Returning: Tribe

BBC documentary series Tribe returns for its third season this month.

Anthrolopolgist Bruce Parry again lives with indigenous peoples to better understand their culture, and sometimes his own.

In the first episode he visits the Matis tribe in Vale do Javari Indigenous Park, an area of 32,000 sq miles in the far west of Brazil.

These tribesmen have been burned by “outsiders” in the past who wanted to exploit their culture for personal gain. There were also western diseases introduced. But Parry is accepted as part of the tribe and welcomed into the home of a traditional Matis family.

Parry will partake in local rituals that include ceremonial whipping, having a painful bitter juice dropped into the eyes, being slapped with a leaf containing a powerful irritant and drinking tatxi -an earthy, bitter drink made from a rare root. Although painful, the Matis believe that these rituals signify a man’s passage to becoming a hunter and are repeated throughout his life to improve his skills.

A tad more authentic than Nine’s Lost Tribes reality show?

It returns Wednesday February 18 at 8.30pm on SBS.