CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
The main reason to visit the area is to learn about the
culturally diverse local tribes including the Hadzabe (Bushmen), and Datoga
people. Lake Eyasi is the best place to visit when you think about doing
cultural tours while in Tanzania. There are many cultural sites in Tanzania can
pay a visit, but Lake Eyasi is highly recommended. Lake Eyasi is the only place
where you can find the Hadza (Hadzabe), one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes
left in Africa.
A visit to the Hadza will take you back to the time of the Stone
Age peoples. As the Hadza depend on hunting and gathering of wild fruits and
plants, you will have an experience of a lifetime. A tour to the Hadza starts
early in the morning. You will drive 30-60 minutes from your lodge or campsite
to reach the Hadza clan you will meet at the Hadza campsite.
They will be sitting around the fire to warming up before going on their morning hunt. At this time they will be chatting, chanting, making new arrows and smoking marijuana or tobacco.
They will also like to offer you a pipe and smoke, but you will not
offend them if you say no. They will demonstrate how they make fire with sticks
which is how they have been doing for thousands of years.
You can take pictures, interact with them, talk to them, and I will be
there as your guide and interpreter.
They will be sitting around the fire to warming up before going on their morning hunt. At this time they will be chatting, chanting, making new arrows and smoking marijuana or tobacco.
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| They’ll teach you how. |
Hunting starts around 7 to 8am, a group of 3 to 4 men
(normally) take their bow and arrows and go on hunting. Here you will join
those men on hunting by following them behind. The Hadza eat almost every kind
of animals that they can find, so will hunt anything that they come across.
They hunt for birds and baboons, impala etc. If the hunting is successful they
will make fire and do BBQ. They will offer you a piece of meat, and if you
don’t want you can politely say no. During the rainy season they find a lot of
honey, so sometimes while on hunting they can find some and harvest it. The
hunting takes about 2 to 3 hours.
Gathering is another great activity that you can do with
Hadza women. The women collect fruits, pick wild berries and dig for tubers. So
you can join a group of women for foraging. If interested you have an
opportunity of participating on this activity. You can help on picking berries
or collecting fruits as they appreciate that a lot.
Hadza have a lot of dancing and singing, and most of their
songs are about courage, life and animals. They sing and dance whenever they
are happy or when the food is plenty. So the tour will be concluded with a
traditional dancing.
DATOGA
Visiting one of the Datoga families around Lake Eyasi is
another great experience to have. There are different clans belong to the
tribe, some clans are blacksmith while others are pastoralists.
DATOGA BLACKSMITH
This one is very interesting to visit as they use ancient
blacksmith skills to make things like arrowheads, knives, spears, as well as
bracelets, rings, and a lot of different jewelries, all of which are handmade.
You will see how they melt brace, copper or aluminum, how they make arrowheads
knives or spears.
DATOGA PASTORALS
A tour to these people is very great, you will pay a visit
to a family of a husband and his several wives as they are polygamous.The women
from the tribe are beautiful and nice, they will welcome you with a very nice
smiles on their faces.
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