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The Independent
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Projectile vomiting and ayahuasca ceremonies – Bruce Parry on how ‘Tribe' has encouraged him to travel closer to home
B ruce Parry, the adventurer, activist and former Royal Marine, became a household name in the early Noughties for his BBC TV series, Tribe, which first aired 20 years ago. He seemingly had no fear and, teamed with a relaxed demeanour and a willingness to immerse himself fully in remote indigenous communities around the world, he captured the imagination of his viewers. In previous series, Parry has willingly joined in with rituals and traditions, often putting himself through extreme pain, including having his septum pierced with a large sago thorn ('by far the most painful thing'), consuming powerful psychedelic plant remedies, as well as sleeping on a floor made from cow dung and eating live insects on camera. Parry has lived with the Adi people in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India, the country's hardest to reach state that not that long ago was closed to foreigners; the Kombai in West Papua, a group still associated with cannibalism and male witches; and the Penan community in Borneo 's rainforest whose home is threatened by logging. For many, including myself, watching as a teenager, the programme ignited a lifelong interest in cultures around the world and the environment. This new series promises to be just as exciting. It has three episodes, starting with the Waihama in Colombia, who believe they are deeply connected to the forest. Parry joins them in cleansing his body through induced projectile vomiting into a river after drinking a bright green liquid made from plants. He also snorts chillies and takes part in a lengthy ayahuasca ceremony in a bid to connect with forest spirits. 'I have become a believer in the plant medicines I have taken with indigenous peoples. They have changed my life beautifully and beyond measure.' Parry says he was initially 'terrified' of presenting the show, explaining, 'I wasn't a trained anthropologist, [I was] fearful of how I was going to be seen talking to the world about this very complex and important subject.' Ultimately, the series was a success, and Parry felt very lucky to have taken up the mantle. After six years, three series, several spinoff series, and a Bafta award, Parry decided to take a break. While he continued to advocate for indigenous people, the break from TV lasted 10 years. 'I'd see the impact of [these things] on the planet and then return to a nation still debating climate change. I realised that you can raise lots of money, make a film and say whatever you want to say, but you're only speaking to the people who want to hear it. I felt like a tidal wave was about to land on us… and I needed to act.' Being confronted with the problems faced by remote groups, from the effects of globalisation and climate change to pollution from illegal cocaine production, has been tough for Parry to come to terms with, and he says: 'I wouldn't mind if I didn't travel again. That's not my drive. I'm not there to make entertainment. I'm doing it because we need to learn from these people.' The responsibility to make programmes ethically weighs heavily on his shoulders: 'It's true that I can and have had an impact, but it's nothing compared to the miners, missionaries and traders. The extraction of resources is still the number one impacting factor on indigenous people,' he says. 'It's the impact of our world on theirs [which results in] a loss of land and water. That hasn't changed and, if anything, it's accelerated.' Parry has revisited some of the communities over the years, and is still in touch with almost half of them, but notes, 'I met most of them before social media was a thing.' He admits that much has changed over the past 20 years and is aware of his privileged position. 'Things have changed for me and for the audience and the tribes I visit. We all have a greater understanding of sex and gender, and different understandings of colonialism and appropriation.' In March this year, he returned to our screens, rebooting the series under a new name: Tribe with Bruce Parry. He is aware that some people may question why he needs to visit remote communities, where outsiders have never visited, let alone stayed the night, but maintains: '[On TV] I can speak to people in their homes, and that's a powerful thing.' In the second episode of the new series, Parry stays with the almost entirely self-sufficient Mucabal group in the Namib Desert, southern Angola, one of the driest and most isolated communities that now has to dig daily for its water supply. This is the most controversial episode, with Parry being asked by Chief Keluie to sacrifice a goat by suffocation. To the camera, Parry describes it as 'the most gruesome thing I've ever done', and is visibly upset by the experience. In another scene, a difficult-to-watch circumcision of a group of young boys takes place, and in another, a beauty ritual sees an 11-year-old girl's bottom teeth knocked out with a stone. A gentle David Attenborough nature documentary, this is not. The final episode covers the Marapu in Sumba, Indonesia, who live in a village among their buried ancestors. Parry is adamant he's not much of a linguist, but after spending four months in Indonesia without a translator, he's now able to hold a conversation with ease. It's there that the community tells Parry they feel sorry for him when they learn he doesn't know his ancestors or live near their remains. They say he's like a nut without a shell. Despite making a career from travelling to some of the world's most remote places to learn from indigenous communities, he doesn't advocate for others to do the same. Instead, he says there's plenty of 'mind-blowing' places to visit closer to home in Wales or Scotland. 'I'm not trying to say you shouldn't go travelling,' he says. 'I think travel is the university of life, it's about how you travel. Go to places where things are different, speak to the people who live there and listen.'
Telegraph
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Tribe with Bruce Parry, review: a fascinating (and drug-fuelled) Amazonian adventure
Deep in the Amazon rainforest, Bruce Parry has foraged for ants, waded through a river that is home to piranhas, encountered a deadly snake, and eaten the giant larvae of the palm weevil beetle ('I mean, it's got a lot of flavour, it's a bit like custard'). But all this is just killing time. What he really wants to do, because this is Bruce Parry, is get off his nut. Parry was known, in his original Tribe series, for tripping on hallucinogens. After a near-20-year hiatus, he's back in Tribe with Bruce Parry (BBC Two), living with three indigenous tribes in remote corners of the world. The first episode features the Waihama in Colombia and, what do you know, they have an ayahuasca ceremony. It is, he explains, at the heart of their connection to the forest and he wants to know how. Emetophobics should avoid this programme like the plague. Preparations for the ceremony involve drinking a green concoction to cleanse the system. This leads to copious amounts of on-screen projectile vomiting. Parry also has to snort chilli mixed with river water and eat cold, boiled frog. He does all of this without complaint, because he is a good guest. After drinking the ayuhuasca – known to the Waihama as 'yagé' – Parry gets very high. This is actually the least interesting part of the programme, because he only says, 'Woaaahh' and, 'It's just beautiful' and, 'I'm having another rush', all while someone plays the pan pipes and several others throw up in the corner. The Waihama live a life filled with natural dangers – 'yesterday a jaguar ate my mother's dog,' a villager mentions – but they have such a connection to their surroundings and to their ancestors that they feel content here. It is fascinating to see how these tribes survive and preserve their way of life while the modern world goes on around them. Some scenes might shock Western eyes, as when an 11-year-old girl from the Mucaba tribe in southern Angola has her bottom teeth knocked out with a rock as a mark of beauty. Then again, perhaps the Mucaba would be appalled to watch women having Botox, filler and salmon sperm injected into their faces on Instagram. In the second episode, a tribal chief in southern Angola gives Parry a gift to welcome him. It's a goat, which he has to kill through suffocation. Parry is clearly upset by this but does as he's asked by his host. He earns his place among each tribe through respectfulness and hard work. It's good to have him back.
