people would come with a plate or something to take it out from the you know like a small pen and then put in the in their jerichons uh and now it's it's flowing and the most important benefit of this water source is that it's the water is clean now which eliminates the danger of thai fluid and cholera and some other intestinal infections 14 sources as this were made and we are glad that we can help he's trying to explain their needs to gabby [Music] foreign lately although they still live in the forest they've started to send their children to school but tuition fees are quite high and this is something that sebastian can help them with after a few days with the pygmies we receive word from the lieutenant that it might be a good idea to leave oh these rebels my my who are beyond the river that we crossed also heard about us and of course they'll be in our in their way in the next one or two days just to see just to come and see what's happening we now have enough information for sebastian we don't think it's necessary to stay any longer in the congo life is never a game and if you make mistakes you must be ready to pay with your life since we have a car with a little bit of luck we'll manage to move faster than the my mind and leave the area in time here we are in uganda in the next episode sebastian gets his strength back and continues his journey visiting the inuit in the arctic regions you

Channel: Life That Matters

Views: 1,230,444

Rating: 4.7250948 out of 5

Keywords: congo, democratic republic of congo, pygmy tribes in the congo river basin, congo river, congolese, pygmy tribes, pygmies in africa, remote tribes, tribes documentary, remote tribes around the world, tribes and civilization, sebastian tirtirau, white man explorer to tribes, full documentary

Id: P7UBZ74lHBE

Length: 49min 22sec (2962 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 16 2020