Programmes
Tribe with Bruce Parry
Go tribal with former Royal Marines officer and expedition leader Bruce Parry as he becomes a guest of six of the world's most secluded tribes. He tries out their time-honoured traditions, joins in their shamanistic rituals and discovers how the rest of the world is threatening to change their way of life forever.
The Sanema People
Live in: Upper Caura region of Venezuela
Culture: spiritual rainforest dwellers, partly nomadic
On Bruce's visit: he trains as a shaman
Part of a larger group of 20,000 people known as the Yanomami, the Sanema people believe that spirits dwell in everything around them. The trees, rocks, rivers and animals all have a spirit with whom the tribal shamans can communicate. Once totally nomadic, the Sanema now settle in villages and cultivate papayas, bananas, yuccas, chillies and sugarcane. Though they live in a biosphere reserve, an area protected by law, their way of life is threatened by the continual destruction of huge swathes of the surrounding rainforest.
The Babongo People
Live in: Gabon, western Africa
Culture: forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers of the Congo basin
On Bruce's visit: he is initiated into the Bwiti religion by ingesting the sometimes fatal drug, Iboga
The Babongo people, who number around 2,000, live alongside several other pygmy tribes in the heavily forested Congo basin. They have no formal system of government or chiefs, and traditionally, each small group within the tribe had rights to the territory where they lived and hunted. They know the forest intimately, and are expert trackers - they can find a bee hive by following the flight path of a single bee. The countries they live in give them no legal right over their territory, and their way of life is in danger because of deforestation.
The Adi People
Live in: Adi-Pasi, Arunachal Pradesh, eastern India
Culture: isolated mountain tribe with strong connection to dance as a form of art and entertainment
On Bruce's visit: he participates in sacrificial ceremonies and samples the tribal delicacies - the prized 'toilet pigs' and roasted rat cake
It's believed that the Adi people, who live in the Arunachal province of the Himalayas, migrated from southern China during the 16th Century. They are experts at making cane and bamboo items - their piece de resistance is a 250-foot-long cane and bamboo bridge that connects them to other hill tribes in the area.
The Suri People
Live in: southwest Ethiopia near the Sudan border
Culture: sedentary pastoral tribe, tradition of ritualised violence
On Bruce's visit: he drinks blood and gets a tattoo
The Suri live in a remote location in the desolate mountain region of Ethiopia, and have traditional rivalries with neighbouring tribes. At a young age, most women of the Suri tribe have their bottom teeth removed and their bottom lips pierced and stretched, in order to insert a clay lip plate. The bigger the plate, the more cattle she is worth when it's time to get married. The young men learn the are of donga, or stick fighting. Modern culture means that many young women are now refusing the lip-piercing ceremony, and young men are turning to guns, instead of sticks, to fight their battles.
The Kombai People
Live in: West Papua in the South Pacific
Culture: cannibalistic nomadic hunter-gatherers
On Bruce's visit: he's surrounded by local hunters, all with deadly arrow tips pointing straight at him
There are about 4,000 Kombai people alive today living in one of the last great wilderness areas left on Earth, West Papua. They live a nomadic existence and have no metal tools. They rely on stone axes, wooden stakes and tradition bows and arrows for hunting, building and protection. The tribe used to - and possibly still does - practice cannibalism, which has its roots in religion. But never fear, they only kill and eat evil people that are practicing witchcraft against them.
The Darhad People
Live in: outer Mongolia
Culture: nomadic herders
On Bruce's visit: loses a valuable horse while 'helping' to herd livestock
The Darhad herd sheep, cattle and horses and have done so for centuries. They move four times a year, to find fresh pastures and more hospitable weather for their herds. In the northern reaches of Mongolia, temperatures drop below minus 20°C in winter, and the ground is permanently frozen. They live in tents, called ger, which are designed to be lightweight for travel, but warm enough to protect them from the climate. Many families now have satellite TVs, but still travel by horseback because they don't have roads.
Live in: Upper Caura region of Venezuela
Culture: spiritual rainforest dwellers, partly nomadic
On Bruce's visit: he trains as a shaman
Part of a larger group of 20,000 people known as the Yanomami, the Sanema people believe that spirits dwell in everything around them. The trees, rocks, rivers and animals all have a spirit with whom the tribal shamans can communicate. Once totally nomadic, the Sanema now settle in villages and cultivate papayas, bananas, yuccas, chillies and sugarcane. Though they live in a biosphere reserve, an area protected by law, their way of life is threatened by the continual destruction of huge swathes of the surrounding rainforest.
The Babongo People
Live in: Gabon, western Africa
Culture: forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers of the Congo basin
On Bruce's visit: he is initiated into the Bwiti religion by ingesting the sometimes fatal drug, Iboga
The Babongo people, who number around 2,000, live alongside several other pygmy tribes in the heavily forested Congo basin. They have no formal system of government or chiefs, and traditionally, each small group within the tribe had rights to the territory where they lived and hunted. They know the forest intimately, and are expert trackers - they can find a bee hive by following the flight path of a single bee. The countries they live in give them no legal right over their territory, and their way of life is in danger because of deforestation.
The Adi People
Live in: Adi-Pasi, Arunachal Pradesh, eastern India
Culture: isolated mountain tribe with strong connection to dance as a form of art and entertainment
On Bruce's visit: he participates in sacrificial ceremonies and samples the tribal delicacies - the prized 'toilet pigs' and roasted rat cake
It's believed that the Adi people, who live in the Arunachal province of the Himalayas, migrated from southern China during the 16th Century. They are experts at making cane and bamboo items - their piece de resistance is a 250-foot-long cane and bamboo bridge that connects them to other hill tribes in the area.
The Suri People
Live in: southwest Ethiopia near the Sudan border
Culture: sedentary pastoral tribe, tradition of ritualised violence
On Bruce's visit: he drinks blood and gets a tattoo
The Suri live in a remote location in the desolate mountain region of Ethiopia, and have traditional rivalries with neighbouring tribes. At a young age, most women of the Suri tribe have their bottom teeth removed and their bottom lips pierced and stretched, in order to insert a clay lip plate. The bigger the plate, the more cattle she is worth when it's time to get married. The young men learn the are of donga, or stick fighting. Modern culture means that many young women are now refusing the lip-piercing ceremony, and young men are turning to guns, instead of sticks, to fight their battles.
The Kombai People
Live in: West Papua in the South Pacific
Culture: cannibalistic nomadic hunter-gatherers
On Bruce's visit: he's surrounded by local hunters, all with deadly arrow tips pointing straight at him
There are about 4,000 Kombai people alive today living in one of the last great wilderness areas left on Earth, West Papua. They live a nomadic existence and have no metal tools. They rely on stone axes, wooden stakes and tradition bows and arrows for hunting, building and protection. The tribe used to - and possibly still does - practice cannibalism, which has its roots in religion. But never fear, they only kill and eat evil people that are practicing witchcraft against them.
The Darhad People
Live in: outer Mongolia
Culture: nomadic herders
On Bruce's visit: loses a valuable horse while 'helping' to herd livestock
The Darhad herd sheep, cattle and horses and have done so for centuries. They move four times a year, to find fresh pastures and more hospitable weather for their herds. In the northern reaches of Mongolia, temperatures drop below minus 20°C in winter, and the ground is permanently frozen. They live in tents, called ger, which are designed to be lightweight for travel, but warm enough to protect them from the climate. Many families now have satellite TVs, but still travel by horseback because they don't have roads.
Your Comments
- Tribe
Bruce, you should have been awarded every single television award available for your last series! You are a GIANT amongst men. You are such a great ambassador for Britain and humanity. I cannot understand why you have not received more acclaim for you work??!!!! What a crazy world we live in.......why would people want to watch B.B when they can have BP...... - Something to say? Add a comment...
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