Standing in the rain under the dripping forest canopy, Hagumimana Kanyabikingi offers up a traditional hunting prayer.May we kill an animal, he chants, and not be killed ourselves.Kanyabikingi is a Batwa, or “pygmy”, and for centuries his ancestors lived here in the forested mountains of southwestern Uganda.They were evicted in 1991 with the creation of Mgahinga National Park, near the town of Kisoro.But now, the Batwa are being allowed to walk their old forest paths once again, as tour guides on the newly created Batwa Trail.Pointing to the dense undergrowth, Kanyabikingi explains how they used to use strong vines to trap duiker and bush bucks, or hunt them with poison-tipped arrows.Half the proceeds from the trail go to the Batwa themselves.The rest goes to the Uganda Wildlife Authority, or UWA, which had been looking for a way to attract tourists to the park.
