Meet the Batwa Tribe of Ntandi Village in Semuliki
Meet the Batwa Tribe of Ntandi Village in Semuliki: Ntandi pygmies from Ntandi Village, located about 5 km from Sempaya main gate, are part of the Batwa people that were evicted from the lowland tropical rainforest of Semuliki National Park. The park is located along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda in western Uganda in Bundibugyo District.
After evicting the Batwa people, Semuliki National Park was gazetted in 1993 purposely to protect this only lowland tropical rain forest in East Africa with its wildlife. It is also one of the protected areas in Uganda under the management and protection of the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
Since the Batwa people were part of the people that were residing within this tropical rain forest, while gazetting the area, the Batwa were also requested to vacate the premises through the Uganda Wildlife Authority. This is the state body responsible for managing, protecting, and monitoring the country’s wildlife resources.
The Batwa people were evicted by the government in 1993 to protect the forest and also grant animals their freedom inside the jungle. This is because the Batwa pygmies used to live in the forest along with wild animals, but later the story turned different. After the Batwa’s eviction, they had to search for other areas near the park for settlement, making Ntandi Village one of their settlements.
Despite all that, they are allowed to have access to the forest for basics such as food, herbs, firewood, and others but not to stay in the forest since it is a habitat for so various wild animals.
Meet the Batwa Tribe of Ntandi Village in Semuliki: Evicting the Batwa people out of the jungle was the best way animals could freely roam around the forest purposely for food, water, and shelter. This has tremendously increased animal population within the part ever since their eviction in 1993 since animals are no longer hunted for meat, hides, and skin. These Batwa people were predominantly hunters who used bows and arrows to kill animals for meat and others for skin.
In Ntandi village, about 5 kilometers from Semuliki National Park, visitors can meet the Ntandi pygmies. These pygmies were used to life in the forest, but after their settlement around the park boundaries, they had to adapt to the new lifestyle and started learning new ways of surviving. They constructed huts that are grass thatched and built using mud. Moreover, Ntandi village has small communities that visitors can visit any time they do cultural tours on a safari to Semuliki National Park.
Visiting the Batwa community in Ntandi village
On a safari in Semuliki National Park, you can visit the Batwa pygmies of Ntandi village in company of a local English-speaking guide. A short drive from Semuliki National Park will take you directly into any of the Ntandi communities in Ntandi village. Here you will be welcomed by traditional dancers and performance through traditional dances and songs.
While at Ntandi village, you will visit different Batwa homes, and this is done to enable you to get as much information as you can while on a short visit. You will also learn about their culture through interaction with the community members and elders who will narrate to you about the essence of preserving their culture.
Your local English-speaking guide will take you around to any of the homesteads with elders that have tested life outside both within and outside the jungle. The guide here is the translator who understands both languages, and his role is to sustain communication by making both parties understand.
Meet the Batwa Tribe of Ntandi Village in Semuliki: The elder Batwa will narrate stories of their lifestyle while in the forest of Semuliki. They will tell you how they used to survive in the forest, how they got food, hunting, the animals they killed using bows and arrows, the vegetation cover that was used as herbs, and how they made fire using firewood.
Upon visiting the Batwa today, you will realize that their way of life has greatly improved. The Batwa still practice hunting but on a small scale and outside the national park. Moreover, they also resorted to crop farming and rare a few animals. However, lack of formal education is a major challenge that has kept the Batwa of Ntandi village poor and backward.
The Batwa pygmies in Ntandi village earn income from different projects they have created amongst themselves. Several locals were trained on how to make handcrafts, which they could sell to tourists visiting Semuliki National Park. Some Batwa people have mastered the art of making handcrafts like table mats, masks, bangles, baskets, gorillas, mortars, round bags, and local forks, among others.
