Tribal Wives
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Tribal Wives

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Ratings: 7.63/10 from 54 users.

Tribal WivesSix British women swap their everyday lives for life as tribal wives in some of the most remote communities on earth. Like many women today juggling career, home and family, they feel that something is missing. By spending time in societies where female roles are very different, they hope to find answers that could change their lives.

Kuna/Panama. The Kuna Indians are a deeply spiritual people who live on a stunning scattering of coral islands off the coast of Panama. A monogamous tribe with tight-knit families, they are a deeply spiritual people who believe that their homes and families are protected by ever-present spirits.

Waorani/Ecuador. 46-year-old Karen Morris-Lanz stays with the Waorani, one of the world's most isolated tribes, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle. Once known as the savages, they have a fearsome reputation. But behind this formidable facade is a way of life unchanged for centuries.

Afar/Ethiopia. The Afar are one of Ethiopia's most fiercely independent tribes, nomadic cattle and camel herders with a tough reputation, carrying guns to protect their herds from rival clans and wild animals.

Himba/Namibia. The Himba are a semi-nomadic tribe of pastoralists who live on the harsh sun-baked plains of northern Namibia. The women are striking, covering their hair and bodies in red ochre.

Maasai/Tanzaniai. The Maasai are one of the world's most famous and largest tribes in Africa. They are polygamous, with men allowed to have up to ten wives, and women expected to marry and bear children from the age of 14.

Mentawai/Indonesia. The Mentawai live deep in the jungle on a remote island off the coast of Indonesia - a monogamous tribe where women are tattooed and sharpen their teeth. Their lives are dominated by the spirit world and male sikerei, or witch doctors, watch over the village.

Yoruk/Turkey. Twenty-three-year-old Charlie Brades from Hampshire joins the Yoruk, a tribe of nomads who live in the remote mountains of southern Turkey. Charlie is fiercely independent but her life has been far from carefree.

Babongo/Gabon. Linda Plover from Liverpool is going to live as a Tribal Wife with the Babongo in southern Gabon. Linda is haunted by memories of a poverty-stricken childhood and feels an overwhelming sense of bitterness towards her mother.

Raramuri/Mexico. 40-year-old Michelle Frost from London is travelling to northern Mexico to stay with the RarĂ¡muri, an ancient tribe who live perched on the edge of the spectacular Copper Canyon.

Kitava/Papua New Guinea. Becky Camilleri, a PA from London's East End, travels to the idyllic island of Kitava, off the east coast of Papua New Guinea. Becky is successful, talented and beautiful but unlucky in love.

Karen/Thailand. Jackie Davis from Bristol spends some time with the Karen, Thailand's largest hill tribe. Jackie is divorced, with two young children, and grappling with life as a single parent.

Hamar/Ethiopia. Anna De Vere from London is going to stay with the Hamar in southern Ethiopia. Anna has a comfortable life in London, living with her partner and running her own business, but deep down she has a feeling that something is lacking.

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Emily
Emily
7 years ago

I have been searching everywhere to buy both seasons of tribal wives. Region code not an issue for me. Please someone tell me where/how to purchase?

Deneicy
Deneicy
8 years ago

Enjoyed the first season. You can view many episodes on youtube

De Neice Kenehan
De Neice Kenehan
10 years ago

I saw the one set in the Ecuadoran Amazon rain forest recently on LINK TV and it was INCREDIBLE. Simple production with a highly entertaining STORY and POWERFUL MESSAGE. Want to share it with friends.

Timmy Poo
Timmy Poo
10 years ago

This is life after our society crashes .

Chassia Chomsky Porat
Chassia Chomsky Porat
11 years ago

How can I watch the full episodes of tribal wives? I am particularly interested in the first episode of season 1 Sass Willis at the Kuna tribe in Panama?

sylviakenl
sylviakenl
11 years ago

Purely by chance I turned the TV on to find a program set in what looked like, somewhere in the Pacific, it was called 'Tribal Wives'. It had been running for a short while so I didn't see the beginning. At first I thought this young woman would make a hash of it, I was wrong.
Many years ago I spent almost 2 years working in PNG. The last 11 months I worked & lived very close with the Tolai people of Rabaul. I had a friend from Kurategete village called Emil Tavauta, we were like brothers. Every spare moment, weekends & holidays, I would spend with Emil, his family and extended family & friends in the village. So I know what it is like to live in a village such as the one that Becky lived in. I knew the problems she would encounter before she did, it is a hard life and one of the truest things she said was, "It's not paradise". It's only a paradise when you stay a week or two and then leave for home. I experienced illnes among the children, some probably got it from me, they are very susceptible to colds. One of Emil's children, Tatabu, had a terrible fever so I took him & his dad to the hospital. What I thought was malaria, turned out to be measles, very deadly amongst indiginous peoples. He survived it quite well. Like Becky, I too was accepted into the village as a member of the family. They wanted to give me some land, help me build a house & garden, all I had to do was choose a wife.
My work had other plans for me as eventually I was transfered to West New Britain & when I got sick with malaria and was suffering from malnutrition, I left & went home. Many years later I returned, with my wife and 3 children, a son about 10yrs old & twin girls aged 8. We stayed with the family of Emil for three weeks through Christmas 1988. It was hard on my wife but the kids revelled in it. Sadly, Emil had died some years before & my visit to him was at his graveside.
When we left to go back home, the departure was very hard for all of us. Seeing Becky take leave of the family who adopted her on Kitava, with so much sorrow from all, brought tears to my eyes remembering the family I left behind. And as they said on the show, "It's like there has been a death in the family".
I loved this program, it was handled very well, and I admire the way in which Becky handled herself, considering she had been thrown into the deep end. I like to think that the experience HAS changed her outlook on life, hopefully for the better. She left them gifting her love and remembrance, mainly because I think, it's very difficult to know what you can give people that seem to have everything. There is one thing she could give them, if she wants to give something lasting and will definitely have them remember her.
A bell for their church. It doesn't have to be very big.
Ken Lyneham

Katherine Laflamme
Katherine Laflamme
11 years ago

Hard work or not, what bothers me the most about some cultures is how the women are thrown all the responsibilities. Not only that, can't even enjoy the few things being a woman would provide them if nobody chose to remove some of their parts as little girls.

I've stopped the show halfway through. A lot of people have harder lives than us poor mixed up/confused/stressed/depressed 1st world societies. Hard work has nothing to do with happiness. What makes me less happy, is knowing how males are being pigs and getting away with it across the world. So I'll put my head back in the sand and try and remember to never set foot over there for as long as I have breasts, or labia.

Laura Tew
Laura Tew
11 years ago

I've really enjoyed watching these episodes. I would love to hear how the women fared AFTER their visit; to know how their healing affected their daily lives back in their own environments. Thank you for a great 'reality' show!

Odette Nightsky
Odette Nightsky
11 years ago

I have been really enjoying watching this and seeing how each woman heals her deep wound by living with the families. Really good and the women picked are not too precious and real. Great stuff!! Come to Australia, grab me and take me somewhere!....but I refuse to eat balls or eyes! LOL

sknb
sknb
12 years ago

As someone who studied Anthropology and has a strong desire to leave this American culture I wish I could experience what these women went through. I am so tired of hating myself due to (as the great Peruvian- American rapper Immortal Technique puts it) "The anorexic celebrity driven financial fantasy fiction"

Every time I travel to another place I am grateful for what I have. ..... yet this culture feels oppressive and harmful, toxic and cold... in innumerable ways...I know I can't be alone in feeling like this.....

Pierotte Pepe Vassau
Pierotte Pepe Vassau
12 years ago

Ya mean I cant kick man ass if I lived there???

Steven Susaña
Steven Susaña
12 years ago

I love this. I teared up a bit :')

Jerrica Letty Thomas
Jerrica Letty Thomas
12 years ago

i love how they include their whole emotional background :)

Terry Beaton
Terry Beaton
12 years ago

Lana is such a sweet and open person that I feel like I know her well from the doc. I hope her life is turning out wonderful.

zaphodity
zaphodity
12 years ago

Top marks for her having the guts to leave her comfort zone and rough it for awhile.

Greg_Mc
Greg_Mc
12 years ago

I unsubscribed to this page but I still keep getting Disqus emails for this doc and when I come to this page the most recent comment is 5 days old lol. Don't know if it is the site or my pc doing it's usual screwing up

Barry Namaka
Barry Namaka
12 years ago

fanatastic! great inssight into women's worlds in different places, i enjoy the differences but also trying to see the immense similiarties. we all need to learn about eachother in this way.

Serhend Sirkecioglu
Serhend Sirkecioglu
12 years ago

much better than those Real House Wives of "insert US city"(i'm assuming the UK has no equivlent, lucky you) where a bunch of high society trophy and ladder ladies gossip and fight like highschool girls.

adilrye
adilrye
12 years ago

Very interesting. I do like the "ethnographic" tribal life shows anyway, but I do like how the role of women in these societies isn't just a foot note, but the focus of the show. It's pretty refreshing. And of course, good old fashioned melodrama for the entertainment value. But overall, it's a subject that never stops being fascinating, done in a different perspective. So, I enjoyed it.

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Lovely, wish it was me.

Jamie Salley
Jamie Salley
12 years ago

Best doc I've seen for a while (since I've watched a billion docs in the last year)! Trying to find the rest of the videos.

Octium
Octium
12 years ago

I can only see one video here. Wives of Afar

Link to the other two?

Thank you

Brittany Bowers
Brittany Bowers
12 years ago

I found most of the episodes from season 1 and 2 on veehd for anyone that can watch it there :)

q_bit
q_bit
12 years ago

Good thing I watched them all when I did (they were addictive). But it's sad I'll only be able to show my sisters these 3. And unfortunately they are far from the best episodes.

Sistar & Friend
Sistar & Friend
12 years ago

Women connecting from diffrent worlds. We women can always do this, it's in our DNA! The Strength of Feminity.....

Draw Vinette
Draw Vinette
12 years ago

Thank you for the three episodes. They were great!

Epicurus
Epicurus
12 years ago

lol and i cant even find a torrent. damn it all!

Russell Rabe
Russell Rabe
12 years ago

this doc is great..

itshotinhere
itshotinhere
12 years ago

Thank you for bringing back 3 =) I hope you can track down the rest...

I didn't much care for Becky in the Kitava episode, but the ending made me cry. It is amazing how much the people in the tribes allow a person into their homes and hearts so fully. I was so sad for them when they were all crying.

aponia
aponia
12 years ago

Roughly said - there is only two main goals of human life we can conceive as per today.

1. Preserving and breeding DNA and thus contribute to human evolution (make children and hope the legacy will mix and do well in coming generations). 2. Contribute to human coming existence through contributing with knowledge or inventions that support the human species in the future.

Either way - both contribute to human survival under certain given conditions but not always. The only ones not doing either of these two alternatives on the earth today are the ones without the capacity to do it - most often that is not the natural first hand choice.

Very romantic - aint it?

Draw Vinette
Draw Vinette
12 years ago

Very unfortunate that this show is no longer available. I watched the first episode and the story was so touching! What a wonderful warm loving people! I am eager to visit them myself now!

With luck this very special series can be brought back.

itshotinhere
itshotinhere
12 years ago

:( :( :( I watched a couple of these yesterday and now the rest are gone! These are so good. Will they be available again later?

Epicurus
Epicurus
12 years ago

the user who posted these videos has had his youtube account closed. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

i knew i should have downloaded them all. damn it all to hell.

Sieben Stern
Sieben Stern
12 years ago

the woman Becky who went to the Kitava island - it's not her trust issues that screws up her relationships. She needs to know what the phrase 'high maintenance' means. It takes a rare, special kind of man to put up with that bs ^^

William Coleman
William Coleman
12 years ago

The alcoholic b**** who would not stop crying was kinda hot and she shows off her tits like 5 times.

Epicurus
Epicurus
12 years ago

excellent find Vlatko. I love this series as well as the Going Tribal one with Bruce Perry.

I hope when im done my anthropology degree i can go and live with a tribe somewhere and study their culture.

Tia Holiday
Tia Holiday
12 years ago

Well the comments below are quite mean....
Amazing show...I feel like I connected with the women's stories. Made me think about a lot of things, I've been struggling with. Thank you for posting it!
Guess everyone who's commented are fortunate to have perfect lives, must be nice...

blahblahbob
blahblahbob
12 years ago

Its kind of screwed up how they play with Erengwito's emotions in the 2nd ep. i think he was actually ready to marry that nasty british fatback lady... kind of sad... it would be funny to see her two spoiled, pony riding teen daughters stuck out in the forests of Ecuador eating monkey though.

ilona
ilona
12 years ago

Bravo, the very problems those women are suffering from, they gladly impose upon those tribal people. A very one sided story, which leaves a bitter aftertaste in one's mouth. A very good example of the Society of the Spectacle!

Liz
Liz
12 years ago

1. lovable brown people inspire lost "childlike" white woman
2. women still serve men first
3. women still do all the shitwork
4. YAWN

and the lady talks all this crap about how she's her mother and the subject is her daughter but you can see the mother lady totally has contempt for the daughter lady. people are so full of it. nice to know it's a worldwide thing.

jonathon wisnoski
jonathon wisnoski
12 years ago

Now this sounds interesting.