Africa
Tag archives for Africa
What a Difference a Century Can Make
Posted by Greg Laden on March 1, 2013 At the beginning of the 20th century, a traveler in Central Africa made mention of some strange people that he had come across. He was traveling among regular, run-of-the-mill natives…probably Bantu-speaking people living in scattered villages and farming for their food. But along the way, strange people came out of the forest. These strange people…
No place to sit down (or, why do the Efe let some insects live?)
Posted by Greg Laden on January 13, 2013 
I knew a couple who had spent a lot of time in the Congo in the 1950s. He was doing primatology, and she was the wife of the primatologist. And when she spoke of the Congo or Uganda, where they spent most of the time, she always said “The thing about Africa is that there’s…
Stories from the field: Jon Kalb’s Newest Book
Posted by Greg Laden on January 7, 2013 
People who do a lot of field work end up with interesting stories to tell, especially if the fieldwork is diverse and the conditions are adverse. Often, the sort of thing people want to know about is very different from the repertoire of available stories, but as long as the expectations of the audience is…
Selected Posts about the Efe and the Congo
Posted by Greg Laden on February 23, 2012 A compendium of selected posts written about the Ituri Forest, the Efe Pygmies, and other folks and other things in the region:
Which works better, Acupuncture or Changa?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 13, 2011 Acupuncture is the ancient East Asian practice of poking people with needles in specific places and in specific ways in order to produce any one of a very wide range of results that could generally be classified as medicinal or health related. I don’t know much about it, but Wikipedia tells us:
Wildlife of Southern Africa
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2011 Wildlife of Southern Africa , by Martin Withers and David Hosking, is new (August 2011) and good. If you are planning a trip to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana or anywhere nearby, or if you live there and like to go to the bush sometimes, consider it. This is a pocket guide, it is small, has…
The Best Eclipse Ever (of the moon and of the sun)
Posted by Greg Laden on November 24, 2011 I remember my first solar eclipse. I was a kid, and it was the one Carlie Simon sang about, in March 1970. (The eclipse reference is just past three minutes. Some other time we can argue over whether or not Carlie, singing in this video on Martha’s Vineyard, was referring to the March 1970 eclipse…
Floods: Don’t go in them.
Posted by Greg Laden on October 22, 2011 As an archaeologist, my expertise in the cognate field of geology includes fluvial processes, so I know something about floods. And I’ve experienced plenty of floods working in the Hudson and Mohawk river valleys … now that I think of it, I’ve got quite a few good flood stories. But the most significant experience I’ve…
Day of the locust. Yum!
Posted by Greg Laden on August 28, 2011 Continuing with the theme of eating insects …
“Excuse me, there’s some food in my bugs!”
Posted by Greg Laden on August 22, 2011 Speaking of people eating insects … as we were … I do have this fun story from the Ituri Forest.
“We Live In Little Houses Made of Beans”
Posted by Greg Laden on August 19, 2011 I have written before of insects in the Ituri Forest. (Oh, and here too.) When it comes up that I’ve spent time there, certain questions often come up, and one of them is: “Did you eat bugs.”
The reason the Efe won’t normally kill an insect …
Posted by Greg Laden on August 18, 2011 that has wandered into their camp if they don’t know anything about it a priori is … according to what they told me when that happened once … is …
Why shrews are interesting
Posted by Greg Laden on July 27, 2011 It has been said that our most distant primate ancestors, the mammal that gave rise to early primates but itself wasn’t quite a primate, was most like the Asian tree shrew, which is neither a shrew nor does it live in trees. This is, of course, untrue. When the average American sees a shrew native…
Camps
Posted by Greg Laden on July 21, 2011 An Efe forest camp is usually dark and depending on the time of day, dripping from current or recent rain. The Efe live in dome shaped huts which may be more or less complete. A half dome might be a hut that was built quickly, or it might be a hut that was built more…
Kobou
Posted by Greg Laden on July 16, 2011 
When I first arrived in the Ituri Forest I was shown a camp a group of Efe Pygmies all typically lived in, and told “everyone lives here but the old man and his wife … he’s a bit contentious and there was an argument.” Having read all the literature written in English about Pygmies, I…
HIV, AIDS, MMR, NPR and WTF?
Posted by Greg Laden on June 6, 2011 Thirty years ago yesterday, “the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMR) published a report of five young men with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia who were treated at three different hospitals in Los Angeles, California.” (see This Blog Post for details). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly is a really fun journal to read. It contains the latest…
A Bend in the River: Get Bent
Posted by Greg Laden on June 3, 2011 On of my favorite books is A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul. It is a story set in at the junction of a native and expat community in an African rain forest country with a not very despotic leader (the “Big Man”) at a time when a civil war was about to…
Wild angry baboons on the high cliff
Posted by Greg Laden on May 31, 2011 We three had somehow wound our way down into the canyon without experiencing any really steep slopes, but having walked for several miles in the sandy dry riverbed, Trusted Companion, Young One, and I were now looking rather hopelessly at unsafe-to-climb cliffs on both sides, covered with imposing vegetation of the kind that sports a…
No Way Home
Posted by Greg Laden on May 26, 2011 When wildebeest, such as those famous for crossing the Mara River in Tanzania during their annual migration, run into a crocodile or some other danger it is often the first time they’ve seen that particular thing. This is because most wildebeest don’t live very long so many are on their very first migration. One wonders…
Africa. Some time in the early 1990s.
Posted by Greg Laden on April 7, 2011 … Continued … I started out walking a good six feet behind her, to avoid the sand she was kicking up and the occasional thorn-lined branch that might swing back in the wake of anyone walking through the African Bush. We were traversing open country in the Kalahari, in an area sealed off from people…
How to carry your monkey home once you’ve killed it
Posted by Greg Laden on February 2, 2011 Once you’ve killed the monkey, you need to carry it back to camp. Slit the tail, near the end, and poke the head through the slit, so the tail makes a handy strap. Here’s a detail:
How to kill a monkey
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2011 An Efe (Pygmy) man making poison arrows for use in killing monkeys. Ituri Forest, Zaire. Photograph Copyrighted 1986 Greg Laden
There are two species of African elephant
Posted by Greg Laden on December 21, 2010 Everyone knows that there are two kinds of elephants in this world: Asian and African. The Asian is the only one that can be trained and the African ones live in harmony with their environment until hunters come by and shoot them. Scratch a little deeper, and the African bush elephant lives by destroying its…
Happy Day of Reconciliation!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2010 Formerly known as Day of the Vow, as South African holiday, and a time of reflection on dramatic historical and cultural changes.
Elephant Tracks and Child Safety Devices
Posted by Greg Laden on December 10, 2010 It is probably true that every culture has child safety devices. It is also probably true that all of these devices are very limited in their effectiveness.
UN report verifies DR Congo killings “may be genocide”
Posted by Greg Laden on October 2, 2010 Nazi Holocaust: 1939 – 1945 War crimes trials: Fall 1945 DR Congo genocide: 1996-1997 War crimes trials: Still thinking about it. I guess that brackets the range of potential variation. (Note: This does not refer to the other, related genocide of Tutsi, for which trials have taken place.)
The Curious World of Bugs
Posted by Greg Laden on October 1, 2010 The old man crouched slightly as he took small tiny steps forward towards the woman’s ass. I didn’t see what was in is raised right hand, it was hidden from my view by his body draped with a colorful sarong. He crept closer, still crouched and still silent. She didn’t see him coming, but when…
Large Scale Rape Incident in Congo
Posted by Greg Laden on September 25, 2010 The UN’s human rights chief has said the “scale and viciousness” of mass rapes in DR Congo “defy belief”, as a report into the attack was released. Navi Pillay said that, even for the region, the incident stood out because of the “extraordinarily cold-blooded and systematic way” it was carried out. Some 300 people were…
Shamans, Surgery, and the Driveway of Doom
Posted by Greg Laden on September 21, 2010 In which I explore the interface between the Jungian Subconscious and my own primordial anguish.
If your finger falls off, grab it before the dog gets it!
Posted by Greg Laden on September 10, 2010 We were standing behind my friend Andre’s store in Isiro, Zaire, waiting for Andre to finish receiving some orders so we could sit down for some tea, or may be some beer, and do a little black market trading. A big truck with a canvas top stretched over an iron frame was backing up to…
, which is now available for the 
