The
San Bushmen – the first Namibian people – Nov.
The
San bushmen are the native people of Namibia, they lived here in northern
Namibia long before anyone else. They are peace loving and are still trying to
preserve their way of life. This is very difficult in today's world. We had the
opportunity to go visit a very remote area where they have a San “living
museum”. This is were some of the San will take tourists on a guided tour, where
they show us their way of life and tell us about their traditions. At first I
was a bit apprehensive, not sure how I felt about us stupid tourist taking
advantage and possibly exploiting the San. But after having gone there, I felt
that they were really proud to show us their ways, and it helped to make us
understand them better.
To
get there, we drove for over 50 km on a really bad gravel road, up into a
mountainous area. The scenery was breathtaking, the temperatures soaring. Our
tour started around 3.30pm, we were hotter than hot before we even got going.
Two San men were or guides, the older one being the clan eldest, the younger
one the translator, as he spoke English very well. They started taking us
around the rocky countryside, stopping along the way and explaining about their
lifestyle. How to make arrows, how and where to get the poison to put on the
arrows, how to make fire, how they hunt, how to set traps for wild chickens, how
to make rope out of a fibrous long leaves, and they showed us rock paintings
from long, long ago.
It
was as if we were in a completely different world. They are very smart people,
they have to be, being able to survive under these very difficult conditions.
You and I, we wouldn’t even make it one day, out there in that bush.
Once
the tour was over, we went back to our campers and enjoyed the most beautiful
of our campsites so far. It was truly a memorable visit to the San people.
On our way up to the remote are to visit the San ...
Very rocky, very old, mysterious looking.....
Some San children and their moms ...
Our guides. It was over 40 degrees out, and I did not see them sweat ....
The older San was the leader of the village, because he is a very accomplished hunter. He is 65 years old. The younger one showed a lot of respect towards his elder, he is 23 years old and was our translator.
Some of the San rock paintings. They are very old....
Rocks ad savanna, and probably some snakes too....
San children who walked with us... they seemed happy and healthy ...
Back at our campsite, in the middle of the African Savanna....
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