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In the hot, dry
area around Lake Eyasi, live the Hadzabe
(also known as Tindinga) people who have
been in-residence" for around 10,000 years.
Anthropologically, albeit distantly, related
to the San Bushmen of the Kalahari, the
Hadzabe possess a thrilling ‘click’ language
and the precise hunting skills of the bow
and arrow along with their food gathering
traditions. A consistent stream of budding
newly graduated anthropologists report that
they are approximately 1500 true Hadzabe
families living traditionally – nomadic and
happily feasting upon baboons and other
small game. The term ‘family’ is used
loosely and encompasses a free-living
society, where there is space you are
welcome to sit and eat or lie down and
sleep.
After night-long discussions amongst the men
of the Hadzabe, a pre-dawn departure for
hunting often follows with game meat on the
menu. The women remain in the ‘camp’
preparing freshly collected ‘berries’ and
tending to the children – who are more often
than not, efficient hunters and gatherers by
a tenderly young age, leaving only the very
young at home with the women. The absence of
fresh water is common-place and a selection
fresh fruits and vegetables rare but against
a modern nutritionists recommendations –
they are surviving.
In these
southern arid areas of the Great Rift Valley
outskirts there are also other tribes that
live near the Hadzabe but do not possess a
similar culture – the Iraqw (Mbulu) are
cattle-loving pastoralists like the Maasai
that are also in the area with various other
Bantu groups. There are no known serious
conflicts said to have occurred in recorded
written history between the tribes, only
perhaps amongst themselves. |
