To celebrate the completion of the huts they picked a day to have a feast. But for this to happen they needed to put a sizable amount of food on the table. So they asked me to help with the hunt. 

We left in the early morning in search of a Kudu, a Wildebeest and a Warthog. The local rules are that only people with a hunting license are allowed to hunt, even on private property. Since usually the Bushmen do not have licenses, a hunter from a neighboring farm was asked to come along and shoot these animals. While riding around and standing in the back of a pickup truck the San members of the hunting party could always spot the animal long before anybody else even got a glimpse of it. During the hunt all the shooting was very precise, and the animals usually died immediately with little suffering.

It was my first ever hunt and I found it a bit gross at times, especially when the Warthog was shot. There was a group of three, a mother and two children, standing by a watering hole.  When the gun went off the oldest sibling fell immediately to the ground and his kid brother, apparently confused and somewhat in a state of shock, just stood there for a second before running after his mother into the bush. 



I decided that this hunting stuff was not my cup of tea.

There was a lot of organisation required beforehand for Anne, the one in charge. Fortunately at Dqae Qare, the interests and needs of the San people are very well considered and taken care of. Most of the San are not particularly good at structural organisation in the sense of management, except for emotional organisation within their community, which is rather remarkable. We westerners can learn a great deal from them about organising our communities in a more healthy way in regard to sexual equality, how we treat one another other and, most importantly, how we treat our children. In the name of progress the San should be able to devise their own school curriculum and be teachers themselves.

At the beginning of the feast, John welcomed some special guests who had been invited, and then, of course, there were some speeches to start things off and give the happening an official character. Cooking had begun already the night before with almost one hundred hungry people invited to participate in the event. As soon as the pots and pans arrived at table all the people cued up in a line to get their share.

There was even enough food for everybody to have a second helping.

I have to admit, despite everything, that Ronny’s BBQ’ed Warthog meat was really very tasty. 


A thing that struck me was the diet of the people, which is not far from the diet of the typical American, lots of fat and sugar. Especially the later caught my attention. Three tablespoons minimum of sugar for one cup of tea!

Seemingly these ladies enjoyed their brew enormously.

By the time it grew evening some dancers were getting ready for traditional rituals.

For me, the experience of the people singing and dancing, not within the framework of the usual tourist ‚Bushmen experience‘, but just for themselves, as something which they like and enjoy, and to carry on all night (except for the occasional sugar boost brakes) till sunrise, was very important.

It provided me with evidence that the original San spirits have not completely vanished yet.