Tribe with Bruce Parry: everything we know

Yahoo

31-03-2025

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Get ready for a new series of Tribe with Bruce Parry, which comes to our screens nearly two decades after the filmmaker's last work for BBC Two.
In this brand new three-part series, Parry will travel to some of the most remote corners of the world to visit communities living radically different lives from our own.
He believes indigenous knowledge and wisdom are needed more than ever and his return to the BBC comes at a time when the world faces unprecedented environmental challenges, millions of tribal people have left their communities and the threats to those who remain are escalating.
Against this backdrop, Bruce is visiting three extraordinary communities, diving deep into their traditional ways of life. He is the first foreign visitor to live within each community, and films much of his experience on his own camera.
'It's been over twenty years since Tribe first aired," says Bruce. "Living with people who experience the world in such profoundly different ways was eye-opening then, but today it feels vital. I believe we have so much to learn from those who still live in deep connection with the world around them. It feels a huge privilege that the BBC has allowed me to explore these places and themes once again.'
Here's everything we know about Tribe with Bruce Parry...
The series debuted on Sunday, March 30 on BBC Two, with all episodes now available on iPlayer. Episodes 2 and 3 of the show will also be broadcast on BBC2 on Sunday, April 6 and Sunday, April 1,3 respectively.
There's a trailer for the series, check it out below...
Tribe with Bruce Parry episode 1 - Waihama
After four days travel from the UK, Bruce visits the Waimaha people, who live on a remote tributary of the Amazon. Deep in one of least accessible regions of the Colombian rainforest, it's a region of the Amazon that he's never visited before.
After rubber tappers and missionaries nearly destroyed Waimaha culture in the 20th Century, Bruce is initially seen as an outsider and eyed with suspicion. He wants to learn about the Waimaha's deep understanding of nature that allows them to thrive in such a remote region.
He eats foraged insects, drinks beer brewed with saliva and lives with a family who have recently lost their dog to a jaguar from the surrounding forest. The Waimaha use a powerful form of the psychoactive ayahuasca to connect with forest spirits who, they believe, are the protectors of their lands.
Bruce must win the trust of the community if he is to attend a sacred ritual where the psychoactive will be taken. To do this he is required to go through a series of purges, including snorting chilli, middle of the night river immersions, and a vomiting purge to cleanse his stomach.
Tribe with Bruce Parry episode 2 - Mucubal
Bruce ventures deep into the unforgiving Namib desert in southern Angola, a region only recently accessible after years of civil war and a legacy of landmines. Invited to live with the Mucubal, Bruce is the first white person some of the villagers have ever seen.
In a desert that is hot and getting hotter he sees first-hand how climate change is affecting life for the Mucubal and their cattle. Bruce witnesses several practices which lie at the heart of Mucubal identity, including the ritual removal of teeth and circumcision ceremonies.
Survival in the desert is tough and on his first morning Bruce is woken and given a welcome gift - a goat which he is told he must sacrifice with his bare hands, before sharing with the community. Bruce admits this is, 'the most gruesome thing I have ever done'.
Tribe with Bruce Parry episode 3 - Marapu
In the final episode, Bruce travels to the paradise island of Sumba in Indonesia. Sumba is the only island in the world where people worship the ancient religion of Marapu, a religion where ancestral spirits demand blood sacrifice from its followers.
Invited to stay by the priest, Bruce lives in an ancient hilltop village where houses are built next to megalithic stone tombs containing their dead relatives, and homes are built with dedicated space for the ancestors to live. Bruce discovers the villagers' devotion to living alongside the dead comes with great sacrifice.
The villagers' remote location at the top of a hill with no access to water or irrigation sees them start to run out of food. They are forced to venture into the forest to hunt. During his stay, Bruce comes to learn that they would never leave - for the ancestors offer both protection in daily life, and comfort for what comes after.
Parry was born on 17 March 1969 and is an English documentarian, indigenous rights advocate, author and explorer.
A former commando officer in the Royal Marines, he left the forces after six years to become a trek leader in Indonesia, before seeking a career in TV.
His first TV appearance came in 2002 in an episode of BBC One's Extreme Lives series entitled "Cannibals and Crampons" and he appeared in various other shows before starting work on his Tribe series in 2004.
The show saw Bruce immersing himself with 15 different tribal communities whilst making three groundbreaking series, earning him two nominations for BAFTA Best Factual Series.
In 2007, he spent an entire year travelling along the Amazon to explore the forces affecting the world's largest rainforest and its people. Amazon went on to win Bafta Best Factual Series 2009.