Singing to trees and Indigenous wisdom: the UK festival aiming to prevent ecological collapse

At the Primal Gathering retreat, attendees seek new – and sometimes surreal – ways to connect with nature and take meaningful action on environmental destruction

Explorer and documentary maker Bruce Parry famously pushed his penis inside his body on his 2005 BBC show Tribe to try to be accepted by the Kombai people in New Guinea, before going white and having to lie down. He would do whatever it took to assimilate, including taking hallucinogenic drugs, drinking blood and running naked across the backs of a row of cattle.

Now he is focusing his energies closer to come. He is using the knowledge he gained from Indigenous societies around the world to encourage people in the UK to form stronger communities that can take meaningful action on ecological destruction.