Our base camp for doing the gorilla trek was a campsite at Lake Bunyonyi. On our days off, we had the chance to relax and do nothing, or participate in some of the activities they offered. The first morning there, I went with some people from the group to visit a Pygmy village further down the lake.
We took boat ride across the lake for about an hour, and the scenery was fabulous. As we approached the area we’d be docking the boat, children were running along following our boat. We obviously weren’t the first group of tourists they’d come across. We were greeted by a group of about 40 kids. The minute we stepped off the boat the kids grabbed our hands and started leading us up a steep hill. They walked with us the entire way to the village.
The village was built on a steep hill (it was pretty much all steep hills around the lake), and we had to walk down a little bit to a flat landing area. They sat us down on a bench and formed a semi-circle around us. Then they started clapping, singing and dancing. An old woman was the first one to dance in the middle of the circle. After a few songs they invited us to go up and join them. I went up with a few other people from our group. I enjoyed watching them dance, and had fun dancing with them as well.
When the songs were finished they brought out all the goods for us to look through and buy. The people of the village just hovered over as everyone looked at the stuff.
I heard that there have been complaints that these aren’t “real” pygmies because they aren’t that short. Because of inter-marriage with people outside the village, the people are starting to get taller. Even considering that, I thought that some of the women were tiny. There were 20 year old women with babies strapped to their backs, and they just came up to the height of my shoulder. I’m not very tall either, so I’d consider them pretty short.
Some people from the group had brought candy and pens to distribute to the kids. Previous tour leaders has mentioned that if anyone wanted to give out anything to the kids, to make sure there was enough for everyone and hand them out individually so the kids don’t start fighting. The people giving out the candy were being mobbed and had to be careful to take the candy out one piece at a time or the kids would just grab it. One woman, Suma, had some pens to give out, and the kids just snatched them all right from her hands.
The kids walked us back to our boat, and the entire walk back asked us all for money, pens and candy. They would say “give me money” or “give me pens” or “give me sweeties”. It was all gimme gimme gimme. The way they were asking was like they were entitled and if we didn’t have pens we could at least give them money then. I found it to be really hard to take, and as horrible as it sounds I couldn’t wait to get away from them.
This visit really got me thinking about responsible tourism, and if visiting this village did more harm than good. The village makes some money from the fee we paid to visit, as well as anything bought, but what are the kids learning? Here come the muzungo’s (visitors/tourists) they’ll give us things?
That evening some kids from the village orphanage in the just outside our campsite came and performed for us. There were kids ranging from about 3 years to 15 years old. They sang and danced and got us up there dancing with them. This felt a lot more real and genuine than some of the other visits I made throughout the tour. I had a lot of fun dancing with the little kids. Afterward we were asked to donate some money, and it felt better for me to give something directly to an organization (where it will be used to care for the kids), than to give candy or toys directly to the kids. To me it seems like the more responsible thing to do, to donate supplies directly to an organization where it can be properly distributed. That way the kids aren’t waiting around for an Overland truck to drive by and give them things. My first tour leader told us never to give money to the kids who came to our truck, because it could encourage them to skip school and wait for the trucks every day, I think that’s a really relevant fact. As a visitor I want to help and not harm the communities I visit.
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