Generally speaking, because Botswana has been so responsible in controlling their mineral wealth and other natural resources, it is seen as a highly desirable place to live. It also has the highest Human Development Index rating in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, Botswana is suffering a major drain because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Currently, the adult prevalence rate is 24.8%, the second highest in the world after Swaziland. In 1990, the life expectancy of Botswana was 65 - by 2005 it had fallen to 35 due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2011, due to massive efforts by the government of Botswana, the US government, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as several universities in the US, universal access to treatment was achieved, which free AVRs and testing available to all of Botswana. There is also a nationwide Mother-to-Child Prevention program that has reduced the transmission rate from 40% to just 4%. Since 1997, Botswana has been working hard to reduce the impact that HIV/AIDS is having on their nation.
Fortunately, our time in Botswana wasn't marred by this fact. Instead, we were met with a beautiful country full of hardy, incredibly friendly and welcoming people. My first thought, however, was that they were much quieter than the wonderful people I had come across in East Africa. More reserved, perhaps.
The majority of our trip was spent covering Botswana - traversing the country from West to East. Endless flat expanses of dry Kalahari bush was interspersed with islands of succulent Karoo. 70% of the country is the Kalahari. The Kalahari isn't a true desert like the Namib - it isn't only just one massive wave pattern of shifting sands and scorching dunes. The Kalahari is what's called a semi-desert, and thus has much more biodiversity than one would expect. The word Kalahari is derived from the Setswana word for Kgala meaning 'great thirst' or kgalagadi meaning 'waterless place'. In fact, the great National Park that covers the border between South Africa, Botswana and the edge of Namibia is named Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, and it is in the great heart of the Kalahari. Nearby to the North is the Makgadikgadi Salt Pan (though seasonally this becomes a wetland) in Botswana and to the West the Etosha Salt Pan across the border in Namibia.
Our first night on the road we were lucky enough to stay in a traditional San Bushmen settlement. After it got dark, when it was finally cool enough to be comfortable seated around the fire, a few of our hosts decided to show us the traditional songs and dances they were trying to preserve. They showed us first the important medicinal dances (or trance-inducing dances) they use to fight illness, to keep their community strong. Afterwards, they treated us to the dances they use for entertainment, to tell stories. All of these are named for animals that figure deeply into their traditional lives and some feature reenactments of hunts.
Traditionally, women sing and clap while seated at the fire while the men dance in a tight circle around them, occasionally stepping out in lines when the story they are telling merits. The dance they preform involves the fast short steps that look almost as though they are shuffling, but with strong, short stomps. From the waist up they are nearly motionless, and they seem to glide across the ground. They wear rattles made from the pods and seeds of trees wrapped around their ankles that emphasize their quick steps and that help keep the rhythm of the dance.
I've put together a short video compilation of that night - in hopes to impart how intricate and unique the Bushmen traditions are. They have lived in this area as hunter gatherers for over 20,000 years, perfecting the art of living in a region that is so unforgiving. Their knowledge of how to survive on just the unique desert flora alone is astounding. In fact, they rarely have to drink free standing water, gaining most of their moisture from specific plant roots under the desert floor. They are skilled hunters, incredible herbalists, and all around fascinating to interact with.
In the video you can also hear a young San man speaking his native language which includes the use of several click consonants.
A massively understudied and under-appreciated group, the San Bushmen (!Kung) have a sophisticated belief system, a vast knowledge of hunting, sophisticated medicinal plant use and, until the recent past, was egalitarian. The !Kung are a gift-giving society, based in supporting their community with gifts and the notion that there needs to be mutual support of their community members. There are approximately only 35 names per sex, and individuals with shared names are automatically considered sisters or brothers, whether or not they are biologically such. After marriage, the family lived in the village of the new wife's family so that she may have support during the transition. Divorce was an acceptable occurrence, and domestic violence was kept to a minimum as the doors of the huts remained open and family members or neighbors could intervene quickly.
Even more astounding is the !Kung practice unassisted childbirth, walking up to a mile away from their village during labor to deliver the child by themselves. The child is placed in a small hole dug in the sand and lined with leaves and the placenta is delivered and placed next to it while the umbilical cord remains uncut. The child is covered in a large leaf and after some time the woman walks to alert other women in her community so that they may welcome the new child in a ritual. If the woman is late in returning then the community may look for her to offer help, but this is said to be rare.
!Kung hunters have also developed a sophisticated system such that no hunter becomes too full of himself or sees himself as more important than other members of his tribe. Generally, all hunters will return to the village claiming to be unsuccessful after days of careful tracking and stalking, while someone else will go search to see if any game was "nicked by an arrow" (the Bushmen hunt with very powerful diamphotoxin-tipped arrows) and fell without the hunters knowing. If felled game is found, then it is distributed evenly throughout the community and credit is often given to the one who made the arrow, not the hunter himself.
Because governments have pushed these communities to give up their nomadic lifestyle to herd cattle or work agricultural lands, men have become more valuable than women, as women are often unable to keep employment as they are kept busy making millet, a sedentary food source, during the day. During this transition, they have also been pushed into European style housing with closed doors, which has drastically increased the rate of domestic violence, as well as the abuse of alcohol.
The overwhelming theme of this entire basin is survival. One of the most prevalent factors in this continual struggle is the lack of staying surface waters. In fact, the only permanent water source comes from the Okavango River, which seeps into this vast plain from the North-west (with it's source 990 miles away in Angola) and eventually consumed in entirety by the Kalahari, the environment being far too dry for the river to survive far enough to empty into an ocean.
The delta that is formed by the Okavango is 150 miles across at its widest point during the flood. The January summer rains that pour down on Angola cause a massive uptake of water by the river that take around four months to filter down into the delta, meaning the water levels are highest during the dry winter months (June-August). During this time the inland delta becomes three times its original size. Because of this, the delta draws a massive influx of wildlife from all over the region, creating one of the largest concentrations of game in Africa. All the fauna of the dry Kalahari depend on these waters to sustain them throughout the dry season. Giraffes, hippos, elephants, lions, cheetahs, brown and spotted hyenas, wild dogs as well as several antelope species all rely on this great cyclical movement of water to survive. There are also around 400 species of birds and 71 species of fish present in the delta.
There are five ethnic groups as well present in the delta, three of which are of Bantu origin while two are Bushmen. When we traversed the Okavango via mokoros, we were guided by Bayeyi polers, who were recognizably Bantu and not Bushmen due to their stature. In general, Bushmen are much shorter and generally have younger, more babyish features.
We spent a night camping on one of the many islands formed in the delta, listening to traditional singing by firelight and gazing up at the incredible view of the cosmos. Stargazing in Botswana is unbelievable, without any ambient light for hundreds of kilometers in any direction the shooting stars, planets and galaxies were clearly visible. I slept soundly. Mandy had nightmares of hippos.
- Rh
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