Tribe

Genres: Reality, Wildlife/Nature, Documentary Series

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Seasons

Season 1

Tribe (known in the USA as Going Tribal) Going is a British documentary television series co-produced by the BBC and the Discovery Channel in which Bruce Parry — a former British Royal Marine — visits a number of remote tribes, spending a month living and interacting with each society.

The series originally aired in the UK on BBC 2 from 3 January, 2005 to 25 September, 2007. There are 15 hour-long episodes in three seasons.

Tribe premiered in South Africa on DStv's BBC Prime (and later BBC Knowledge) channel on Sunday 11 June 2006, at 21h00. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.

Season 1

Many of the Earth's oldest cultures, traditions and skills are on the point of being lost forever, as Western influence takes over.

Former Royal Marine officer Bruce Parry journeys to some of the remotest corners of the globe to live alongside indigenous people.

He sets out not just to observe, but to experience the lives of others. In doing so, he is tested to the limit.

There is a strong emphasis on hunting and the rituals of the warrior, as he learns how to survive using bows, arrows, blowpipes, dogs, spears, traps, snares and clubs.

And he must cook and eat his catch using traditional methods such as hot stones, waxy leaves and bamboo pots.

Bruce also braves the local poison, whether it is recreational or ritualistic.

When he stays with the forest people of Central Gabon, he is initiated into their spiritual wisdom by eating the powerful, hallucinogenic Iboga root, which causes three days of strong physical and emotional effects.

And, with the Sanema of the Amazon, he attempts to become a shaman, by taking a massive overdose of a psychoactive tree bark, blasted up his nose through a blowpipe.

Bruce also examines the effect of the western world on these hidden pockets of humanity. How is our medicine, religion, and way of life changing remote cultures?

Modern clothing, technology and medicine can radically improve lives. But equally, contact with the West can devastate the environment on which local people depend; Western religion and weapons can disrupt ancient cultures and fuel rivalry and violence.

Will contact with the modern world destroy these cultures? And what can we learn from them?

Episodes

Episode 1: Lost Tribe - The Adis (India)

Bruce spends four weeks with the Adi people, who live in Arunachal Pradesh in the Himalayas, a remote corner of India.

As well as participating in sacrificial ceremonies with the tribe of former warriors who were cut off from civilization for centuries, Parry tries the local delicacies: the flesh of the prized "toilet pigs" and "rat cake".

Episode 2: Dangerous Game - The Suri (Ethiopia)

Bruce goes to live with the Suri tribe of southwest Ethiopia and takes part in the fierce stick fights that are at the heart of Suri culture. These fights, called donga, have traditionally been used to settle scores between villages, and to keep order.

But the system is increasingly threatened by the invasion of guns. No longer are the elders looked to for permission that a donga can take place — with a bullet, retribution can be swift, and fatal.

Episode 3: Living With Cannibals (Indonesia)

Bruce is deep in unexplored jungle as he travels to West Papua to meet a tribe rumored to be cannibals. The Kombai people are hunter-gatherers, with no history of living in villages, and still use stone tools.

They're not bad with bow and arrow either, as Bruce discovers when he is suddenly surrounded by locals, all with arrow tips pointing at him.

Episode 4: African Vision Quest (Gabon)

Bruce faces one of his toughest tests as he is inducted into Bwiti, a rainforest religion practiced by the Babongo people of Gabon. He's right to be worried — on occasion the ritual, which involves consuming an overdose of a powerful hallucinogenic, iboga, has proved fatal.

This dramatic episode follows Bruce's build-up to the ceremony as he goes hunting, collecting forest honey and spends time getting to know his new friends, before they judge the time is right for his "rebirthing" ritual.

Episode 5: Horse Masters Of Mongolia (Mongolia)

Bruce travels to Mongolia to meet the nomadic Darhad people. The family he stays with follows a tradition of herding through steep valleys to find grazing for their cattle, sheep and horses, which has continued for centuries. And they also have satellite TV.

But with no roads, horseback is the best way to travel, and though Bruce has never ridden, he is soon coming to grips with a new mount — at least until he loses it.

Episode 6: Waking The Spirits (Venezuela)

Bruce learns the secrets of the spirits when he joins the Sanema, a group of indigenous people who live in the Upper Caura region of Venezuela, to discover the strange dual-reality world in which they live.

The Sanema believe spirits dwell in everything — the river, the rocks and the animals around them — in a world as real to them as the jungle they live in. And their shamans can commune with such spirits through the use of hallucinogenic snuff.

Now Bruce faces the task of training as a shaman to get an insight into their experiences.

Seasons

(All seasons aired exclusively on BBC Prime/BBC Knowledge)

Season 1 (6 episodes)

Premiere: 11 June 2006 | Finale: 16 July 2006 | Sundays, 21h00

Season 2 (3 episodes)

Premiere: 13 April 2009 | Finale: 14 April 2009 | Monday, Tuesday

Season 3 (6 episodes)

Premiere: 26 June 2009 | Finale: 31 July 2009 | Fridays, 21h30