Bambuti are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. The Bambuti population lives in the Ituri Forest, a tropical rainforest in the north/northeast portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bambuti are pygmy hunter-gatherers, and are one of the oldest indigenous people of the Congo region of Africa. They consider the forest to be their great protector and provider and believe that it is a sacred place. During the Congo Civil War in 1998, the Bambuti were hunted down and eaten as though they were game animals. Both sides of the war regarded them as "subhuman" and some say their flesh can confer magical powers.
