Maniq people

The Maniq are a predominantly nomadic hunter-gatherer community of Southern Thailand. They inhabit a mountainous region (Khao Banthad) in the interior of peninsular Thailand stretching across four southern Thai provinces of Trang, Satun, Phatthalung, and Songkhla. In the last few decades, this part of Thailand has been undergoing rapid transformation. Strong agricultural expansion, based primarily on rubber and palm oil, and infrastructure growth have reduced forest cover and restricted the traditional foraging area of the Maniq, whose subsistence is hunting, gathering, and exchange of forest products for food. Despite these changes, most Maniq are still nomadic and continue living a traditional lifestyle, with the Maniq language still passed on to children and used as the primary means of communication.