Lake Eyasi

After visiting the Karatu market, Richard and I made arrangements to visit Lake Eyasi and the Hadzabe tribe. They are a group of bushmen that are one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa. To get to Lake Eyasi, we took a Land Rover that by my estimates had fourteen people in it, with probably another three or four on top! The ride thankfully only took about an hour and a half to reach the small village of Mongola where we stayed the night.

 Preparing for the hunt

Early the next morning at 5:30am, we got ready to visit the Hadzabe. We shared a ride with a couple from Spain, and it was a quick trip. We reached the Hadzabe family's camp just after sunrise, and the Hadzabe men were starting their morning by smoking marijuana. They tried to teach me how to start a fire using just sticks, but it proved to be pretty difficult, and I wasn't able to get an ember going.

Out on the hunt

After they finished, we joined the men on their morning hunt. Women of the Hadzabe tribe gather fruits and the men hunt to provide food for their families. The men carried bows and arrows, but their few attempts at birds were unsuccessful. They then moved on to some piles of large stones where rock hyraxes live. They would shove big sticks into the cracks, in hopes of scaring one out. After maybe 45 minutes and moving to another rock pile, they caught a rock hyrax! It was maybe the size of a rabbit. One of their dogs had crawled into the rocks and managed to kill a hyrax that had been scared out of hiding.

Scaring out the hyrax

On the spot, they started a fire to cook the hyrax. The men cooked and ate half the animal, saving the rest for their families. They offered me a small piece of liver, so I can now say that I have eaten meat caught by one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer tribes of the world! After returning to their camp, the men taught me to use their bow and arrows. At first, it was pretty tough, but then I got the hang of it. I was still nowhere near as good of a shot as the Hadzabe men, and I am sure I wouldn't be able to hit anything that they hunt. Before leaving, they performed a traditional song and dance that we joined in. It was quite an experience that morning to participate in the daily lives of the Hadzabe tribe.

Time to eat