Kings Of The Dwindling Forest

Nepal’s last hunting tribe subsists on primates as their main meal, a menu choice that’s quickly slipping through their grasp

God said to set the screaming monkey free – at least, that’s what the Raute hunters believe. Though the men have gone to great lengths to capture the day’s hard-won dinner, it is customary (and arguably rather forwardthinking) to release a male-female pair to ensure the langur population’s sustainability. After all, it is to Dade Masto, the Raute’s pagan god, that they owe the success of their hunt, and to whom they sacrifice a chick to pacify him for their primate hunting lest he let the sky fall down upon the Earth.

“If we don’t keep God happy, he will say that monkeys are like our own children, and we can’t kill and eat them,” says Raute leader Mahin Bahadur Shahi. “That would be a disaster. If we can’t hunt langurs, what will our people eat?”

Deity satisfied, the hunters walk the long route back to camp at the foot of the Himalayas. In the evening, they will distribute the pickings equally among the villagers. If a stranger arrives at mealtime, they hide their dinner: Outsiders must never lay eyes on it – nor see the Raute hunting – or it will mean immense bad luck on everyone’s heads.