The Mail’s impromptu meeting with the world’s smallest tribe, which lives on the edge of Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and counts mountain gorillas as their neighbors

We drive.

Robert steers the jeep along a bright orange, dusty track.

To our left is a steep slope with tree roots tangled in the ground. To our right a steep slope.

“Don’t look down,” he says, laughing.

When we finally emerge from the winding mountain pass of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, we are greeted with familiar scenes of people selling local fresh produce along the road. However, when we reach the other side of the village, things take an unexpected turn.

“The Pygmies are our neighbors,” says Robert, our driver, who stopped here in his village on our return journey to the lodge.

“They live here at the edge of the forest.”

I look down into a dark clearing and see several people resting against a pile of corn sacks and two children watching with curious eyes from a nearby treehouse.

The Pygmies, known here in Uganda as the Batwa, are indigenous inhabitants of this mountainous area famous for its gorilla trekking.

Anthropologists believe the hunter-gatherer tribe “thrived in harmony” with the wildlife in the depths of the forest for 60,000 years, earning them the reputation of “keepers,” the researchers said. Bwindi Forest National Park website.

However, due to government efforts to protect the endangered gorilla population, among other things, the Batwa were evicted from their homes when the forest was declared a national park in 1991.

Tucked away in this remote corner of southwestern Uganda, these people are now conservation refugees.

I think about the complexity of this situation and look again at the corn bags, which an older man is leaning against.

“The Batwa hunted small animals for meat,” says Robert, “when they lived very deep in the forest. And they built tree houses like this one to keep their children up high, away from predators as they went looking for food. Meat, yes, but also fish, honey, fruit, berries.

‘The men used spears or bows and arrows to catch bush pigs, monkeys and birds, and the women foraged for fruit and honey. Now they depend on food donations.’

He explains that they are the smallest tribe in the world, with adults growing on average no larger than 150 cm.

Britannica agrees.

We enter the clearing and Robert introduces me to the older gentleman leaning against the corn bags and translating between English and Rutwa.

“He says this is their home now,” Robert says.

Feeling a little uneasy, I follow Robert’s finger as he points to some straw huts and then to the children in the tree house, made of grass and branches. “Shall we walk?” I suggest that I do not want to impose on this family what I feel is about to become a guided tour.

We follow another bend in the road, which opens up to views of stepped terrace steps and the dense forest below.

Only a few hours ago we were clambering down the slopes which had become impenetrable – I discovered – not only by their steepness but also by endless thorn bushes.

Why? Of course to meet the mountain gorillas, accompanied by park rangers.

Now that we are standing here on the mountain top, the park resembles a soothing layer of vegetation. And I think for a moment about the forgotten tribe of Uganda.

“All this used to belong to the Batwa,” says Robert. “Don’t forget them.”

According to Britannica, pygmies, including the Batwa, are believed to have been the first people to inhabit this stretch of forest, which covers not only parts of Uganda, but also Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

As more people moved into the area and cut down trees to make way for crops and livestock, the Batwa people were confined to smaller areas and continued their way of life.

But they never tried to own the land they lived on, so they were not eligible for compensation when they were evicted.

According to a 2023 report, approximately 6,700 Batwa currently live in southwestern Uganda. International Working Group on Indigenous Affairsa global human rights organization that ‘promotes and defends the rights of indigenous peoples’.

It’s the gorillas that brought me to this magical corner of the world, but I leave with my mind focused on the Batwa. For 60,000 years they shared the forest.

“Don’t forget it,” I remember.