The San Bushmen of Kalahari

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A man walks through the desert with nothing but the shirt on his back in search of water so he and his family do not die from dehydration. As he’s walking with the sun beating down on him relentlessly, he spots a clearing with bushes and moist ground. Digging through the sand with nothing but his hands, he finally finds water. He is extremely thirsty and he is not surprised that his tribe is going through another drought. With no modern tools to use, he is forced to use a straw and an ostrich egg to transport the water back to his tiny hut. The most efficient way of transporting the water quickly from the sand to ostrich egg is to suck in the water with one straw, put it in his mouth, and then spit it out in another straw that leads to the ostrich egg. This is just one of the everyday problems that the Bushmen of Kalahari are faced with. These people are located in South Africa and most of them are located in Botswana.

Originally from Botswana, the Bushmen are scattered over most many parts of South Africa and are believed to be descendants from early Stone Age ancestors. There are many tribes that have dissipated over many decades but not the San. Compared to other cultures around the world, they are one of the oldest indigenous tribes still alive and trying to maintain their lifestyle (San 2). Many of their earliest records of evidence of survival are songs and rock paintings on the wall of caves. Unfortunately, over the years the San have been forced to live in the desert of Kalahari by farmers looking for lush land and the Bantu tribes. Farmers are now putting up fences on, what used to be where the San occupied, but is now private property. Their indigenous culture has been around for many decades which means that some San ...

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