A “Pure” Foraging Lifestyle in a Tropical Rainforest of Southeastern Cameroon

Observations on a Twenty-day Trip of the Baka Hunter-Gatherers in the Short Dry Season

Abstract

We designed an observational survey of the “pure” foraging lifestyle of the Baka hunter-gatherers in Cameroon to verify the “Wild Yam Question”: is it possible for human beings to live without agricultural products in a tropical rainforest? The nutritional status, the type and amount of food procured and food-getting activity over 20 consecutive days in the forest camp were observed for six married couples in August, the short dry season, 2003. The subjects didn't loose weight and they finished the twenty-day foraging life without health problems. The energy contained in the food procured during the study period was estimated at 2732 kilocalories per person per day, which could be sufficient for the energy requirements of fairly small subjects. Fifty-three percents of this energy was from wild yam tubers, 26 percents from game meat, and 13 percents from wild nuts. The collection of wild yam tubers was stable during the study period. There was no significant difference in the amount of each food type procured between the first half of the study period and the latter half except for nuts, the amount of which increased in the latter half. As for the cost of unit food energy, neither the number of daily steps walked measured with pedometers nor the time for food-getting activities changed between the first half and the latter half of the study period. There was no evidence in this study that it was difficult to live independently of agriculture in a tropical rainforest.