Kambo
Origins
What is Kambo and where does it come from?
Kambo, Sapo, Dow-Kiet, Vacino da Floresta are all names for the secretion from the Giant Green Monkey Tree Frog. The scientific or Latin name for this species is the Phyllomedusa Bicolor (Two Coloured Leaf Guardian). These majestic creatures live in the trees of the Amazon which means they have very few natural predators; in fact, the only real threat to the frogs is deforestation.
The Giant Green Monkey Tree Frog is found in abundance primarily in the rainforest waterways of Peru, Brazil and Venezuela and the secretion has been used by the tribes (Amahuaca, Katukina, Kaxinawá, Kulina, Marubo, Matses, Mayoruna, Nukini and Yawanawá) that reside there for generations. Typically, the frogs are gathered in the early hours of the morning by the Indians who imitate the frogs’ song, a calling the frogs make to announce the rain.
How is Kambo taken from the frogs?
Due to the lack of predators, the frogs themselves are very passive and show no signs of distress when being handled. Once harvested, using straw strings the frogs are carefully tied by each leg to form an X shape. From this position, the tribesman will gently tickle the frogs and scrape the top layer of secretion that is produced onto a stick where it dries. Once released the frog returns to its natural habitat unharmed.
This process of extraction leaves small white marks on the frog’s legs which takes roughly 2-3 months to fade. This alerts harvesters to avoid the frog to prevent over-milking. Moreover, the Indians based in the upper Amazon are incredibly spiritual. To treat the frogs negatively in anyway is believed to anger the animal spirits.
Kambo that has been harvested in this way is considered 100% ethical and should be one of your initial enquiries when choosing a practitioner.
How did the tribes come to use Kambo?
Each tribe has their own story but the most prevalent legend comes from the Kaxinawá tribe involving a shaman known as Kampum. His village was overcome with sickness and after attempting to alleviate the problem with all known medicinal herbs he was visited by a female spirit of forest, under the influence of sacred plant medicines. In his visions, Kampum was shown a frog from which she took a white secretion. The spirit proceeded to show the shaman how to extract the medicine and how to apply it. Following the directions of the female spirit Kampum proceeded to treat the villagers as he had been shown, curing the ailment.
Each tribe has its own way of administering Kambo, some of these rituals date back thousands of years whilst others do not appear to have any set way of working with the medicine. Interestingly many of the women within the tribes have their own secret ways of working with the medicine.
How did Kambo make its way into western culture?
Kambo was first observed by the French priest, Father Constantin Tastevin in 1925 during his time with the Kaxinawa tribe based in Brazil. Further documentation of the tribes’ use of Kambo was observed by anthropologist Katherine Milton, in the 1980s whilst living with the Mayoruna tribe in Brazil and shortly after by Peter Gorman during his stay with the Matses in Peru.
Since then there has been a slow integration into Western culture, where over the past 10 or so years the use of Kambo seems to have exploded. This includes both Westerners travelling to South America for ceremonies as well as the training of practitioners now operating throughout America, Europe and Australia. This birthed the creation of the IAKP in 2014.
“The IAKP – International Association of Kambo Practitioners is a not for profit organisation that seeks to support and encourage the safe, responsible and professional use of Kambô through training, awareness raising, knowledge development and sharing, personal skills development, research and best practice.”