Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

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  • Mbuti boys wait to be whipped during an initiation into manhood. The Salate is at the end of the nKumbi Pygmy manhood ritual.  The men watch over Pygmy boys who have been secluded for 5 months preparing for this ritual.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976448.TIF
  • Pygmy Boys in a nKumbi Manhood Ritual wear a leaf mouthpiece to keep them silent. Forest Pygmies near Epulu, Democratic Republic of Congo are indigenous, semi-nomadic, hunter-gatherers in the rainforest of the Congo Basin. The BaMbuti Pygmies perform a  nKumbi or initiation that lasts five months where the boys live at a camp in the forest and daily learn survival skills.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_972262.TIF
  • Pygmy boys dance wear leaves on their mouths for silence as they go through a manhood initiation called nKumbi.  They wear ceremonial skirts for their circumcision ceremonies, and when the ritual is completed, the skirts will hang in the trees at the entrance to their village in the Democratic Republic of Congo.<br />
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Pygmies are nomadic hunter-gatherers who rely on a healthy forest to survive. They have no claim to their own home territory, however, because the colonial Belgians assigned land rights only to sedentary groups
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  • Mbuti Pygmy boys pass time during the endure rites of manhood alongside their peers.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy boys learn to fish and other survival skills at their hunting camp in the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.<br />
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Boys go through the circumcision ceremony called nKumbi. They are whipped every morning to make them tough, and then they sent off into the forest to hunt or fish. The boys pull a small hook out of their skirts and get a vine and a stick—they know where to dig for worms.  They catch five or six 2inch long fish and eat them raw for lunch.
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  • An Mbuti boy catches fish as part of his initiation into manhood. Pygmy boys learn survival skills in the Ituri Forest.
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  • Mbuti boys endure whippings during a puberty ritual.<br />
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After several months in the Ituri Forest, Pygmy boys learn skills to survive on their own. They hunt, fish and learn to read the forest. On the last day of the nKumbi, whipping is more severe and includes a ceremony where the boys are secluded within a phalanx of men. They are met halfway thru the village with women carrying whips and a melee ensues–the intent is to control the destiny of the child. <br />
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The women want the boy to stay a boy and the men want the boy to be acknowledged as a man.
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  • The sound of pipes fills an Mbuti camp as men play by the fireside hunting camp in the Ituri forest in DR Congo. <br />
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Pygmies stay up late telling hunting stories and act out the animals. The semi-nomadic tribe sets up nets to hunt small antelope called duikers.
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  • Mbuti boys sit together, painted for the nKumbi manhood ritual ceremonies in the Ituri forest.
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  • Mbuti boys wear grass skirts that swish when they dance during their circumcision ceremony. The leaf plates keep them silent from speaking.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976416.JPG
  • A Mbuti boy endures a ritual scarification by razor blade. It is the last of the manhood ceremony that follows months of training to learn skills and live independently.
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  • Mbuti boys wear grass skirts and leaf mouthpieces to stay silent during their circumcision ceremony. Pgymies are of the Congo's few remaining traditional tribes in the rainforests of the world. They are threatened by logging companies and growing modern culture.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976417.TIF
  • An Mbuti hunter carries a net of twined liana bark as the Pgymies trek through the Ituri forest to set up a camp.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976426.TIF
  • Mbuti boys endure whippings during a puberty ritual ending the manhood ceremony.<br />
Women carry whips to meet the men halfway through the village, and a melee ensures where they beat each other. Women try to control the destiny the child but the men traditionally win, and each boy is paraded through the village for the scarification ritual.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976451.TIF
  • A Mbuti boy displays welts from being whipped during a puberty ritual. The belief is that the harsh treatment makes them stronger to survive the challenges of life in the Ituri Forest.
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  • An Mbuti hunter drapes a net between trees to catch game. Pymgy tribes of Congo are one of the few remaining traditional tribes of the rainforest.
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  • Mbuti boys with photographer Randy Olson.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_972838.TIF
  • Mbuti women assemble shelter walls using mongongo leaves in double leaf construction. They make  a leaf-hut more impervious to rain.  Shelters are built six feet high in a beehive-shaped frame of sticks. The forest hunting camps are about 10k apart, and 10K from where they string their nets to hunt in DR Congo.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_972258.TIF
  • An Mbuti hunter carries a net of twined liana bark on his head that is used as a net to capture prey as the semi-nomadic tribe moves through the Ituri Forest.
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  • Mbuti boys sit on a log in the Ituri forest and endure rites of manhood alongside their peers.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976445.JPG
  • The Mbuti ferry the portable details of their lives from camp to camp. The semi-nomadic tribe hunts and gathers in the Ituri Forest to survive.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_972257.JPG
  • A logging company hires Pygmies to cut down their own forest. There are few registered logging concessions in the Ituri.
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  • The thin whisper of skirts dissolves into the Ituri rain forest as boys trail their elders on their way to a hunting camp. The Mbyte are one of several Pygmy groups still following semi-Nomadic traditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Part of the nKumbi manhood ritual involves young Pygmy boys learning survival skills. They walk single file on a path to meet net hunters wearing grass skirts while they train for five months before their initiation into manhood. At that time, they will be on on their own and will share adult responsibilities and feed their families.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_972253.TIF
  • Pygmy boys tie dried grasses together to make ceremonial skirts they will wear for their circumcision ceremonies.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976413.TIF
  • Pygmies daub each other with clay to decorate their faces and beautify their bodies.
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  • A group of Congolese women and children in a waiting room for medical care to the Pygmy tribes people.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001239.TIF
  • The mask of a medicine man at the door where  Pygmy boys are secluded before the rituals signifying their manhood.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976455.JPG
  • Hunters scale trees with makeshift smoker baskets in pursuit of honey. One Pygmy spots bees swarming and climbs 60 feet up in the air making a long rope and basket out of vines and leaves. He carries a smoldering log to drive the bees from the hive before collecting the honey.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_972259.TIF
  • Pygmies bring leaves to the Okapi Faunal Reserve to feed the Okapis, forest giraffes.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976409.JPG
  • Pygmies girls daub each other with clay to beautify their bodies. They also do this in solidarity with the boys’ for their initiation into manhood ceremony called nKumbi
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  • A Pygmy net hunter captures a blue duiker in a net near a hunting camp deep in the Ituri Forest. A duiker is a small antelope and main source of protein for Pygmies in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Mbuti drape nets between trees and flush game toward them.
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  • Mbuti boys during a puberty ritual where a medicine man watches over the ceremony.
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  • A photographer at a Mbuti hunting camp.
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  • Clearing room for a garden, Mbuti men hack through tropical hardwood. A logging company hires Pygmies to cut down their own forest which they depend on for their livelihood.
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  • A Pygmy chops down forest for a garden.
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  • The sound of pipes fills an Mbuti camp as men play by the fireside.
    MM7029_004311.tif
  • Though blind, an Mbuti boy (in foreground) endures rites of manhood alongside peers.
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  • Mbuti boys wear grass skirts during their circumcision ceremony.
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  • Though blind, an Mbute boy endures rites of manhood alongside peers. He learns survival skills in the forest and takes part in all the rituals over a five month period until the group is initiated and boys become men. When the boys run along the trails he does also, with his hands on the back of the boy in front of him. All boys are whipped each morning which is believed to help make them tough to survive in the Ituri Forest. <br />
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Pygmies are semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers who rely on a healthy forest for their livelihood.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_972252.TIF
  • Pygmies sort out the hunting nets they made  with twined liana bark in the Ituri Forest.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976432.JPG
  • Mbuti girls visit a market near Beni which is a foreign land to the Pygmy girls who are semi-nomadic and accustomed to living in the Ituri Forest.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy tribespeople with hunting net and baby in sling in forest as the semi-nomadic people make their way to a hunting camp in the Ituri Forest.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001229.JPG
  • Pygmies chop down the forest they need for their own survival. As Bantus move into this area and search for gold or other resources, these cancerous settlements in the forest grow and grow and eventually the Pygmies don't have the healthy forest they need to survive.
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  • Traders push goods hundreds of miles by bicycle along the trans-African highway which runs east/west in DR Congo. War lords along the way patrol through the rebel controlled gold mining region.
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  • Rocks are smashed and washed by hand in search of gold flecks in an old mine tunnel left by Belgians. Miners hold flashlights to see underground when they work.
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  • Gold mining in northeastern Congo. Quarantesept and Cinqante are gold mining towns near Ituri forest reserve in DR Congo. Hundreds of people from Congo and Uganda come to work at the mines.
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  • Villagers in the war-weary Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo scrape for gold in a shaft dug decades ago by a Belgian company. Armed groups controlled Ituri’s rich mines, using gold to buy weapons. Hundreds of people from Congo and Uganda come to work at the mines.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976458.TIF
  • Plastic buckets and truck parts are used to prospect for gold.  Small time gold prospecting creates newly carved roads destroying the northeastern Congo in the  Ituri Forest. <br />
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Gold fever is contagious in northeastern Congo, where the metal finances local warlords. Rocks are smashed and washed by hand in search of yellow flecks.
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  • Traders push goods hundreds of miles by bicycle along the muddy Trans-African Highway. Rain can't stop the human flood of those who push through to resupply newly minted gold mines in the Ituri. It is the main east/west highway in DR Congo.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy boys are cut to make scars during nKumbi manhood initiation rites.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy hunter with spear and rolled up net for snaring game as he walks through the forest.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy hunter with spear and rolled up net for snaring game. He is tying leaves onto branches that the semi-nomadic tribe assembles to make shelter.
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  • A Mbuti Pygmy woman receives an inoculation for medical treatment in DR Congo.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy boys painted with clay symbols on their bodies and faces participate in manhood initiation rites.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy children play with a bow and arrow. The indigenous tribe is of hunting and gathering origin in the Ituri forest.
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  • A group of Mbuti Pygmy women and children.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001260.TIF
  • A Mbuti Pygmy boy grimaces after receiving cuts to scar his body during the nKumbi manhood initiation rites.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001258.JPG
  • Mbuti Pygmy boys apply body paint during manhood initiation rites. Gray color is commonly used to mean security, authority, maturity and stability.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy girls apply clay paint to decorate their bodies and faces for the boys' manhood initiation in the Ituri Forest.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001220.JPG
  • A Mbuti Pygmy woman smokes a pipe as another nurses a baby.
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  • A Mbuti Pygmy child crying as he receives an innoculation as part of medical care for the indigenous peoples.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy woman and child in the frame of a leaf-covered hut. The indigenous semi-nomadic tribe builds structures for nighttime as they set up hunting camps.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy families at a hunting camp build a fire for cooking the Ituri forest.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy boy painted with clay symbols wears a grass skirt during manhood initiation rites.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy tribesmen in the rain forest with freshly killed duikers which are an important part of their diet.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy hunter carries a spear and rolled up net for snaring game as the indigenous tribe moves through the Ituri Forest.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001230.TIF
  • Mbuti Pygmy boys paint each others bodies with clay while participating in manhood initiation rites.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001252.JPG
  • Mbuti Pygmy girls in body paint during boys' manhood initiation rites.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001245.TIF
  • A Mbuti Pygmy spear projecting into a rain forest scene. Spears are used for hunting in a  dense bush and forest habitat.
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  • An Mbuti Pygmy woman and man wave grass whips to beat each other which is part of the traditional ceremonies surrounding the nKumbi manhood ritual.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001255.JPG
  • Mbuti Pygmy boys view the whip from behind grass screen during manhood initiation rites.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy woman and child in a leaf-covered hut shelter the semi-nomadic indigenous tribe builds.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_1001225.JPG
  • Mbuti Pygmies at a forest hunting camp where people gather to flush out duikers into their nets.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy women dressed in clothing of traditional patterns and work together in the Ituri Forest.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy tribesmen sitting on rolled up hunting nets that are used to trap small game in the forest..
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  • Mbuti Pygmies at a forest hunting camp pass time together. They move with supplies and build other camps as they hunt for food.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy boys painted with clay decorations participate in manhood initiation rites.
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  • Mbuti Pygmies at a forest hunting camp in the Ituri forest. The future for indigenous tribes is threatened by logging, mining and urbanization moving into the forest.
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  • Mbuti Pygmies at a forest hunting camp. They are semi-nomadic and build nighttime shelters for sleeping.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976414.TIF
  • Pygmies bend branches to create shelter at hunting camps. The semi-nomadic tribe moves through the forest to find a good site and create a place to congregate.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976421.JPG
  • Pygmies bend branches to create shelter at hunting camps. The semi-nomadic tribal boys are going through the circumcision ceremony called nKumbi are accompanied the adults to the camp.  They have their own structure and are sent off into the forest to hunt or fish.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976425.TIF
  • Gold mining near the town of Quarantesept in northeastern Congo. Hundreds of people from Congo and Uganda come to work at the mines.<br />
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Villagers in the war-weary Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo scrape for gold in a shaft dug decades ago by a Belgian company. Until recently, armed groups controlled Ituri’s rich mines, using gold to buy weapons.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7209_976457.TIF
  • Pople walk by modest homes that line the unpaved road in a small gold mining town in northeastern Congo.
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  • The road to Beni is nearly impassable during the wet season with slippery, silted mud.
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  • The Chief of Salate makes his way through the Ituri Forest to a secluded camp for the nkumbi manhood ritual.
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  • The mud-choked road to Beni is nearly impassable in any vehicle during the wet season.
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  • Women with young children walk through the unpaved streets of a gold mining town in northeastern Congo.
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  • Boys wearing ceremonial skirts trail their elders to a hunting camp.
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