Hunting and Gathering

Custom safaris

See scheduled 14 night Safari
28 April - 12 May 2010

5 Day Bushman Trekking tour - available on demand

Day 1: Arrive by midday at the Airstrip by light aircraft  where you will be met and transferred to a remote campsite deep in the ancestral gathering lands of the Joan/huansi Bushmen. 

Settle into your traditional grass hut or tent either one replete with proper bed, feather bedding and all the accoutrements of a proper safari. Partake of a fresh and tasty lunch under the shade of a fragrant shelter of wild grass thatch and retire for a peaceful siesta to recover from your journey. 

After a delicious tea, walk through the bush to the nearby Bushman village where you will be met in a traditional manner by the elders of the Joan/huansi community. 

Around the fire before dinner, listen to the history of the Bushmen people from their origins to the complex political challenges that are confronting them today. 

Day 2: In the morning, walk out into the bush with the men, women, children and your Guides. 

The focus of the walk will be to provide a gentle introduction to the Kalahari and Bushmen way of life. Spontaneous gathering and discussions about the uses of plants and wildlife by your Bushmen Guides provide the link between culture and wild environment that we seek to offer our Guests on these very special safaris. 

An adolescent Bushman girl knows more than 200 species of usable plants. An extraordinary variety of plants and herbs with both culinary and medicinal value will be found. 

Find suitable rhygozum plants with your digging stick - the most important tool the Bushman uses for harvesting. Return to the Bushmen village and by the fire, prepare the gathering tool you will use over the next few days. 

On the way your Guide will point out the distinct ecological characteristics of this area and its animal and bird species. 

Return to camp for lunch and a siesta. 

In the afternoon return to the village and learn from the women how to prepare bush foods using only the most basic of tools and an open fire. You will be able to sample a variety of foods from wild spinach and roast beetles to ostrich egg omelette cooked on the coals. 

Observe the women as they demonstrate how to make beads from ostrich eggs and the simple but striking jewellery from porcupine quills, seeds and ostrich eggs. Leather is decorated with both glass and ostrich beads to complex and beautiful effect. 

The women may do the melon dance, a joyful expression that celebrates a successful harvest. 

Return to camp for a rather more conventional but still delicious meal and retire to bed. 
 
 

Traditional Bushman hunt

Bushman Hut

Day 3: After a restful night's sleep, meet the men after breakfast to prepare for a traditional hunt. Walk into the bush and search out the poison grub beetle, gathering suitable roots, Sanseveria leaves and branches for the manufacture of rope, bows and arrows. 

After lunch and a siesta in camp for lunch return to the Bushmen village to watch the men prepare bows, arrows and quivers. 

Young boys may also demonstrate various traditional games that provide training for the hand-to-eye co-ordination skills that will be so necessary when hunting. 

Day 4: Depart early after a hearty breakfast of porridge and eggs for a day's traditional hunting with the men. Track, stalk and hopefully hunt down some wild quarry using traditional bows and arrows. 

A picnic on the way under a shady tree enables one to be flexible and react fast to the day's events. 

Back to camp for an early dinner so we can return to the village for a trance dance. This is a deeply spiritual experience for the Bushmen people. It is a great privilege for our Guests to have the opportunity to be able to observe the mysterious passage of the healer into a state of semi-conscious where he can make contact with their spirit Guides. The aim of the trance is to provide both healing and also to clear the air of conflict and tension. The women sit bolt upright clapping and singing into the early hours while the men tirelessly dance a well-worn groove into the earth circle formed by their tracks. 

Day 5: Bid the community farewell and drive by vehicle to the airstrip and depart by light aircraft to your next destination.