Moving beyond hotel walls: organising an Indigenous gathering in the heart of the forest
The cultural vision, logistical challenges and collective effort that made a forest-based meeting of Congo Basin Indigenous communities possible.
In March this year, FPP’s Republic of Congo partner, CECD organised the first ever regional gathering of Congo Basin indigenous communities to take place in the heart of the forest. Breaking with the usual convention of convening in urban hotels, participants held meetings under the shade of the forest canopy, used the river to bathe, ate hunted meat, and slept in the cool thatch of moungoulous (traditional Baka dwelling), all in a campsite built specially for the occasion. Over 120 representatives of Baka and Bagyeli communities in Cameroon and Baka, Mbenzele and Aka communities in Republic of Congo travelled to northern Congo for five days of discussions on community-led conservation and cultural exchange. Sessions were facilitated by Indigenous people themselves with interpretation into multiple indigenous languages.
As conservationists, policymakers, and donors start expressing the need to move away from traditional exclusionary, “fortress” conservation models towards “community-led” initiatives, there have been few opportunities in the Congo Basin for Indigenous people themselves to present their own desired alternatives. There is an urgent need to ensure that they contribute towards the conversation – as rights holders and as the traditional guardians of their territories – so that future models not be defined by outsiders in a top-down approach. This event would provide an important opportunity for representatives to develop propositions and suggest solutions for community-led conservation, which could provide the basis for ongoing advocacy.
The forest was the only place this gathering could happen.
From the start, we had no doubts that the event must be strongly cultural anchored, held on Indigenous land and in the forest setting home to Indigenous Congo Basin communities. By holding the gathering in the forest participants would feel more at ease, safer, and therefore more empowered to express their opinions freely. Centring Indigenous culture and heritage would help prevent cultural erasure, reinforce Indigenous values, and ensure participants felt a greater sense of ownership over proceedings.
The following photo story gives a little insight into the immense work behind preparing the site for the gathering. Creating a space to welcome over 120 people required months of planning and weeks of collective effort to build the infrastructure, but the result was proof that it is possible. By sharing this experience, we hope to inspire others to consider holding Indigenous gatherings in the forest too, grounded in culture, community and connection to the land.
A site was chosen near the village of Ngbala, at the north-eastern point of the proposed protected area of Messok Dja. Its proximity to the river Dja (which marks the border with Cameroon) was important for a water supply, and also helpfully close to the border posts of Moloundo and Boloso, where Cameroon participants would traverse.
Practical and ecological : the art of building shelter in the forest
Sixty-two moungoulous were built in total to accommodate all the visitors. These “huts” are the traditional houses of Congo Basin forest peoples, sturdy structures made entirely from branches, leaves and vines. These days Baka often have more permanent houses of earthen blocks when in their villages, but moungoulous are always still used whenever they spend time in the forest, and everyone attests to how much more cool and comfortable they are than bricks and mortar. In the words of Jean-Marie Ondja “Houses are for in the village. But our hut is our house wherever we go… it's easy to build and all of the materials can be quickly found in the forest. That's why we love it so much.”
First, thin branches are planted deep into the leaf litter and bent round at tension to create the shell of the structure.
Then, a type of Marantaceae leaf is hung off the laterals as a quick and effective thatch.
First moungoulou down… only another 61 to go!
April marks the beginning of the rainy season, but climate change has made the timing of the rains less predictable. Although the exchange was due to finish by the 22nd March, we needed a roofed area that could fit all the delegates in case rain prevented meeting on the forest floor. The longhouse pictured is over 25 metres long and 2.5m high and shelters some two dozen benches, all built without a single nail. Forked branches hold cross bars, and vines lash the structure together. Panels of thatch also visible on the truck in the image below are lifted up to the roof to complete the building.
Market ripples and resource realities
The road to Ngbala isn’t paved, so the only vehicles that can pass are motorbikes and 4x4s. Here’s CECD’s truck transporting some materials to the site. Market forces reign in this corner of Congo as much as any other place, and with a sudden increase in demand for thatching materials, villagers saw an opportunity to cash in. The price of one panel of thatch rose from 200 CFA to 500 CFA overnight!
People would be using the river every day to wash their clothes and fetch water for showering, and so we needed safe access down the steep banks. At each end of the camp, a set of stairs was built into the bank, with vines providing the handrail.
Challenges of sourcing and storing enough food
Cooking for such a huge crowd would require a lot of dry firewood! The giant tarp in the background covers a rack used to smoke meat and dry more fuel for the kitchen. Finding enough food to feed everyone was extremely difficult. There was little surplus in the mostly subsistence-oriented economy of the region, and so even with money to spare, there simply wasn’t much produce available to buy. Relying on hunted meat was necessary, but local hunters were not having much luck, and wild meat was scarce. With no electricity, it’s not possible to safely store meat or fish in the heat and humidity, so each day presented a new challenge. What’s more, as with the thatch, the price of food jumped with our arrival.
After two weeks of solid graft, the site was built, and ready for the first participants to arrive.
Time to rest after so much hard work!
Reflections
Organising this event deep in the forest, far from the convenience of the city, was a major logistical challenge. It was also a vital choice. By building the site from scratch, relying on traditional skills, the event became a living example of what Indigenous-led conservation can look like : grounded in culture, shaped by land, and led by the people themselves.
Anchoring the exchange culturally helped ensure it resisted extractive or top-down conservation models and affirmed Indigenous leadership and identity. The forest setting encouraged conversations to be grounded in people’s connections to their forests. Conversations on what Indigenous-led conversation should look like, were thus opened by a Kobo spiritual leader blessing the space and women’s polyphonic singing to invite the Jengi forest spirit to support the meeting, and interspersed by participants having planned as well as spontaneous walks to exchange traditional ecological knowledge and find inspiration by walking the forest.
We hope to show that gatherings like this are not only possible, but essential.
Overview
- Resource Type:
- News
- Publication date:
- 2 June 2025
- Region:
- Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Republic of Congo Cameroon
- Programmes:
- Culture and Knowledge Conservation and human rights Partner Led Actions