part 1: course information - extrabushcraft.nl · we will have a short briefing on safety...

Kalahari Bushmen Expedition

Part 1: Course information

ExtraSurvival & Bushcraft BushCulture Experience

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EXTRAsurvival – Bushcraft & Survival Courses

BushCulture Experience

Contents

1. Course overview 3

2. Course program 4

3. Our partners in Namibia 6 The Bushmen 6 BushCulture Experience 8

4. Background & history of Namibia 9 Language 9 Nature, climate and geography 9

5. Course Location 12 Erongo Mountains (day 1 - 3) 13 //Xa/oba, Bushmenland (day 4 - 10) 14 Okatumba West Farm, White Nossob (day 11 - 12) Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert.

6. Bushcraft & traditional skills 17

7. Practical issues 28 Where are we sleeping? 28 Toilet and shower? 28 Is there water around? 28 What do we eat? 29 Can I bring alcohol? 29 How looks a day like while being with the Bushmen? 30

8. Health & visa 31 First Aid 31 Suggestions for vaccinations 31 Insurance 32 Visa & passport 32

Personal preparation 33 How fit do I have to be? 33 What is my personal equipment? 33 Do I need extra money during the course? 33 Time difference? 34 Which books about Bushmen are worth to read? 34

Travelling and transport 38 How do I get to Namibia? 38 Transport in Namibia 38

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1. Course overview This course is for everyone with interest in Bushcraft and the culture and knowledge of one of the world’s last hunter/gatherers, the Bushmen. Within this course we – or even better the Bushmen themselves – will take you into a world which does not exist like that anymore, even for the Bushmen. They still do have a vast knowledge of surviving the heat of the Kalahari Desert. One of their most incredible and unique skills is their art of tracking. Our Bushmen guides still grew up as hunter/gatherers! Everyone who wants to learn from these experts likes to sit around a campfire with them and enjoys the vastness of the Namibian landscape, is welcome to join the course. It is an active course and you will be around all day long on uneven terrain – you do not need to be a top sportsmen/-women but a certain physical condition is required. Please not that this is NOT a (hunting or game) safari or any kind of cultural tour. You are NOT going to visit wildlife parks or cultural shows. It is a course meant to learn from the people of the Kalahari – the Bushmen. Each day we learn from and live with the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen and their homeland! Course duration: 12 days (excl. flight) Group size: min 6, max 12 Accommodation: 2 nights flying (in advance and afterwards), the nights in Namibia we will sleep in tents or under the sky (for who wants). Climate: In the area we visit temperature will be in November around 25ºC to 30ºC during day-time and at night temperature normally drops a little. Namibian Course Leaders: Werner Pfeifer from BushCulture Experience Dutch Course Leaders: René Nauta and Beke Olbers from Extrasurvival

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2. Course program Day 1: Arrival at Windhoek Airport. Werner from BushCulture will pick us up and together we drive to the Erongo Mountains. We set up camp in the volcanic mountain valley with view on the million years old granite volcanic landscape. This is an area where Bushmen have lived long ago. An old landscape with ancient witnesses of life in the Stone Age. After choosing your favourite spot for sleeping a night full of African sounds is waiting… Day 2 - 3: Baboons might be your alarm clock today… and we will have breakfast in camp. We will have a short briefing on safety instructions, especially on snakes, scorpions, e.d.

By this time it will be pretty hot already –for sure if you just arrived from cold Holland- time for siesta to get acclimatized. Later that afternoon we will go for our first hike through the area in order to look for rock paintings. At night we can have a tour with lamping to search for night active animals such like leopards, springhare, mangoest. Next to these we can see a ‘normal’ eland or Oryx too. Along the dry river-beds we go for a daytrip into the Erongo Mountains. You can go and look for ancient rock paintings left by long gone Bushmen. Not only rock paintings

tell about their presence, Werner will show us ancient remains from Bushmen settlements. Could it be that along this river-bed has been a Stone Age Bushmen settlement? Werner knows a lot to tell about these old time and culture from the Bushmen. Day 4: After breakfast we pack camp and drive to the Historic Living Hunting Museum from the Bushmen in //Xa/oba (near Tsumkwe, Bushmenland). Here we set up camp again in the wild. At night we meet the Bushmen. Day 5 – 7: We learn from and live with the Bushmen. The next days the Bushmen are our teachers. They let us struggle with making fire and show us where to find food in this dry and arid area. They teach us how to twist rope and make snares, bow and arrow, a spear, digging sticks and jewellery from ostrich eggs. You will make your own bow&arrow, snares and maybe even a knife. Next to these crafts we will be shown traditional dance, singing, healing and a lot of games. The Bushmen are well known for their trance dance. We go for a bushwalk with the hole Bushmen family were the women show us some of their edible plants and the medicine man tells us about his medicine plants and poison used for hunting. The hunters of the clan give us a glimpse of their unbelievable tracking skills. But survival in this arid area is only possible by knowing how and were to get water. Often unseen, just under your feet…

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Day 8: Daytrip to Kaudom National Park in the NO of Namibia, close to the Hunting Museum. It is one of the most remote and wild national parks of Namibia and for sure the most beautiful one! Elefants, lions, hyenas, giraffe, leopard, jackals and wild African dog just as a lot of antilopes and more than 300 bird species. We will spend the day in the park and hopefully see some of these animals. At night we return to our camp at the Hunting Museum. .

Day 9 - 10: These two days we will go hunting like the Bushmen did for more than 10.00 years. In small groups we will travel into the Kalahari desert with one of the Bushmen hunters as guid and spend there two days in the way the Bushmen do. Of course we will carry our selfmade Bushmen bows, digging sticks and snares... but hunting is only allowed to the Bushmen themselfs. We learn about their ancient knowledge and tracking skills and will follow animals tracks. Next to traditional gear we will take some extra drinking water. Maybe we will catch of shoot a warthog, kudu, porcupine of springhare. We will sleep under the stars next to a campfire, somewhere in the Kalahari desert... And if we are lucky the hunters might tell some of their hunting stories. The next day we will continue our hunting trip, maybe dig up some edible roots or see an elefant. At night everybody returns to the basecamp at the Hunting Museum. We will have our last night with the Bushmen with traditional dans and games around the campfire. A really unique experience with a lot fun! Day 11: We say good-by to the Bushmen and drive cross the Western Kalahari towards Windhoek. On the way we will stay the night at the foot of the Waterberg Plateau (National Park). You can go for a short hike and if lucky see some of the animals that live there. Day 12: Our last day in Namibia you can design yourself a little: you can talk part in a game drive or walk at the neighbouring farm, visit the local Nharo Bushmen Living Museum, go shopping in Windhoek or relax in camp or walk along the dry river bedding of the White Nossob. Finally we have to say good-bye to everybody and get on the plain at Windhoek airport. Dag 12: We might have some baboons at out breakfast table - they know the campsite too well. A morning hike will take us up the Waterberg Plateau where among others white and black rhinos roam. Around lunch time we will drive to Windhoek. Depending on the time we have left we can visit the city and buy some last souveniers. Then it's time to say farewell to Werner and get on the plane to bring us home.

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3. Our partners in Namibia

The Bushmen

This man grew up as a hunter/gatherer, now he watches his (grand)children keeping the old traditions at Grashoek.

The Bushmen are the original inhabitants of southern Africa. They already lived 20.000 years ago as hunter/gatherers over a vast area of the African continent. Most known by their ancient culture and special skills in surviving in the barren and arid area of the Kalahari Desert. The Bushmen, some call them San or Boesmans, were hunting with bow and arrow, set snares and gathered edible plants. They travelled with the seasons and the game and build simple leave huts for sun protection. Their life seems to be simple but it is based on ancient knowledge and profound understanding of nature. Their stories, believe, music, art, (trance)dance and hunting methods are unique. People say the Bushmen have the oldest human economy on earth – an economy which includes the ‘agreement’ that a catch will be shared equally with everyone.

Later the Nama entered Bushmen land from the South. The Nama are herders. They pushed the Bushmen out of their area and lived in South Namibia till 1500. Descendants of the Bushmen as well as Nama still live in Namibia but only a small group of them keeps practicing the old traditions.

Daily life of the ancient Bushmen, now in the Living Hunting Museum.

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Contact with the White men lead to the overall known conflicts. The Bushmen were considered to belong to the ape species and therefore wild animals which were aloud to shoot until 1936! The Bushmen’s defence of their hunting-grounds was hopeless. In 1960 almost all Ju/’hoansi Bushmen were forced to move to a reservation in Tsumkwee. During the war of 1966 between South-Africa and Southwest Africa (which later becomes Namibia) a lot of young Bushmen served the SADF (South African Defence Force) as trackers against the SWAPO (South West African Peoples Organisation). In 1970 the area where the Bushmen live today was considered to be ‘Bushmen land’ again and they were aloud to return to their hunting-grounds. Not until 1993 they were aloud to have a political influence on ‘their land’ and to use it in a traditional way. By then Bushmen land enclosed no more than 1/3 of the original land and the Bushmen count but 3% of Namibia’s population.

Nowadays most of the Bushmen live at the boarder of the modern world. Nevertheless old hunter/gatherer techniques are still being practiced – within a modern context. ‘The Bushmen’ does not exist; there have always been a lot of different tribes with little contact among each other. The Bushmen in Grashoek belong to the Ju/’hoansi.

A group Ju/’hoansi in Grashoek Historical Village.

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Werner and Luca

BushCulture Experience started a few years ago as Bushcraft and Wilderness School of Namibia, Windhoek. They are specialized in bushcraft, wilderness and outdoor expeditions. BushCulture works together with local traditional communities among which the Bushmen. Their main goal of these collaborations with local tribes is to preserve and promote their culture and traditions. The faces behind BushCulture are Werner Pfeifer and Gianluca (‘Luca’) Massalini. Werner is a German Namibian. In Namibia he has worked as hunting guide and Nature Conservation Officer. In 1990 he studied at the University of Kiel/Germany to become a teacher. Living in Germany he met Harm Paulsen who got him interested in Stone Age life and techniques. Since then Werner has become a specialist in primitive techniques and is teaching these in different European open air museum. He realized that this offers a unique way of keeping vanishing cultures alive. And more or less therefore he returned to Namibia in 2003. There he leads wilderness bush safaris and archaeological excursions. Together with the Bushmen from Grashoek he started the open air museum ‘Historical Living Village’. He has no financial interest in this business; the concept behind the organization is rather the intention that the Bushmen’s knowledge and working method itself leads towards the success of this organization. Werner is somehow ‘a white Bushmen’ and will be our head instructor, translator and tour guide during our course. Luca joined BushCulture in 2007 and next to his passion for Africa he is an excellent manager. A born Italian he commutes between his work for BushCulture and his own consultancy in ‘Business Management and Company Organisation’ in Italy. He manages mainly the administrational part of BushCulture so you might not see him on our trip.

Out Bushmen guides !gao en #amashe

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4. Background & history of Namibia

Reality in Grashoek…

...and in the ‘Historical Living Village’

Language Until Namibia’s independence in 1990 the official languages were English, German and Afrikaans. Today Oshiwambo is the first spoken language of the majority of the population while Afrikaans is for most Namibians their second language. English is the national language and is spoken almost throughout the whole country. For most of the Bushmen Afrikaans is their second language. Their own language consists – to our perception – of a lot of different ‘click’ sounds. Ju/’hoansi is the Bushmen’s language in Grashoek. The young generation speaks good English and is therefore their own interpreter. As Dutch people we can luckily understand quite a bit of Afrikaans…

Nature, climate and geography Geography Namibia’s landscape consists mainly of highlands; the highest mountain is the Brandberg Mountain with its 2606 meters. The central plateau ranges from North to South: bordering with the Namib Desert and the cost in the West, the Orange River in the South and the Kalahari Desert in the East. Climate shapes Namibia’s landscapes – ranging from desert to subtropical. The average height of the NW Kalahari is 1000 meters NAP. Climate Namibia is a very dry country with little rain. Desert climate, clear and windy weather predominates. In the region were we will be the rainy season will start in December and take till April.

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Flora The NE part of Namibia – were we will be most of our course - is a dry region with little green. The landscape offers mainly small bush land with lots of thorns and harsh leaves and almost no scrub layer. Varying with grassland and semi-arid scrub savannah.

A few raindrops are enough to create lots of beautiful flowers.

Fauna The entire course will be in unprotected bush land and unfenced farmland. We will not visit wildlife reservations. This does not mean there is no game – this region is full of all kinds of antelopes and carnivores. The areas we visit are home to a lot of different animals: Antelopes: Eland Gemsbok (Oryx) Kudu Hartebeest Steenbok Duiker Damara dik-dik

Namibia gives home to a lot of antelopes outside the game parks – a fair chance that you will see them during the course! On the picture you see one of the biggest antelopes: two male kudu.

Lizard

Reptiles: Puff Adder Cobra Black Mamba Boomslang Geckos Lizards Chameleons Rock Monitor

Chameleon

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Predators & Leopard Cheetah Brown Hyena Honey Badger Aardwolf Black-backed Jackal Caracal Bat-eared Fox Mongoose Meerkat (Suricate) African Wildcat

other mammals:

Genet

One evening a startled aardvark crossed our path…

Baboon Aardvark Porcupine Warthog Squirrel Klipdassie Spring hare

Warthogs…

... you see them a lot along the roads!

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5. Course Location

Arriving at Windhoek airport we travel NW to the Erongo Mountains. After spending two days there we drive NE to //Xa/oba, a Bushmen village near Tsumkwe (Bushmenland). From //Xa/oba we cross the Western Kalahari to get to the Waterberg Plateau, a National Park on our way back to Windhoek.

Kaudom National Park

Erongo Mountains

Historic Living Hunting Museum in //Xa/oba

Waterberg Plateau

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Erongo Mountains (day 1 - 3)

Basiskamp in Erongo

The Erongo Mountains are a million year old granite volcano. We will set up camp somewhere in this old volcano surrounded by huge granite rocks and dry riverbeds. In this area you still find ancient rock paintings, - gravures and evidences of ancient settlements. Days are dry and hot here with temperatures up to 40ºC – siestas in the shade are more then welcome! The Erongo Mountains are very beautiful with wonderful dawn, sunsets and sky’s – inviting you to just sleep under the stars!

On your own in an endless landscape!

Falling asleep watching the sunset and waking up by the sound of the baboons.…

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//Xa/oba, Bushmenland (day 4 - 10)

//Xa/oba is situated in the Western Kalahari, near Tsumkwe, Bushmenland. Tsumkwe is the former ‘capital’ of Bushmenland. This ‘town’ belongs to the Nyae Nyae conservancy. To the north you find //Xa/oba with its Historic Living Hunting Museum. It is the third open air museum run by Bushmen in Namibia where they snow the traditional lifestyle from their ancestors as well as their ‘modern’ lifestyle. By running the museum the Bushmen from //Xa/oba try to provide the village with income in order to preserve their own lifestyle. Unique to this place is that the Bushmen from the Nyae Nyae conservancy are aloud to hunt again in their traditional way! The Historic Living Huniting Museum was started on request of the village itself and in collaboration with Werner Pfeifer en Luca Massalini opgezet.

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Kaudom National Park (day 8)

The Kaudom National Park is situated in de NO of Namibië, close to the border with Botswana. It is one of the wildest and most natural National Parks in the country and therefor interesting for us: it is a protected area with a lot of wildlife without the feeling of being a Safari tourist. With its typical dry bushland the park looks like the rest of the Kalahari. Three dry river beds cross the park area, they carry water only in the rainseason. With a bit of luck we might see leopards, lions or cheetas! The Kaudom National Park has a herd of 500 elefants. As well as hyenas, giraffe, jackals and a lo of different antilopes (kudu and eland). Between november and march more than 300 different types of birds (including 50 birds of prey) visit the park area. Despite a lot game along the road and on farmland our visit to the Kaudom National Park will be special! You will get the feeling of being in Africa, as you know it from TV. No Africa without visiting a real gamepark!

Twee van de 500....

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Waterberg Plateau National Park (day 11) The Waterberg Plateau is located east of Otjiwarongo, in Centraal Namibia. The plateau is 200 meters higher than the surrounding landscape and hardly accessible through the steep cliffs. Therefore it is uniek for preseving wildlife against poachers as well as the fact that big game cannot leaf the plateau by itself once up there. The result: there are animals which are rare such as white and black rinos and sabel antilopes. And of course you get a good chance to see baboons. klipdassie, jackal, porcupine, dik-dik, mongooset, genet and brown hyena. The baboons will be there for shure, to share in your breakfast... The Waterberg Plateau is home to more than 200 different types of birds, including one of the last breeding sites of the Cape vulture.

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6. Bushcraft & traditional skills

All a hunter needs: bow & arrow, hand drill and ‘chop-chop’ (axe).

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The Erongo Mountains take us back in Bushmen’s history: Here we can search for archaeological

- rock paintings - rock gravures - ancient Bushmen settlements

And we will - make biltong, an African variation of jerky - look for water sources in a real arid desert

landscape, how survive animals in here?

The rock paintings of the Erongo’s are very old.

Climbing one of the tops you can see the shape of the old volcano’s crater.

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The rock paintings show us that the out-fit of a hunter has not changed much since the Bushmen lived in the

Erongo Mountains some 20.000 years ago. The paintings show hunters carrying their bow and quiver the same way as this hunter from Grashoek Historical Village.

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In //Xa/oba the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen are our teachers. During our first days in the Historic Living Hunting Museum they will teach us all different kinds of Bushcraft skills:

- how to work safely with traditional tools: knife and

‘chop-chop’ (multifunctional axe) - how to make fire with a hand drill - how to make a traditional hunting bow - what is the Bushmen’s tinder and where to find it? - how to make traditional bone tipped arrows (and

poisoned, they will show us the poison but we cannot use it ourselves)

- how to make a spear and digging stick - how to make rope from local fibres - how to make bird snares - how to make a warthog trap - how to make jewellery from ostrich eggs They will take us for bushwalks to teach us about local and traditional useful plants – edible, medical and poisoning.

Carving a bow.

Making fire with a hand drill.

The women dig for these tubers …

…by grating and squeezing…

… it’s (bitter) juice is drinkable.

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With help from the hunters you can make your own Bushmen bow & arrow:

Making bone tipped arrows.

Straitening the arrows in the hot ashes.

Your own bow & arrow!

A real Bushmen bow & arrow in an original quiver.

We will learn how to make jewellery from ostrich eggs and twine rope from local fibres to make and set snares.

Drilling little hole in peaces of ostrich eggs...

Preparing your own snares from your selfmade rope.

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They all love playing games and dancing:

A dance or a game? The first to loose balance… pulls all down.

Even better if the visitors join in!

The audience.

The game with the orange...

‘The women of the village getting water at the river’ – can you see the crocodiles?

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The Bushmen used to live – yust like all hunter/getheres – of the land, which is not allways

easy in aridness of the Kalahari. They know which plant is edible, which bulb has water and which bark is usable for plaster. On of the days we will go for a bushwalk with a group of Bushmen and –women.

Again and again women step out of line to gether nuts, berries and roots

– all dissapering in a lether bag. Fanstatic how normal this still is for them!

Wild prunes, a welcom refreshment on the way!

A short break in the shade…

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After a few days in the village and with enough self-made hunting weapons and snares we put our attention on hunting and all which comes with it. You learn

- how to recognize animal tracks (tracks, dong and other signs)

- observing game - how to see, recognize and follow animal tracks - stalking - how to use traditional hand signals used while

hunting - how to find and use bait - game behaviour and habitat - camouflage - skinning a big mammal (depending on our success

with hunting) - hunting, snaring and trapping… we try to catch our

own dinner. The weaver birds make beautiful hanging nests.

We found these fresh tracks of a brown hyena at dawn!!

He/she has just been here – the tracks are very fresh!

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The Bushmen are world famous for their knowledge on tracking animals and follow their track. They are masters in hunting and due to their small arrows they are masters in stalking too. Their sign language during hunting is unique. It is so into their bodies that you might see them communicating with hand signals on what ever day and in daily life too. We will accompany the masters of tracking in order to learn as much as possible from them.

Sprinbok, this makes a hunters hart beat faster…

Aardvark

Damara dik-dik. This is one of the smallest antelopes of Namibia.

Jackal

Just like the fox the jackal prefers to shit as high as possible.

An elephant track is really big!

Aardvarks are active at night. Most of the day they sleep in holes which they close up behind them.

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The Nyae Nyae Concervancy is the only area where Bushmen are aloud to hunt again – in traditional way with bow&arrow.

Pefect camouflage in a land full of shadows.

Traditional snare used for ginifowls.

In Nyae Nyae Bushmen only are aloud to hunt; we learn from them how they have learnd from their ancestors but no white people may actually shoot an animal.

Successfull hunting: a worthog!

All you cannot eat you better dry at a temperature around 35 º

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Next to Bushcraft and traditional skills we will spend some time on more common tips & tricks such as:

- travelling in an arid area - snakes and scorpions, recognizing danger and first aid.

Scorpion in the Erongo Mountains

Green treesnake.

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7. Practical issues

Where are we sleeping? We sleep all nights in tents (if you like you are free to sleep under the stars). You bring your own tarp if you like to sleep really outside (a tent is ‘inside’ too). If you bring a tarp you better bring a hammock (due to snakes and scorpions) and a mosquito net too We set up camp three times (in Erongo, in //Xa/oba en Okatumba West Farm) from canvas and tents, an outdoor kitchen, bush toilet and shower and campfire. We expect all to help somehow with this work. Some experience with camping or courses followed with EXTRA is definitely of advantage but not obligatory.

Base camp in the Erongo's

Toilet and shower? The toilet is no more than a toilet seat in the bush. There will water for personal hygiene and a shower bag which we lift up over a branch – showering with a beautiful view on the countryside!

Is there water around? Tap water in towns and farms along the road is considered safe to drink. For our times in the bush we have a trailer with us providing us with 500 litre drinkable water. This is our water stock whilst in the bush, if necessary filled up halfway the trip. This gives us some independence and, even more important, we doe not make use of the little water supply available in desert villages. If using / collecting surface water in these areas you are advised to filter and treat it with iodine.

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What do we eat? All food will be cooked on campfire, the favourite way of cooking in Namibia – the braai (a kind of barbeque). The most common food in Namibia is meat, meat and meat again. The post-colonial influence of the German kitchen has introduced a little variation. However, vegetables are not very popular and are somehow perceived as ‘the poison of the imperialists’. This does not mean we cannot cook for vegetarians but please notice that there might be a limited choice of vegetables. We take along our ingredients and therefore we will take in somewhere halfway the course. We have no professional cooks with us but cooking is done by all of us in teams. Everyone - good cooks or not - are very useful with preparing dinner.

Cooking on a campfire.

Can I bring alcohol? Just like with our other courses alcohol does not play a role in having fun during our journey. Nevertheless there are possibilities to have a beer / alcohol beverages when in civilization. This is NOT included in the price and we ask you to pay for your own alcoholic beverages. We ask you not to drink any alcoholic beverages while being in Bushmen land. Alcohol is one of the problems for the Bushmen since civilization has reached their lifestyle.

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How looks a day like while being with the Bushmen? Each day we will be outside all day long and most of the activities will take place at day time. Having had breakfast we start with the program for the day – this can be for example a bushwalk of excursion or making traditional tools. We try to have another activity in the morning than in the afternoon. Almost always we have lunch in our base camp. At night we cook and eat together. Sometimes there will be an evening activity, this can be a walk, game watching or just sit at the campfire and relax. The weather is quite different in the 3 camp locations but if it becomes to hot at lunch time we will have a siesta to catch some sleep, to write or read, etc. Next to group activities there will be enough time in between for personal activities.

Bushcraft in base camp.

Werner explaining tracks.

Each day is different and includes new skills and knowledge. Tempo and level of the course depends on the group. Just like with all our other courses pre knowledge is welcome but definitely not obligatory. We recommend that you are fit enough to be outdoors for almost 12 days with high temperatures, a lot of walking on uneven terrain and sleeping under canvas during the course.

In the evening we often sit around the camp fire under the stars.

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8. Health & visa

First Aid EXTRAsurvival is capable in First Aid and Wilderness First Aid. Werner from BushCulture too is trained in First Aid and will carry an entire first aid kit. During the whole course we will be able to reach a hospital. Complementary we advise you to bring your own little travel first aid kit.

Suggestions for vaccinations The best thing to do is to counsel your GP or the Municipal Health Services. As far as known to us there are no obligatory vaccinations for a short visit to Namibia, but there are some recommendations. Below we describe which vaccinations are recommended and when you have to get them. For more detailed information please consider your GP; especially because there might be slightly different rules in the Netherlands than in your home country. In the Netherlands these vaccinations / preventions are recommended by our Municipal Health Service: Hepatitis A (infectious jaundice): There are two different vaccinations for Hepatitis A: you can either get one for a 1 year protection or you get a second one after 6 month for a long lasting protection if you intend to visit risk areas more often. DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus en Poliomyelitis): You properly had DTP as a child but you might have to repeat the vaccination to be protected again. Please not: the vaccination is 10 years protecting you. It is recommended to get the vaccination at least 2 to 3 weeks before you start travelling but if necessary it is possible to get it last-minute too. Malaria (falciparum type): Malaria only appears in the northern part of Namibia, especially from November to June. It is NOT a big problem in Namibia but as we will travel partly in the northern part we ask you to take a malaria prophylaxis. Malarone, one of the prophylaxes, seems to be the best for your health. Please counsel your GP before leaving and ask for enough malaria prophylaxis as you need for a travel of 12 days. Additional you can bring your own DEET, long-sleeved shirts and trousers for at sunset when mosquitoes come out – this will protect you even better. If you wish to sleep under the stars you might be happy if you brought a mosquito net!

- Hepatitis B (heritable by blood and spit, the risk to get infected during our course is very small but please counsel your GP)

Diarrhoea: In Namibia food and beverages are safe to western norms, especially in lodges and hotels. Therefore it is unlikely that you will suffer from diarrhoea during our course. Anyway, we have ORS with us. Optional vaccinations:

- Meningitis - Rabies

BushCulture will provide you with extensive information on snake and scorpion bites at the beginning of the course.

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Insurance It is obligatory to have suitable travel insurance for the duration of the course.

Visa & passport All EU, USA and New Zealand citizens are allowed to visit Namibia without a visa. Arriving at Namibia you will get a stamp which allows you to stay for 90 days without additional costs. Please not: to enter Namibia you have to have a valid passport. And the date of expiry has to be at least 6 month from the day you will leave Namibia (please check this on your passport!) It is useful to make copy’s of all relevant papers (passport, flight tickets, travel insurance, etc) in case the originals get lost. Keep one set with you, one set in your language and leave one set of copies at home with family of a friend which you could call if necessary. You could also email them to yourself.

During a day trip in the Erongo Mountains.

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Personal preparation

How fit do I have to be? As we are mainly outdoors for a two weeks travel through Namibia a curtain physical condition would be more than useful. To give you an idea of the physical efforts: We will not go for heavy expeditions with 40 km of walking at 35 ºC… but you will be at work outdoors within a climate you are probably not used to. We never hike with heavy bag packs but we will go for day trips, sometimes in the middle of the sun-stove!! You are the best to estimate your own condition and how this would be for you… once again, if you are easy at day trips in the Netherlands or you are active and often outdoors – you probably do that in Namibia easily too. If you are in doubt or you just like to prepare yourself a little on beforehand just train your condition by going for longer hikes or do some sports.

A hunter in //Xa/oba.

What is my personal equipment? It is really not necessary to bye safari clothes, actually: with the light kaki colours you rather stick out than wearing green and brown colours of nature! A mix of long-sleeve shirts and trousers as well as short ones, a large brimmed sun hat, a warm sweater or fleece for the evenings, rain coat, sandals and good walking shoes (not necessarily heavy hiking boots). Next to clothes you will need some camping stuff (sleeping bag etc). You will get a detailed list of recommended equipment some time before the course will take place.

Do I need extra money during the course? The Namibian dollar (N$) is only obtainable in Namibia – thus you can not change money on beforehand. When arriving at the airport in Windhoek all of us can change money; therefore it is useful if you have cash or traveller’s cheques with you. The exchange rate is about €1. = N$ 9,85 If you wish to look for the currant exchange rate please check at www.wisselkoers.nl The course will be including all activities offered by BushCulture. For personal expenses we ask you to use your own cash. This will manly be to bye some extra snacks or juice/beverages while on the road, biltong (we will stop at shop selling real Namibian biltong) and souvenirs. The Bushmen run their own souvenir shop! For the last day you can choose from different activities which are not included in the total price. If you like to join one of these activities you will need between £25,- (Nharo Bushmen Living Museum) and £50,- (bezoek aan Windhoek).

http://www.wisselkoers.nl/�

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Time difference? During the Namibian winter (and November is one of their winter months) there will be a time difference of 1 our between the Netherlands and Namibia. At summer time there is no difference at all. This means you will not ‘suffer’ from any jetlag!

Which books about Bushmen are worth to read? Books ‘Bushmen – a changing way of life’ ISBN 978-1-86825-178-0 A short description about Bushmen life – ancient and today. Their art, culture and survival techniques. With wonderful big photographs! ‘The Bushmen’ ISBN 1-86872-110-8 Describing the rich history and antiquity of the Bushmen and their culture. The book gives you a good overview on their lifestyle, heritance, archaeological excavations, arts and crafts, social life, their family bands, tradition of games and recreation, story telling, belief, rituals and healing ceremonies. All illustrated with lost of photographs which gives you a lively impression of the Bushmen. ‘The sheltering Desert’ Henno Martin ISBN 3-935453-03-5 During the 2end world war in Namibia 2 German archaeologists flee into the desert to stay out of reach of the English authorities. This book describes Henno and Martin’s adventures; their non-stop search for water and food, finding hiding places, etc… All this in a rough and inhuman landscape with at the background the frightening world war. ‘The Old Way, A story of the First People’ Elizabeth Marshall Thomas ISBN-13:978-0-374-22552-0 ISBN-10:0-374-22552-4 This book describes the Marshall family and their life as first anthropologists living in the 1950th with the Ju/’hoansi in Tsumkwe. According to Werner this is one of the best books on the original life of the Bushmen in the Kalahari. ‘Nisa – het leven van een ¡Kungvrouw’ Marjorie Shostak ISBN 90-5847-257-4 A travel report of the author and ethnologist Majorie Shostak. She visits Nisa – an old friend from an earlier ethnologic study – and describes her interviews with the old ¡Kung woman. The book provides you with an impression on the life of a woman in the Kalahari; through the eyes of the author which suffers from cancer – the book describes her illness too. ‘The Bushmen’ Peter Johnson / Alf Wannenburgh ISBN 0-600-31575-4 A wonderful book full of photographs! With mythological descriptions of legends about water, hunting, fire and game. About the 10.000 years reaching from the Bushmen’s traditional lifestyle up to their ‘modern world’.

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Laurens van der Post (indeed: Dutch ancestors) leaves in the 1950th (just 60 years ago!!) for an expedition to search for the last living Bushmen. He travels deep into the still almost unknown Kalahari Desert. He wrote several books about his research. One of them “Testament to the Bushmen” has been on BBC TV. These are two others: “The lost world of the Kalahari – the famous story of one man’s perilous journey into the unknown’ Laurens van der Post ISBN 0-14-001716-X ‘Venture to the Interior – the famous story of one man’s perilous journey into the unknown’ Laurens van der Post ISBN 0-14-00-1238-9

Trance dance in Grashoek.

(Field)guide (Werner has some with him during our course, you can use them) ‘Tracks en Tracking in southern Africa’ Louis Liebenberg ISBN 978-86872-008-8 An easy-to-use tracking guide with drawings of the track in addition to photographs of the matching animal, a short determination of habits, recognition and distribution maps. You can find as well birds, mammals as amphibians. ‘Fauna und Flora in Southern Africa’ Vincent Carruthers ISBN 978-86872-644-8 Animal and plant guide with 2000 descriptions adding drawings split up in spiders, insects, fish, frogs, reptiles, birds, mammals, grasses, flowers and trees. ‘The Mammal guide of Southern Africa’ Burger Cillié ISBN 978-1-875093-45-8

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Uses an easy-to-use identification key with more than 200 excellent photographs. Detailed species description, including information on size, food, life expectancy, enemies, habits, voice and breeding. Adding clear drawings of tracks and droppings. Definitely a good guide! And describes on every page a mammal with picture’s of both genders,

He could not think of more colours...

Journals ‘Ontdek Afrika – San special’ Sillen Media Projecten Nijmegen (www.ontdekafrika.nl) The journal’s special edition on the Bushmen – history, Dutch immigrants and the Bushmen, language, stories, tourism and wonderful pictures (some of which are well known to us from our last year visit at Grashoek!)

The Bushmen are often singing and this is almost always accompanied by hand clapping rhythms.

DVD’s ‘The great dance – a hunters story’ Jeremy Evans Hunter !Nqate, dressed in discharged western clothes, is the story teller and main character of this beautiful movie. It shows you spectacular images of a very exceptional way of hunting: a game is run to death by chasing it till it is simply exhausted… “Tracking is like dancing, because your body is happy” is a quote of one of the hunters in this movie.

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Waking up in the Erongo Mountains!

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Travelling and transport

How do I get to Namibia?

Transport in Namibia

The most important is that you do NOT book a flight until you got an email from EXTRA mentioning that the course really takes place. We need minimal 6 participants in order to run the course. The flight to Namibia is NOT included in the total costs of the course and we ask you to book your own flight individually. We recommend you to book a flight with Air Namibia, one of the cheapest companies who offers a direct flight from Frankfurt to Windhoek airport. A ticket with Air Namibia from Frankfurt (FRA) to Windhoek costs about €7000.- to 1200.- pp (incl. taxes). Air Namibia takes off from Frankfurt. They offer a combination-ticket: when booking a flight you can book a NS ICE-ticket too. This ticket costs you €120,- and enables you to go by train from every Dutch train station to Frankfurt Airport and back again. Definitely less expensive than a normal ticket at the train station. To go by car to Frankfurt airport is possible too but keep in mind that you will have to pay for the car parking and that you have to drive yourself (think about the return trip).

BushCulture arranges al transport during the course. Depending on our group size we will travel in 1 or 2 small coaches and a Landrover plus trailer for equipment. Most long distant trips we will travel on asphalt roads, sometimes on gravel and the further we leave civilization the more we take sand roads. Sometimes we will be on the road for several ours up to a day to get to our new location – so please be prepared for a long time sitting in a car: with most of the time beautiful sightseeing!

Our transport in Namibië.

On our way to the Erongo Mountains.

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part 1: course information - extrabushcraft.nl · we will have a short briefing on safety...

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