We arrived bearing gifts.

Salt, beads and two metal basins for the women. Five inch nails and native tobacco for the men. Mama Wan-day was very pleased with the beads in particular. We joined the tribe in the late afternoon. The fire was going. I got the sense that it doesn’t go out. The men and children were tearing at pieces of meat from a zebra caught two days before. Zebra jerky. The women led us down a path to a rise where there was a good piece of stone. There they pounded baobab fruit into a powder that, with water, would become a porridge (though the children were happy to eat it dry). The men lit up their communal pipe and the elder smoked so deeply I thought his cheeks might be inhaled with the tobacco itself. I took a video.

We bid each other a farewell; until tomorrow. The next day we would follow them on a hunt.

The men met us at our flycamp at 8am and we set out. Martin shot a dove in the first 5 minutes. He tucked the neck of the bird under his waist belt and we continued on. I worried if Lauren (our vegetarian) could handle it; my worry was misplaced.

We started the day together finding honey. The men would tap on trees listening for hollow spots and when they found one, they would cut into the tree with their axes and expose a hive. The first tree had loads of larvae (we were advised to pass on eating them) and the second had honey and was very sweet. The bee pollen gave it a tinge of bitterness (reminding me of an Ann Burrell recipe with bee pollen but I digress).

We were taught how to start a fire. You probably know how to do this from watching your kids’ 3rd grade Eastern Woodland Indians study…or because you are an Eagle Scout or something. Anyway, the men used their knife handles and a long piece of wood. The butt of a knife was notched and then a long stick was placed in the notch. The stick is rotated by placing it between your hands and rubbing your hands together. The friction creates fire and ignites the small embers that they used to kindle fire (or a pipe).

Later we were split into hunting parties. Each hunter has a task or chore to do. Jackson and three others were moving ahead to find larger game. Karie and Rose went with Martin to check the rocks for animals that may have become trapped in the crevices. None found.

Andy and Lauren went with Oya to look in a particular area for smaller game. Oya spotted a bushpig and took a shot. The shot missed so he tracked the bushpig, showing Lauren and Andy the tracks. They gave a decent chase but he was slowed down by the city slickers. A shame really because a bushpig would feed the hunting camp for several days. They didn’t come back empty-handed though. A honey cache and some bird eggs.

The hunting parties reconvened atop the mountain where they started a fire and the morning’s spoils were consumed. Martin’s dove, Oyas honey and eggs. There was much commiserating over the bushpig but the frustration gave way easily to smiles and laughing.

We must have stopped four or five times so the men could smoke their pipe – a communal piece of wood. They inhaled deeply, their cheeks becoming a cavity several inches deep. The eldest passed the pipe around for all to enjoy. All but one who had been into town and now preferred to roll his tobacco using scraps of newspaper. They all enjoyed a good smoke and took time to enjoy each other and the tobacco.

We then moved on in search of a particular baobab tree where they wanted to show us how they smoke out the bees and take the honeycomb. On the way, one of the hunters took a shot at a dikdik (a small deer-like animal) but his arrow narrowly missed its target.

More honey searching: the baobab tree has a hive they’ve raided many times by the looks of it. Each time, the Hadzabe hunter, Martin in this case, takes pegs and his axe and slowly makes a climbing stair to the hive. To do this Martin has to make a slit in the tree with his axe and then hammer the pegs into it using the butt of his axe. Once he reaches the opening to the hive, he smokes the bees to calm them. Having had their hive raided many times, the bees have adapted their hive to be further within the tree and, unfortunately for Martin and the Hadza, the honey is just out of reach.

Next George asks them to demonstrate their archery kills. Their bows and arrows are made of wood. One of the men has his bow reinforced with small pieces of hide tied around the bow in 2 or 3 inch increments. Simple and effective. From 40 yards they can strike the center of a tree. We each took a turn. My arrow went 10 feet. So lame, right? Laakka – stronger – they coached. The next time I fared a little better and my arrow landed at the base of the tree. Still, I had a hard time pulling the bow string back. Andy fared very well due to either the Boy Scouts or 4H camp. He hit the tree. Lauren, Rose and I fared equally which means we would not survive long if we had only bow and arrow to hunt for our food.

As the midday sun grew hot, we made our way back to camp. We retreated to a shady tent and the Hadza to a shady grove. We bid each other a fond farewell and expressed our gratitude for all that we had learned. Nu-bay-a. Thank You.

Click here to learn more about the culture of the Hadza, the last one is a documentary:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/12/hadza/finkel-text/1

http://www.lightofamillionfires.com/

Video:  Bearing Gifts and Inhaling Deeply