Preserving an Ancient Lifestyle: The San Bushmen
 Dubbed the “Bushmen” by European colonial settlers, the San Tribe was once looked at as a peculiar species of human—some of the early anthropologists believed they were a missing link in the evolution of man. In fact, the Bushmen were considered such a unique species of man that many of them were shipped up to Britain to be subjects featured in “freak shows.”
Today, the Sans—who also continue to be called the Bushmen—are one of our only living links to ancient Africa, and continue to uphold some of their traditional hunter-gatherer ways of life dating back more than 20,000 years ago. Living throughout various countries in Africa including Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, and the Kalahari Desert, many of the Bushmen today have taken on modern lifestyle practices. Some grow crops, work on farms, receive water supply from manmade wells, and receive meat and food from the government.
But, there are still Bushmen today who only use traditional practices. This group consists of less than 2,000 individuals. Below are some of the traditional Bushmen practices that this small segment of Bushmen still use today:
Bushmen Hunting and Gathering Practices: Considered a social activity among the  men of the Sans Tribe, hunting excursions require poisonous bows and arrows to kill prey. Used to kill large animals such as antelopes, the Bushmen use a poisonous concoction to stun and kill their prey. Some Bushmen use a mixture of poisonous beetle larvae, others use scorpion and spider essence, while others use a lethal mixture of snake venom and cactus juice. As the arrow penetrates the body, the poisonous mixture works to paralyze the victim and eventually kill it.
Because the animal does not die instantly from the shot, and often runs off after impact, the Bushmen must track the animal several hours after it is fatally wounded. The toxic concoction then works its way through the animal’s body and eventually stops its heart. The area where the arrow penetrated is the only inedible section of meat on the animal and is cut out before eating. The meat and bone marrow is shared by all of the individuals within the tribe and the hides are used for blankets and shelter.
While the men take responsibility for all of the hunting, the women do the gathering. Nearly 80% of food consumed by the San is from gathering. Most of this gathered food consists of berries, fruits, nuts, melons, and other plants. The women often gather three to four days out of the week and sometimes must travel great distances to find the food.
Water is collected by both genders and is often squeezed from plant roots or found when digging deep holes.
Finite Tracking Skills: One of the most enchanting elements of the Bushmen culture is the traditional tracking methods used for hunting. The direction of a single blade of grass, the gathering of twigs and fallen debris in a hoof print, the positioning of a hoof print, and the insects surrounding a print, are just a few observations that enable the Bushmen to track animals.
Through their tracking methods, the Bushmen can determine the sex and age of an animal, the time of day it was in a particular area, its diet, whether it’s injured or traveling with other animals, and its species, as well as the age of the track.
The age of an animal can be determined by observing the animal droppings. If the droppings are rough and not digested completely, this could determine that the animal is older. The age of a track can be determined by the debris that has fallen into it or by the residential termites that have gathered in the track to rebuild their crushed home.
Interact with the Bushmen: Many accommodations and safari tour outfitters  throughout Botswana, and Namibia offer interactive bush walks with the San Tribe through the villages in which the tribes live. These local Bushmen share their extensive knowledge about survival and the secrets of the land, and also share their ancient survival skills, hunting techniques, tribal weaponry, and the laws of nature with visitors.
In addition to learning about nature, and hunting and gathering techniques directly from the Bushmen, visitors also witness the Bushmen interact in their unique language, which consists of various “click” sounds. |
over hangs for bushman paintings, this ancient art was plentiful and told great stories of Africa before the iron age. To us the sorties were all of great hunters, but I learnt later in life that they were a lot more complicated than this. The rock art of the Bushman or San people was their medium for communicating with the spiritual world. They would dance themselves into a trance state though shear exhaustion and would then draw the images that they saw on the rock, with a mixture of organic inks made from minerals, vegetation and blood. Many of the drawings show images of half man and half animal, this represents their entering the body of a wild 
animal so as to allow them to find and hunt it. Many of the human figures have what appears to be fire coming out their heads and very stretched bodies; evidently this is a state commonly experienced in such a trance.
Trip Name: Kruger Safari and Beaches of Mozambique
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