The Kalahari Desert is known not only for its extreme environment but also for the San people who have lived here since almost the beginning of mankind. They have been known forever as The Bushmen of the Kalahari and were made famous by Laurens van der Post. van der Post was a controversial fellow who spent a considerable amount of time with the San during the 50s. They were also made famous by the movie, “The Gods Must Be Crazy”. The movie came out in the mid-’80s, the summer before I left for the Peace Corps. I couldn’t wait to get here after seeing it.
The San (the word Bushmen is considered derogatory) are hunters and gathers. They are short people who have a fascinating, musical, clicking language. Like all indigenous peoples, their culture is undergoing a massive upheaval. They are still free to roam and gather, but they can no longer hunt anything except for small prey. As of this year, all hunting of any large animal in Botswana is banned—the first and only African country to do so. While it is a tremendous win for conservation and amazingly progressive, it has only furthered the decline of the San’s way of life. There are relocation centers for them with schools and many have moved to them but it is hard to imagine the stress that they are under as a people.
Much of western Botswana is either national parks or is divided into large private concessions leased to individuals or companies that run safari camps. The rest of the Kalahari is held by the government. These concessions have played a vital role in protecting the wildland and bringing tourism to Botswana. For the first time, tourism is the second leading industry. Diamonds are still the first. Tourism moved ahead of beef only recently. The concession holders are beholden to strict environmental laws and the use of the land is tightly controlled. They must employ local people and more, they are very respectful of the San people in the area. Our guide at Gunns Camp comes from a family of River Bushman.
Like, Jerry, our guide in Cape Town eager to tell us about S.A. townships, the people here want to provide opportunities for tourists to interact in meaningful and respectful ways with the San. It promotes understanding and provides much-needed cash.
A Morning Walk in the Bush
We spent a morning walking in the bush with the San—five of them actually. Their names were impossible for us to decipher with all their clicks, but there was a young couple with three children, a grandfather, an elderly aunt, and a young man who acted as our interpreter of both their language and their way of life. Our interpreter spoke perfect English and dressed in western clothing.
We followed this group out into the bush for close to two hours while they looked for and then gathered food, medicinal plants, found water, and made a fire without matches. What looked like a nondescript single blade of grass, when dug up, was a brilliant red tuber for eating. Another produced a tuber that when shaved and the pulp squeezed, produced enough liquid for half a day wandering the desert.
Our favorite was when they found a scorpion den (basically a tiny hole in the sand) and dug a two-foot by two-foot larger hole around it to uncover the animal only merely to play with it. Like American teenagers playing chicken—playing with a scorpion provides a few hours of thrilling entertainment out in the bush. When they were done, they put the scorpion back in its den.
They showed us the tree that they carve their arrows from and the plant that they use for the poison tips. The grandfather demonstrated tracking a kudu and other animals by mimicking the animals’ graceful movements. They women showed us how they cover their bodies with elephant dung to protect themselves from insects.
Born Before The Plague
The old man’s age is unknown but the family knows he is at least 88. It was after the great insect plague of 1929 that they started recording the Sans’ births so anyone born before that event is known to be older than 88. Their age is described as having been born before the plague.
The grandfather showed us scars on his arm, back, and buttocks that he got when a lion attacked him as a young man. He managed to spear the lion and only survived when he received help from other tribesmen who came to his aid and killed the lion.
Was this exploitive tourism? I don’t know. Was the experience genuine? It felt like it. The Camp works with their village and brings in whole family groups for three months to take people like us on San walks. They live aside from the game camp in their own compound. Then they go back home and another family group comes. What they earn, helps to subsidize their government stipends.
As we returned from our afternoon safari we passed their compound off in the distance. In the darkness, we could see their silhouettes as they danced their trance dance around the fire. There were no tourists present.
