15 Sep Tanzania: the Bushmen of Lake Eyasi

With my mystical ascent of the sacred volcano complete and my inner self purified and cleansed, in stark contrast to my exterior which was still accumulating thin layers of grime, I decided to change of scenery and let fate choose my next destination.

And I don't know if it was luck or chance that I met in a bar ( where else?) to the manager of an amazing lodge overlooking Lake Manyara. On learning that I was a Kananga guide, the manager, with the not very reassuring name of Gamba, insisted on inviting me to spend a night there for a penny, and although I wanted to decline such a generous offer, I was forced to accept.

But since taking a Konyagui ball at sunset with this view over the lake was far from my ideal of seeking perfection through suffering, I decided to flee the place immediately, but not before letting out the beast in me to devour a buffet lunch.

And continuing with the carambola, and already looking forward to bingo, another of the patrons I met that afternoon in that joint where I went thirsty for beer and adventure, was the manager of a camp next to Lake Eyasi. As he is very protective of the bold, and especially of Kananga guides, he also insisted on inviting me to his camp, and as it didn't seem a bad plan, once again I was forced to accept.

And as the adventurer Henri de Monfreid said: Never be afraid of life, never be afraid of adventure, trust in chance, in possibility, in destiny. ..

So I did. We went to Karatu to catch a Dalla-Dalla (public transport). After a long wait, the driver, a great Tetris fan as far as I could see, managed to fit 18 passengers inside the Land Rover, not counting those on top, and although with a bit of interest some more could have got in, we finally started the hard journey to Lake Eyasi. What happens inside the dalla dalla stays inside the dalla dalla, but I admit that for my first orgy I would have preferred a little more organisation (I always had a Masai).

The scenery along the way was spectacular, but as I wasn't there to take many photos, I'll put this one above as a filler.

I understood that I had been invited to another of those luxury lodges so in keeping with my style, and when I got there, it turned out that the camp was still under construction and we had to find our own way to spend the night. It was an organisational disaster unbefitting of me. In the end I ended up in this beautiful African roadside motel with the air of a whorehouse, where we shared a room with a thousand shadows who were already asleep when I arrived.

The next morning they left us this piki piki to do the safari on a motorbike. It is a different concept of safaris, with a little bit of pellagra, but much more fun. Very close to where we were, there is a community of Hadzabe people, Bushmen from Botswana who settled near the lake more than 200 years ago, and that is what I am going to tell you about in this entry.

The Hadzabe have remained so isolated in this area that they have kept intact the customs and beliefs they brought with them from Botswana, including that strange Josian language, also called click language because it is based on the use of consonantal clicks. They have about 50 different clicks, and as many shrill, guttural sounds. I could learn this language with rare skill, as I remember that as a child I could belch out the first verses of Espronceda's Pirate's Song... (a child prodigy, come on...).

©DESERTANDO

There are few hunting tribes left in Africa, except for the Pygmies, the Bushmen and the odd exception, and the Hadzabe still are. I arrived just in time to join a hunting party that was about to leave camp. Before they left, they made a point of teaching me how to shoot a bow. To me, who, because of my training, with a weapon in my hands I become a lethal war machine...

The Hadzabe have some strange hunting customs. A friend of mine, Juan K, another guide who had also gone hunting with them, told me that they have special authorisation from the Tanzanian government to smoke marijuana, and that they smoke especially before going out hunting. I must have arrived just after the party was over because I didn't see anyone smoking, they missed it, because I don't smoke, but I could have made them some gin and tonics to go with it, or taught them how to dance the saw, which is also very lively.

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In the end, fortunately for me, they didn't catch anything that morning so they had to pull out of the pantry. They had a head of a dik dik that they must have caught the day before. They were kind enough to offer me the head of the poor little deer. It's a pity I didn't peck at it between meals because I would have loved to try it.

And with this I will leave you for today, as I always get long. I like these people, they have nothing, but every morning when they get up, they climb a rock from which they have this view from below, that's why they don't want to leave. And so, I envy them.