A Mango Harvest with the Baka Pygmies

05.11.2016, by

Laurent Maget [6] and Baptiste Bouleau [7]

Deep in the African equatorial forest, the Baka pygmies of Cameroon live in symbiosis with their environment. The anthropologist Laurent Maget joined them during mango harvest season. Depending on the seasons and needs, Pygmies practice hunting, fishing, and gathering.

Pygmies set up a temporary camp in the forest, northeast of the city of Lomié (Cameroon), in order to harvest the nearby mangoes. This activity can last several weeks. Pygmies are a semi-nomadic people who are becoming increasingly sedentary.

Laurent MAGET / EAE

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The harvest of wild mangoes (Irvinga gabonesis), which consists in picking the ripe fruit off the ground, is an important source of income for Baka pygmies.

Laurent MAGET / EAE / CNRS Photothèque

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Such food gathering is a family activity traditionally carried out by women and children, while the men ensure that the camp remains secure.

Laurent MAGET / EAE / CNRS Photothèque

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The fruits are first split in half with a machete, to recover the flesh and the stones, the kernels.

Laurent MAGET / EAE / CNRS Photothèque

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Rich in fat and proteins, mango kernels are an important food supplement that contains all the amino acids essential to humans.

Laurent MAGET / EAE / CNRS Photothèque

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Once the kernels are extracted, the next step is to peel off the thin film around them.

Laurent MAGET / EAE

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Consumed directly on the site, the fruit pulp is also used to make juice, jam, or jelly.

Laurent MAGET / EAE

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As they are collected, the kernels are taken to nearby villages to be dried or sold. Due to the humidity, long-term storage in the forest would spoil them.

Laurent MAGET / EAE

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The kernels are then placed on a brazier for 24 hours.

Laurent MAGET / EAE / CNRS Photothèque

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This produces roasted kernels. An alternative method—weather permitting— is to let them dry in the sun on the roof of a hut.

Laurent MAGET / EAE / CNRS Photothèque

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They are then ground in a mortar.

Laurent MAGET / EAE / CNRS Photothèque

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The resulting paste is left to dry. On the third day, the mixture is released from the mold. The hard paste will be grated and used as a condiment to prepare meat or fish stews.

Laurent MAGET / EAE / CNRS Photothèque

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Laurent Maget is a filmmaker and anthropologist who works at the laboratoire Éco-anthropologie et ethnobiologie at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris (France). He has been filming the daily lives of pygmies for the past 15 years, in Gabon and Cameroon.

Laurent MAGET / EAE

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