Mongulu (Baka Leaf Hut)

The móngulu is the traditional hut of the Baka, forest hunter-gatherers of the rainforests of Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. It is a small, hemispherical dome made for one family, built mainly by women from materials gathered around the camp. Similar leaf-covered domes are built by other forest peoples of Central Africa; in the Ituri forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mbuti (Bambuti) shelters are covered with layered mongongo leaves.

Construction

1. Flexible thin branches are pushed into the ground in a circle and bent over to form a hemispheric framework.
2. Large, freshly gathered leaves of plants of the Marantaceae family are laid over the frame to cover it.
3. Other plant material is sometimes added to make the covering more compact and waterproof.
4. A panel of bark or banana leaves can serve as a door.

The huts belong to forest camps rather than permanent villages, so the technique survives as living practice rather than in old buildings.

Change

Government programmes to replace forest dwellers' huts have not always been well received: in Rwanda, the national campaign against thatched houses in 2009-2011 bore heavily on Batwa families (see Nyakatsi).

Significance for roofing

The móngulu is an extremely light roof. Its leaf covering follows the same principle as any lapped roof covering, with each course shedding water onto the next, but on a frame that is also the wall.

Sources and gaps

Hut dimensions, building time and the exact Marantaceae species used were not stated in published sources.