Each new Mbuti camp site is close enough to the periphery of the forest to provide relatively easy access to the particular Bantu village with whom each Mbuti group has a political and economic relationship. Hunting occurs only when meat is needed for consumption or trade with the Bantu, and the successful hunter typically shares with others of his group. Men do the hunting, particularly when they are hunting with bow and arrow, but women and children play a key role when nets are used. Long nets are spread by the waiting hunters, and the women and children flush game into the nets. Men and women share roles as gatherers of vegetation, as well as child care.
Women are in charge of building the huts and do most of the cooking.
The Mbuti are characterized as good natured and happy. Since food and firewood is so plentiful, only a small portion of their day is spent hunting or doing chores, leaving an abundance of time for singing and storytelling. Instead of having a central figure of authority, they live cooperatively and solve problems among themselves by arguing relentlessly until a compromise is reached. In extreme cases, the group may ostracize an individual, forcing them to live alone in the forest for a period of time, eventually allowing them to return to the group. The molimo is a major ritual in Mbuti life, inspired by their belief that the forest is the center of their existence, the source of all that is good in their lives.