The Mani Tribe's Blowgun | Primal Survivor

[music playing]

HAZEN AUDEL: The Mani have an unrivaled knowledge of the local plants and trees, relying on them for almost everything they need. [non-english speech] Huh? [non-english speech] [non-english speech] That one right there. [non-english speech] Oh. It's basically like a palm tree. And it is spiky and thorny everywhere on it. [non-english speech] Up there? [non-english speech] You just climb this to get all the way up there. Look at that.

The Mani are expert climbers. Training begins at a young age. By adulthood, they're able to scale the tallest trees in the forest. Now, that man can climb a tree. It makes perfect sense because in a forest like this, it's a whole 'nother world out there. And to the Mani, half their meat market and grocery store is up in those branches. He's doing this all methodically. All this comes with a lot of practice.

OK, yeah, this is the stuff. It's like this really felty material, really fibrousy. It's the stuff that grows between the really spiky outer bark in the inner cambium up there. [music playing] Nice. [laughs] This plant fiber makes excellent tinder, but we've collected it for a different purpose. [non-english speech] Take one of these? [non-english speech] OK. These are target darts. [non-english speech] No poison on the end.

Oh, OK. Take this. So this little wadding, shove that right in there. And then that totally completes the air seal. Huh? Making the tube airtight allows us to fire the darts using the power of our lungs. [inaudible] has been hunting with blow guns since he was 15. These powerful precision weapons rely on an expert combination of steady aim and timing. Bullseye. That is just straight and powerful.

Blow guns are handmade in the village using a special bamboo called [inaudible]. Two tubes are carefully heated and massaged over hot coals, and are made to be as straight as possible. They are then glued together using a sticky tree resin. This extra length provides deadly force and accuracy. Launching darts at several hundred miles per hour. Look at that. Just to see how powerful, this dart went all the way through the target.

Now, it's my turn. It's a good thing these things are light, because there's a lot of leverage on the end. But then, your hands don't get in the way of siting the blowgun. I got this. [groans] Yeah, I didn't make it that time. [inaudible] It'll take some practice. It went way into the jungle. During a hunt, you rarely get a second chance. I need to demonstrate this is a skill I can master.

OK, so how do you hold your hands? Just put that on the bottom. Oh, wow, OK. So you lock your two index fingers up on top. There we go! Yeah, bullseye, bullseye. Nice, nice, getting more practice. They fire so fast and accurate, they really jam in there.

MANI PERSON: [non-english speech] Huh?

MANI PERSON: [non-english speech] Yeah, [non-english speech]. Good deal, good deal. Yeah, yeah, nice. Starting to get the hang of this.