The Hadza, or Hadzabe, are indigenous ethnic group in north-central Tanzania, living around Lake Eyasi in the central Rift Valley and in the neighbouring Serengeti Plateau. There are about 1300 Hadzabe people living in Tanzania, however only around 400 still survive exclusively based on the traditional means of foraging. The Hadza language is called Hadzane, it is an isolate, unrelated to any other and it is entirely oral language. They have lived in their lands for probably thousands of years with little modification to their basic way of life until perhaps the past hundred years. Hadza have come into increasing contact with farming and herding people entering Hadzaland and its visinity, causing decline in wildlife in the area that of course by itself is a threat to lifestyle of this hunter-gatherer tribe.
The typical day for Hazabe men starts with a hunting trip. Men gather at sunrise, head into the bush and strategise. Chief hunter, O-Ha, is in charge, he has woken up earlier to check wildlife activity in the area, he leads the hunt.
Dogs are accompanying men for this hunting trip. I didn’t fully grasp the depth of this partnership, but it was evident that these dogs were no pets, the relationship was of mutual understanding and benefit.
The valley was full of baobabs as far as my eyes could see, nobody knows the age of these ancient trees. Couldn’t help to think that few thousand years ago perhaps the image would be very very similar - less the few pieces of western clothing. Wooden bows and arrows Hazabe hunt with still look pre-historic. Baobab also provides nutrition to Hadza, the citrucy flavour fruit is very high in vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, zinc and many other antioxidants.
Men have spotted some wild boar tracks - there is a family of them going around apparently. I knew at this point that it will be very difficult for me to keep up and even harder is to move without making noise and potentially scare off all animals in the proximity. So, we stayed behind and walked around in slower pace with couple of older hunters.
Mugulumbi caught a squirrel… called Sindy in Hadza language. There is a song to accompany this hunt that goes something like that: Sindy, I am going to hunt you! Sindy, I am going to catch you! Sindy, I am going to eat you! This song became a theme song of the trip, we sang it all day, every day, this was a common ground we found with Hadza people and it made us both happy, to be able to sing together. Sindy…. Sindy…
Sindy, I am going to hunt you! Sindy, I am going to catch you! Sindy, I am going to eat you!
Fast forward a few hours… this wild boar will feed the family for 2 days. Proud moment for men as not every day they get so lucky. With pastoralists tribes moving into the area in larger numbers, wildlife has left, making hunt more and more challenging.
Next task is to make a fire in a cave…
Impala made it look easy. We tried too… we almost managed…
While meat is cooking, men rest and share hunting stories. And of course there are always songs they can sing. Musical instrument in handmade BTW.
In the meantime, when men are still out hunting, women are busy collecting tubers - edible roots that are consumed raw, straight out of the ground. Maria is 16 on this picture, bright and confident, she actually spoke few words of english - she is one of the few who has been to school. She didn’t like it though and found the information irrelevant, she run away to return to her family and lifestyle.
These roots taste like potatoes - eating them raw - not my idea of good food, but this is staple diet for Hadza.
Portrait of young Hazabe girl Maria, because she is super beautiful, don’t you think! I’ve been thinking about her education, or lack of actually. There is absolutely no need for her to know math, history or geography - despite of what we think of importance of these subjects in our life. Where she is from, the values are very different.
Nielele is also 16, inspirational young man. He has not been to school, Hazabe see no reason to leave their life behind in exchange for knowledge they have absolutely no use for. Nielele’s humble self confidence was mind boggling for me. I had to get my head around that this ‘uneducated’ teenager perhaps knows more about life when it comes to survival in the wild. I had to question myself and what do I really know, is our understanding of life the ultimate truth or just one version of it?
Here is Nielele after the hunt, proudly wearing a bit of fir from the animal’s back he had killed earlier in a day.
Another important element of Hazabe diet is honey and there are many types in the nature there. Impala has just located a nest of tiny stingless honey bees and trying to get to the sweet centre of it. It is said that honey from these bees can cure most illnesses. Hazabe also uses honey they collect to barter for goods they need from the local village - like tobacco.
After the day we sat down to share stories, Impala had many of them, most involved hunting. I was very much interested how they handle physical ailments and do they believe there is God, do they ever use stars as guidance etc etc.
I learned that they have all the knowledge they need and they don’t desire much more in a sense of material belongings, they just wish to have the wildlife return to the valley as it use to be. They talked about Baboons, which seems to be their favourite game to hunt.
Dance is also popular activity, at the back you can see a typical Hazabe home - made of twigs and leaves collected from nature.
More stories told while keeping warm around the fire. Perfect way to wind down from a long day.
So, this is my short story about the time I spent with Hadzabe. They inspired me to think long and hard about the life we live in the west and all the things we think we need to be happy. Yet, all Hadza really want and need is to have some land where they can hunt. In our terms and understanding, this life they choose is certainly well below poverty line, they live with no dollars every day, not knowing what to do with money and why would one run after it as if their life depended on it… I did not try to explain. I think they kind of felt sorry for us, seeing and feeling how helpless we were in their environment - where humans live in harmony with nature.