Central African Republic Stories


Beautiful Scars

My final hours in the Dzanga Sangha Reserve: Tomorrow morning at 6:30am, a vehicle will pick me up to deliver me to Bangui, a 13 hour slog on washed out dirt roads 500 km to the east. In order to travel on roads in this country, one must have a purpose and documentation to prove it. Between Bayanga and Bangui, there are no less than 15 checkpoints po...


Spilling Nectar

This morning, a smaller hunting party went into the forest but Bara and I decided to remain in camp and spend the day with the BaAka women. With the exception of honey, it is the women who do all the gathering of forest products. They collect wild fruits, mushrooms (ngugu), nuts, caterpillars, grubs, yams (ekuli), and koko leaves. The BaAka are a str...


Spilling Blood

5:00am. Hear low voices in the darkness. Most of the BaAka are already up, stoking their fires that had been smoldering all night. I stir in my sleeping bag but don't get up. They boil water for coffee but they don't eat. I rise around 6:00am and stumble barefoot around camp looking for our stash of instant Nescafe. Naked snot-nosed babies with di...


More Warrior Than Pygmy

Ever since I arrived nearly a year ago, everyone has told me that a must-do experience I should have before I leave this place is to spend a few nights with the BaAka and their families in their forest camps. Although essentially I already live with the BaAka in our camp on the project, the traditional forest life of living completely off the land for ...