Takanori Oishi and Evariste Fedoung Fongnzossie

A preliminary report on the diversity of forest landscape recognition among
the Baka hunter-gatherers of Eastern Cameroon
Takanori Oishia and Evariste Fedoung FongnzossiebaAfrican Studies Center – Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japanb

Advanced Teacher’s Training School for Technical Education,
University of Douala, Cameroon

Abstract
Indigenous peoples living in tropical forest have developed their own traditional ecological knowledge
base, which has enabled their sustainable exploitation of local natural resources. Whereas there are manystudies on ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology, and cultural recognition of plants of Congo basin huntergatherers, less focus have been put on their recognition of forest landscape itself. Investigating folk
classification of tropical forest landscapes can help us to more exhaustively assess habitat diversity, andto demonstrate its potential for the subsistence and well-being of forest-dependent local peoples, as wellas provide meaningful information for establishing sustainable social forestry programs. We described
20 folk vegetation categories or habitats in the Baka forest nomenclature. Recognized habitats aredefined based on their flooding regime and soil characteristics, indicator species, distance from thevillage, visibility in the understory, canopy structure, history of past land use, and forest hydrology. The
Baka informants clearly distinguish and name relatively stable habitats featured by hydrologicalconstraints, land form, and monodominance by specific species. We observed, however, considerable
variations in their cognition of forest vegetations between individuals. Further study is needed to
examine what factors of socioecological and/or socioeconomic conditions influence on their diverse
ways of forest landscape recognition.

Keywords: landscape ethnoecology, African tropical rainforests, Congo basin hunter-gatherers,
Cameroon― 247 ―
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A preliminary report on the diversity of forest landscape recognition among the Baka hunter-gatherers of Eastern Cameroon

1. Introduction
Indigenous peoples living in tropical forest have developed their own traditional ecological knowledge
base, which has enabled their sustainable exploitation of local natural resources. Also, such traditional
knowledge have contributed to the development of scientific knowledge about tropical forest, as René
Letouzey (1976) collected Baka lexicons related to forest botany as he owed much from Baka botanicalknowledge during his fieldwork in Eastern and Southern Cameroon.
There are many studies on ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology, and cultutal recognition of plants
among Congo basin hunter-gatherers (Motte-Florac 1980, Tanno 1981, Bahuchet 1985, Terashima etal.1988, Ichikawa and Terashima 1996, Betti 2004, Hattori 2006). Most studies, however, focused onplant knowledge at (ethno-)species level and less focus have been put on their recognition of forest
landscape itself. Bahuchet (1985: 49-65) applied ethno-linguistics to describe and analyze the ecologicalprocesses as understood by the Aka hunter-gatherers of the Central African Republic. Bahuchet pointed
out some similarities between traditional folk and modern biological descriptions of the dynamics oftropical rainforest. The Aka informants described natural forest habitats under specific conditions related
to forest gap dynamics (Bahuchet 1985).
For forest-dwelling farmers, labeled habitats tend to be related to the agricultural activities. Mvae
farmers who reside at village in Campo-Ma’an National Park recognizes village forest (slash-and-purnfields, fallows and cocoa agroforests), anthropogenic forest (secondary forest, abandoned settlements),
and deep forest (Dounias 1996). Nguenang et al. (2010) reports that Bajoué in Dja biosphere reserve(South-East Cameroon) distinguish four main vegetation types: Ebour (young or old fallow aged 4 to
11 years dominated by weeds like Chromolaena odorata in early stage and by Musanga cecropioides
in the old stage; Kwalkomo (corresponding to secondary forest with characteristic species like
Zanthoxylum

gilletii, Pentaclerathra macrophylla, Terminalia superb;

Ekomo (corresponding tomature forest more or less disturbed with the shrub layer dominated by Rinorea and Drypetes; Zam(corresponding to swamp forest with dominance of Raphia species).
Whereas these previous studies give us glimpses on variation of forest recognition by forest
dwellers of central Africa, the content and structure of folk knowledge about forest landscapes,
especially those of complex secondary vegetations, has not been properly investigated as of yet.
Investigating this type of folk classification system can help us more exhaustively assess habitat
diversity (Abraao et al. 2008) and demonstrate its potential for the subsistence and well-being of forestdependent local peoples, as well as provide meaningful information for establishing sustainable social
forestry programs.
Form of local knowledge on forest diversity is not uniform among tropical forest dwellers in
different regions and cultures despite of similarity in environment (Ellen 2010). Ethno-ecologicaltropical forest classification have been studied in Amazonia and then in southeast Asia. There are twopatterns reported: detailed and relatively definitive fixed classification with many lexicalization of― 248 ―

Takanori Oishi and Evariste Fedoung Fongnzossie

specific vegetations (such as among the Matsigenka in Peru Amazon: Abraao et al. 2010, Shepard et al.
2001) and flexible, multidimensional, less or non-fixed classification with less lexicalization of specificvegetation (such as among the Nuaulu in Eastern Indonesia: Ellen 2010). To which extent local people
share systematic categorization may depend on both of the pattern of forest diversity and each group’smode of forest recognition. In this paper, we try to describe the folk forest recognition among the Baka
and its intracultural diversity in relation to their daily livelihoods.
2. Study area and people
This study has been conducted in southeastern Cameroon. The study site was Ndongo village located at
2°05ʹN 14°5ʹE near the Dja River, which is the international border between Cameroon and the Republicof Congo (Figure 1). The altitude is about 360 m above sea level. The vegetation of this region has been
described as mixed forest, with a dominance of deciduous species (Letouzey 1985). Annual rainfall
varies from 1300 to 1600 mm and annual average temperature is 25 °C (Sigha-Nkamdjou 1994). The
area is subject to a Guinean equatorial climate with four seasons divided as follows: a long dry seasonfrom December to mid-March, a short rainy season from mid-March to June, a short dry season in Julyand August, and a long rainy season from August to November. The weather pattern is distinctive fromthe other parts of Congo basin because a clearly defined dry season exists, when semi-deciduous species.

Figure 1. Research area
The Baka is one of the Pygmy hunter-gatherer groups who are assumed to be the first people ofCongo Basin tropical forest, whose total population is estimated as 30,000 to 35,000 (Njounan Tegomo
et al. 2012). Reflecting forest dependent life, the Baka are well known for their botanical knowledge― 249 ―

A preliminary report on the diversity of forest landscape recognition among the Baka hunter-gatherers of Eastern Cameroon(Letouzey 1976). Since 1950s, Lifestyle of the Baka became sedentary and adoption of agriculture
proceeded (Althabe 1965). Current subsistence activities of Baka consists of a combination of hunting
and gathering, fishing, small-scale shifting cultivation, and cocoa farming (Oishi 2012).
Total population of local community of Ndongo is around 350.Whereas the inhabitants of researcharea are multi-ethnic with 15 ethnic groups resulting from operation of commercial logging operationin the past, major part of population are dominated in number by two indigenous groups of the Baka
hunter-gatherers and Bakwele fisher-farmers (Oishi 2012). There were eight separate sedentary camps
for the Baka, each of which has a population between 27 and 58 at the time of fieldwork.
3. Methodology
We conducted field research for two weeks in February 2009 and three weeks in July 2010. The visitswere made in the middle of the major and minor dry seasons, respectively. Interviews were conductedin Baka and French languages throughout the research.
First we made a preliminary group discussion, which had been held with 27 Baka adults (15 men
and 12 women) living in Ndongo village to explore terminologies of the different forest landscapes thatare recognized by the Baka. The group interview was conducted as a free-form conversation among theparticipants with a minimum of intervention by the researchers. We asked informants simple questions
such as ‘What kinds of forest do you know?’. There were often differences of opinion among participants.
Confusing and conflicting opinions were recorded and translated from Baka language with the helpof research assistants. After some discussion, participants of the group disucussion reached a consensus
on the major forest categories. The result of this discussion was repeatedly verified by cross-checking
with different Baka informants throughout the field research in the forest.
4. Results
In total, 20 folk vegetation categories or habitats were preliminarily recorded in the Baka forest
nomenclature. Table 1 characterizes the 20 habitats and the matching floristic forest types based oncontemporary ecological classification systems (Photographs of each landscape were given in the
appendix).

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Takanori Oishi and Evariste Fedoung Fongnzossie

Table 1. Baka vegetation categories
No. Baka vegetation category

Description

1 belegeneric term of "forest"

2 bai

wet savannah, the Baka don't recognize as forest

3 njambo

Raphia forest, the Baka don't recognize as forest

4 wundo na gbie*

agricultural fallow, the Baka don't recognize as forest

5 bele na bundja or saka*periodically flooded forest

6 tobele

deep forest far from village, etymologically meaning is “the heart (centre) of the forest”

7 bemba*

Gilbertiodendron monodominant forest

8 liwala*

forest with understory dominated by boboko (Marantochloa purpurea ) and where you can findmany bala bala trees (Milletia sp.) with cacao like large leaves. Surface soil is blakish.

9 buya*10 bukaforest with open canopy and more or less thick understory. Only few heliophyte trees emerge thecanopy. Could be understood as young growing secondary forest.
physically and physiognomically similar forest to buya . Buka is smaller forest patch than buya.

11 bi*

forest with very thick understory where it is difficult to see at long distance.

12 koko na bele*

forest gaps created by the falling down of trees.

13 kpwoto*heavily disturbed areas near wet savannah where elephants and the other large mammals use tocome and feed.
swamp forest along streams, poorly drained.

14 dobo
15 diko bala (na bele)*
16 diko ba (na bele)*

forest regenerated after the abandoned temporary camps for hunting and gathering, fishing, andsmall-scale agriculture.
forest regenerated after the abandoned villages.

17 bikolo*

mature forest with many big trees and more or less thick understory.

18 mandja*

mature forest with very clear understory where you can see somebody at or something very far.

18a mandja na bi

forest mosaic where one can find discontinuous patches of mandja and bi forests categories.

18b mandja na bikolo or bikolo
na mandja

forest mosaic where one can find discontinuous patches of mandja and bikolo forests categories.

Note: Photographs of the categories with * are provided in the Appendix.
The generic Baka term for forest is bele. Bele is thought to occupy the semiotically opposite
position of ba (sedentary village). Wet savannah, Raphia forest, and agricultural fallow lands are notrecognized as forest. Excluding generic and composite terms, the Baka lexicalize more on natural
habitats (11 habitats) than on anthropogenic habitats (3 habitats). Baka categorization and recognitionof forest reflects multiple frameworks, that include physical structure, flooding regime, dominant
species, topography, distance from settlement (sedentary village), animal disturbance, andanthropogeneity (past human activities, human settlement history). Among these forest understory
visibility and canopy openness were frequently cited as reasons to explain the differences between forest
habitats.
As can be seen in the case of combined categories of mandja na bikolo and mandja na bi (categories
18a and 18b in Table 1), the Baka do not always set clear boundaries between different forest categories.
The correspondence between the present forest and forest categories is not fixed and does not always
have a one-to-one relationship. The Baka informants claimed complicated varieties of forest vegetationin various ways. This flexible and elastic characteristic mode of their forest recognition might be apractical to cope with constantly changing diverse situation of forest micro-environments (Ellen 2010).

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A preliminary report on the diversity of forest landscape recognition among the Baka hunter-gatherers of Eastern Cameroon

Natural vegetation and anthropogenic vegetation appear to be similar in their physical structure.
The Baka perceive a similarity between agricultural fallow and young forest vegetation undergoing theprocess of regeneration. Wundo is a term used for agricultural fallow, but sometimes the Baka also use
this term for buya, large sized forest gaps. In such cases, the Baka distinguish wundo na bele (fallow offorest) from wundo na gbie (agricultural fallow) near the village.
The tobele category is unique from the other habitats in that it is defined only by the distance fromsedentary villages or camps. Considering that it can also contain many of the other habitats of forest, itcannot be treated in the same way as the categories of vegetation type. In general, the distance appears
to be far more than 15 km (in a straight line) from the current village, but it is impossible to clarify andquantify the boundary of tobele because the Baka recognize tobele in a continuum with other habitats,and more importantly, they “feel” it according to the informants.
We also observed a considerable intra-cultural variations about forest landscape recognitions
among Baka informants. Whereas some informants stressed the importance of soil and land form, theothers stressed the potential distribution of edible wild and semi-wild plant and animal species forgathering and hunting activities. In addition, gendered differences are evident in some forest habitat uses.
For example, whereas female Baka tend to tell importance of secondary forests to fetch Marantaceae
herb leaves that are indispensable for roofing traditional mongulu mobile huts, male Baka tend to tellimportance of Primary and Raphia monodominant forests to fetch tree species and Raphia shoots forhouse construction at sedentarized camps. This may reflect modification of gendered roles among the
Baka following continuous tendencies of sedentarization.
5. Discussion
In general, Baka forest habitats are defined based on their flooding regime and soil characteristics,
indicator species, distance from the village, visibility in the understory, canopy structure, history of pastland use, and forest hydrology. The Baka clearly distinguish and name relatively stable habitats featured
by hydrological constraints, land form, and monodominance by specific species. Four of the Baka
habitats (bemba, njambo, liwala, and bai) were specifically defined based on the presence ofcharacteristic indicator species: Gilbertiodendron dewevrei, Raphia spp., Milletia sp., and savannahs
grasses, respectively. Gilbertiodendron monodominant forest (also refer to as limbali) and Raphia forest
types are also considered as modern ecological classifications (Aubrevile 1957), as well as in the
Cameroon national forest classification of ONADEF (1992). Knowledge about these habitats wereextensively shared among people. On the contrary, habitat like the tobele, which etymologically means“the heart [center] of the forest,” cannot only be clearly defined but individual perception may also varya lot depending on his/her cumulative experience in the forest.
The bi, buka, buya, koko na bele, diko ba, diko bala, and wundo na gbie respectively represent
different conditions of secondary vegetation. Only three categories of diko ba, diko bala, and wundo na― 252 ―

Takanori Oishi and Evariste Fedoung Fongnzossie

gbie reflected human use history. Different from the previous studies on forest dwellers who principally
rely on swidden agriculture (Dounias 1996, Nguenang et al. 2010), the Baka lexicalize more on natural
habitats than on anthropogenic habitats. The koko na bele forest category reflects a natural disturbance(trees falling down) and same terminology is also reported in the forest nomenclature of Aka pygmiesof the Central African Republic (Bahuchet 1985), as well as in ecological classifications. The bi, buka,
and buya reflect the physiognomical aspect of the forest (understory density and canopy structure,
respectively). Dibo and saka (or bele na bundja) are associated with forest hydrology and soil
characteristics, and these characteristics are also reflected in modern ecological classification systems(Aubreville 1952, Letouzey 1985, ONADEF 1992). Similarly, the kpwoto category, which is ‘a place
where elephants gather and feed’, is well known in the scientific literature as saline. Although mandja
and bikolo both represent mature stages of forest growth, the Baka clearly distinguish them based on
their understory structure. Frameworks in which the Baka recognize secondary forest are
multidimensional, sometimes overlapping, and complementing each other to draw diverse andintermediate features of dynamic forest landscapes. This may allow the Baka to make ad hoc reference
to a particular condition of forest, as their “pragmatic” response to the high complexity of environment(Ellen 2010).
Thus, our results are in line with previous studies that have argued that folk forest classification
systems can provide novel ecological information for modern ecologists (Abraao et al. 2008, Sheil and
Lawrence 2004, Halme and Bodmer 2007, Shepard et al. 2001). Whereas previous quantitative analysis
on forest landscape recognition were mostly from Amazonia and Southeast Asia and absent from central
Africa, the present research suggests that the traditional ecological knowledge of forest dwellers suchas the Baka have enough potential to be used to identify major landscape units in southeast Cameroon
rainforest areas.
The question arises whether the Baka have a similar type of ethnotheories or the perspectives tograsp the ecological relationships between their recognized habitats. When we asked how they observe
vegetation changes in the long term, Baka informants told us about their understandings of vegetation
changes, for example, from forest gaps to open canopy forest or very thick undergrowth forest,
depending on the gap size (cf. Bahuchet 1985). Of course the Baka are also aware that fallow land will
return to forest. Although their images of vegetation change may not be arranged systematically andthere observed were considerable variation in their ways of expression, it is clear that the Baka view
forest vegetation not as a static entity but as a dynamic one (Ellen 2010). Further study is needed to
examine what factors of socioecological and/or socioeconomic conditions influence on their diverse
ways of forest landscape recognition.

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A preliminary report on the diversity of forest landscape recognition among the Baka hunter-gatherers of Eastern Cameroon

Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by KAKENHI Grant-in-Aids for Scientific Research Nos.
21820018, 16H02716, and 17H06342 from Japan Society for Promotion of Science. We are grateful to
the Baka of Ndongo village, Moloundou district, Eastern region of Cameroon. Mr. Nsonkali CharlesJones has contributed to field research as a field assistant. Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation(MINRESI) of Cameroon Government has granted research permit to conduct field research. Dr.
Bernard Aloys Nkongmeneck of Millennium Ecologic Museum had identified a part of plant specimens
collected during our fieldwork.

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Appendix. Photographs of observed forest landscapes.

Figure 2. (A)wundo na gbie, (B)bele na bundja, (C)bemba, (D)liwala, (E)buya, (F)bi― 256 ―

Takanori Oishi and Evariste Fedoung Fongnzossie(G)koko na bele, (H)kpwoto, (I)diko bala, (J)diko ba, (K)bikolo, (L)mandja― 257 ―