Our car turned up at 10pm and it took an hour in the very cold to transition everything across. Hyenas were howling nearby. We did however get off at 7am in a working car, after helping the African driver who slept in our old car jump start it. I hope he made it back alright. As we were leaving the camp we nearly ran into a giraffe in the secure area of the camp where no animals are supposed to be able to get in. That was reassuring 😏that a giraffe was able to get through. We drove for 2 hours heading east towards the Botswana border with everything working in the car. At a cross road our old car went wizened by, now with a passenger so he was obviously ok. We stopped for breakfast at Grootfontein at the only cafe we could find which is obviously the local haunt for the wealthy white Namibians. It did however serve proper coffee!
After stocking up with supplies with what seemed like the local army in red berets, we travelled further East on a very straight, flat dirt road for 3 hours. We passed small villages every now and then, but not particularly interesting countryside. We turned off on to a small dirt/ sand road traveling 40km before we came to the San bushmen village up on a hill. Deep sand was the entrance in, which we nearly got stuck in. We met Estelle, a South African women who lives next to the village and helps them sustain themselves to some extent by facilitating the visiting of tourists to provide them some income.
She provided some background to the village and the San people before one of the villagers took us up to show us around. The San face a similar predicament to the Aborigines in Australia. They are traditionally hunter / gatherers but their land has slowly been taken away from them as other tribes move in. The government has allocated the area that we are in for the sole use of the San. Only they are allowed to hunt here, anyone else is considered to be poaching. The caveat is they are only allowed to use their traditional hunter/ gatherer methods such as bows and spears. The younger generation however is moving further afield and being exposed to modern culture and a modern education system so it is unlikely that this traditional lifestyle will last for much longer. However this village does live traditionally, not necessarily always dressing traditionally, but do hunt and gather everyday.
They are quite a small people, so we seem to loom over them. They are very friendly and welcoming. One of the villagers is our guide. He has been to school outside the village 8km away and can speak English. It is where he met his wife and they have a baby of 4months. They live traditionally but he wants to become more of a tourist guide. The villagers show us some of their traditional games that they play with the women with their babies strapped on their back, playing effectively a game of catch with an orange like fruit from one of the trees. This turns into piggy in the middle when the men join in taking if off them and keeping it off them. The boys joined in with them. The men then played a very complicated clapping game sitting down which made no sense at all. They showed us around the village, which really is in a fabulous location at the top of a hill, surrounded by huge green trees to provide shade. They live in the village permanently, but the men can be gone for up to a week if they are hunting. The huts are simple wooden structures that are thatched. They have dogs, which are not allowed to hunt with them, but no stock. They don't store food as they hunt and gather everyday. Their basic diet seems to be maize, bush potatoes and different nuts and seeds that they collect. They have 3 healers, who use local plants to heal their sick. They do however have their first child in a hospital in case of any trouble and then the rest are born in the village. Most marriages are arranged and they only have one wife. There is a headman who is elected and can be kicked out if he is not doing a good job. The village has about 100 people in it, and they are one big extended family. The oldest is a woman of 70.
They have some items which they have made to sell. Luke of course falls love with a bow and set of arrows which they use for hunting and Christopher a knife in a wooden shaft. Don't know how we will get them back into Australia.
That night they do a healing dance which takes place around a fire, which they apparently do twice a week. It seems a bit monotonous and apparently can go on for most of the night. 3 of the older men of the village, can after a period of time go into a trance and communicate with the spirits of the ancestors to ask them to heal their sick. Luke was fascinated by this and was asking lots of questions. He couldn't understand why the women weren't dancing and why the healers who are women didn't also go into a trance. We left them after an hour and a half still chanting and the men going in circles around the fire as it was getting very cold and we had had a long day. We were the only people camping there which was very special
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Nhoma Bush Camp
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