The Clicking San Bushmen

Whilst at Etosha we took a round trip to see a living museum of the Clicking San Bushmen at Grootfontein.  This followed on from a lesson we had had back in the Swakopmund township where the 4 main clicks were described to us.  Not having been much good at foreign languages I failed miserably but it is a strange sound – the click is made at the same time as a type of vowel sound – the click kind of replaces the consonants.  Hearing their language being used for communication was intriguing - if you can get this video to work of how to start a fire, you can listen for yourself. 

(video file too large ... ask me in UK if interested)

It was good to be able to “view” the way of going about life in the bush without feeling like a voyeur.  For this group of Namibians, it is 26 years since they authentically lived the San Bushman’s life.  Apparently there are a few hundred who still live the traditional way of life but I wonder how long it will last.

The man in the photo above is thought to be in his 50s although he looked a lot older (apart from his bum, more about which to follow) – all he knows is that he was born in the rainy season.  He really enjoyed explaining the many activities involved such as starting fires, making tools, finding medicinal herbs, and hunting animals – a real character!  Our guide for the day and the interpreter looked 16 but in fact was 25, but then I suppose he never really lived the bush life.

The women were a bit of a hoot – one of them had 13 children but said that had she been living the traditional way she would have had a lot more!!  They sang for us, and skipped for us, and happily sat there whilst we questioned and took photographs of them.  The visit rounded off with an interesting trance like dance designed to get rid of something – never was sure whether it was evil demons or just simply the arthritis of an old man.  A lot of shaking bums were involved.  Hope you can get this video to work.

(Download to follow)