LAKE EYASI – HADZABE TRIBE

Is a uniquely beautiful lake lies at 1030m between the Eyasi escarpment ,in the north and the Oldean mountains in the south Eyasi makes a detour on the Ngorongoro trip for any one,looking for something remote and different, the Lake itself varies considerably in the size depending on the rains and supporting a mix of water birds including huge breeding season.

The presence  of the traditional Hadza lends a soulful human presence to the region.

Also in the area are Iraqw, the  people of Cushitic origin who have been to the area for about 2000 yrs ago,

And Datoga people noted metal smiths whose dress and culture is quite similar with the Masai of east 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.

Baboon meet

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 warm up before going on their morning hunt.

Hunting time

 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. They’ll teach you how

They are friendly people, so you can sit with them too.

Learn how to make fire

You can take pictures, interact with them, talk to them, and I will be there as your guide and interpreter.

Hadza women are friendly too, but they are not as charming as the men. I think men are more charming as they smoke a lot so it makes them a bit high.

Bushman making arrows and bow while they making story.

HUNTING

 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.

BUSHMAN SKINNING A DICK DICK

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.

Participate in collecting fruits, wild honey gathering and try your skills on using Hadzabe bow and arrow, try your luck in a hunt.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 4 hours.

GATHERING

Hadza women picking berries.

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.

ARROW PRACTICING

As the Hadza are willing to teach you what they know/have, arrow practicing is an exciting activity to do.

Hadza Tribal Dance

 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.

Blacksmith

DATOGA BLACKSMITH

ARROWHEAD

You will see how they melt brace, copper or aluminum, how they make arrowheads knives or spears.

DATOGA PASTORALIST

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.

GRINDING MAIZE

Have you ever done this before? they will teach you how to grind maize with stones.

MILKING IS WORK OF WOMAN

milk from datoga’s cow

We have campsite which you can overnight, also we provide hot lunch 10$ per person

WHAT WE OFFER YOU.

We can offer you to visit Mumba caves , rock painting, hot spring water and onion plantation

ONION PLANTATION

Visit the farmers who will welcome you in their small patches of land and explain the way they practice their farming. Visitors will get an opportunity to explore the popular and very interesting onion farming activity not forgetting maize, and beans farms in the area.
Learn about soil conservation techniques and local ways of storing the farm produce.

Mumba Caves

Located nearly to a highly alkaline lake Eyasi in the northern part ,is a rich archaeological site noted for deposit spanning the transition between the  middle stone age  and late stone age in eastern Africa ,

The transition nary nature of the site has been attributed to the large presence of it is large assemblage of ostrich  egg shells ,beads and more importantly ,the abundance of  microlith  technology ,because these type artifacts were found within the site ,

It has lead archeologist to believe that the site could provide insight into origins of the modern  human behavior ,

The caves were originally tested by Ludwing  Kohl –Larsen and his wife Margit in 1934 to 1936 expeditions .

They found abundant artifacts ,rock art and burials .However only brief descriptions of these findings were ever published .

That being said work of the Kohl-Larsen has been seen a very accomplished due to their attention to details especially when one considers that neither was versed in proper archeological techniques at the time of excavation.

The site has since been re-examined in an effort to reanalyzed and comp lent the work that has already been done ,but the ramifications of improper excavations of the past are still being felt today ,especially in the unreliable collection of C-14 and confusing stratigraphy

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