Conogre (almost typoed and called you Conagra; a disasterous misapellation averted!), a very good point. The lion killing (the hunt wasn't shown; he could've come out of a box for all I know; seriously, they often keep wild animals in like crates when the live-catch them) I saw was definitely organized; very much so, and for all I know, not entirely by the natives, or if so, organized not by their own law/practices, but maybe to what would look most spectacular to outsiders, etc. Good point. It's a-sinkin' in.
Now, Ilwoonesques :D can be where things fall apart with my idea (and I so need a cultural map of central Africa and of SE Asia) For instance, the Mongo, Konda, etc. ones with the offset blades, but even they seem to have thick sturdy shafts in their earlier form, and there is the midribbed form of them. It seems that in much of modern Africa an industrial machete blade is the prefferred raw material for a new sword, and who can blame them? The things are cheap, and usually, even new ones, of decent quality from a using perspective, and I personally highly suspect the thin flatness of machete is an African feature to start with, though a somewhat seperate tradition from these heavy midribbed swords, so full circle, in a way.....

BTW, Thanks for that angled close-up of the Shi sword; really shows the massiveness.