San Culture in the Kalahari

The San are the oldest continuous cultures in southern Africa, and in the eastern Kalahari around Tsumkwe the Ju/'hoansi run a conservancy on their own land where visitors can walk with guides who are teaching what they know rather than performing it. A morning's walk covers an extraordinary amount: reading tracks in sand to say what passed, when and how fast, digging for water-bearing tubers, identifying plants for food, poison, glue and medicine, setting a snare, making fire with sticks, and the making of ostrich-eggshell beads. The click sounds of the language are part of it. Done properly, through the conservancy, the money goes to the community and the guides decide what is shared, which is a very different thing from the staged villages elsewhere in the region where people dress up for photographs.

The main sights

• Tracking - reading spoor in the sand with guides who do it professionally.
• Plant knowledge - foods, medicines, poisons and water-bearing roots.
• Bush skills - fire-making, snares and traditional hunting equipment.
• Ostrich-eggshell beadwork - the making of jewellery still traded today.

When to go

April to October, the dry season, is when the roads are reliable and walking is comfortable; the summer rains make the sand tracks difficult and the heat severe. Visits should be arranged in advance through the conservancy office rather than turning up.

What to expect

There is a real difference between community-run visits and the staged cultural villages found near tourist routes, where people are paid to dress in skins for photographs and the money often goes elsewhere; ask who owns the operation and where the fees go. Tsumkwe is remote, with long gravel roads and minimal facilities. Photographing people requires asking, every time, and accepting a refusal.

Nearby

Khaudum National Park is north; the Caprivi and the Okavango region lie northeast.