In company of Kopedina and Bovenga Bepiti, two young men from Cap Estérias in Gabon, we address a rather controversial subject, that of fishing for turtles. Speaking in the Benga language, they recall the past when fish was plentiful near the shore, whereas today one needs to go far out at sea. And they mention above all their sorrow at seeing Westerners pressing them to stop fishing for sea turtles, when it is a traditional activity of the Benga practiced only in certain ritual circumstances, and in a way they deem respectful of nature…

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Linguist : Patrick Mouguiama-Daouda

Image and sound : Muriel Lutz

Editing : Caroline Laurent

As a reminder: Benga is spoken on the Gabonese coastal zone (Cap Esterias and Cap Santa Clara), north of Libreville. Benga people also live in Equatorial Guinea, especially on Corisco island. Fishing is their main traditional activity.

Benga is a Bantu language from the Niger-Congo family. The extensive linguistic classification of the language remains complicated: there are similarities with languages spoken further north, but also with languages spoken in the east (languages of the Kota-kele group).

Today, less than 1,000 people are capable of using the language and this figure is constantly decreasing, partly because the community is progressively merging with the Myéné community nearby.