The Twa, known as Batwa, are pygmy people who have lived in the Albertine Rift Valley region since immemorial time.
Batwa are storytellers and dancers, whose reputation reached up to the ancient Egyptian court. The legend says that their god, Nagasian, charged them with the responsibility of being the “caretakers of the forest”.
Their society’s origins in the forests of Bwindi and Mgahinga is dating back nearly 60,000 years, making them one of the oldest groups of people inhabiting the earth.
Traditionally, the Batwa have been a semi-nomadic hunter gatherer people of the mountain forests. Due to clearing of the forests for agriculture, logging, development projects, or creation of conservation areas, in recent decades the Batwa were removed from the forest and given no compensation, making them like refugees.
