Here we have the first pictures of the Siverback ‘Buka’ and a female ‘Mama Buka’ from the new group being habituated. They were taken on the 5th and 14th May this year. The trackers and researchers have been following and making contact with the group now daily for nearly a year. The habituation is going well.
Buka was named by the Baka trackers doing the habituation as he spent a lot of time in thick bushes. In Pygmees ba’Aka language his full name is “Buka Mokongo”, and it means “to break the back’. This was because mostly in the beginning of the process of habituation the group used to move in the thickest, densest vegetation to avoid obervers; so this was painful when following them in the thicket, giving the trackers backache. That’s why the silverback got this name.