Kalahari Expedition Tour With Bushmen

KALAHARI EXPEDITION WITH BUSHMEN

Activities Include:

Hunting techniques such as animal tracking, archery, and spear throwing

Food gathering, finding medicinal, food and other useful plants

Traditional hut construction

Wilderness camping

Survival challenge

Awards ceremony and games

Package Includes:

All necessary road transport and guide/s

Package above Excludes

Camping equipment, Flights, Visas, Gratuity, Personal insurance, Tips, Curios

Duration: 8Days/7Nights

Grading: The nature walks last about 3hours including time spent watching demos. The day trek lasts up to five hours. The terrain is level and fairly firm underfoot and suitable for anyone of average fitness. This trek is accompanied by a fully qualified professional guide and Bushmen guides. It is Self-catering, self-Camping equipment, and transport available. No cell phone network, but there are radiophones in Kaudwane.

Introductions and briefing Points to cover: field studies guidelines, lip sol, binbags, self-rising flour & foil for bread, 2litre water container on average for each person and enough for cooking, water rationing, rubbish disposal, pack provisions

Day 1: Arrive at SSKA

Pick-up to be arranged to take you to your lodge, depending on the time of arrival you may have time to relax and later on go to a local mall to meet local people and interact with some locals.

Day 2: Gaborone Game Reserve

On day 2 enjoy a city tour combined with a Gaborone Game Reserve tour, later in the day go shopping for lunches to carry on the trek.

Day 3: Kaudwane

Load large bags and provisions onto roofs. Have a short briefing on a journey to Kaudwane. Depart Gaborone by 9.30am. Proceed to base camp.

Briefing on safety precautions: kick and knock firewood for scorpions, do not walk out of sight of camp. Rake the camping area. Set up camp, washstands by latrines.

Briefing for a nature walk: keep in single file behind the guides, keep together, and keep close to guides to hear explanations, if the explanations are unclear ask for a clearer explanation. Hand out plant checklists. Explain the Ian Wright survival Challenge exercise. Take a circular nature walk around the campsite for orientation.

After dinner discusses with the group the schedule for day4 and set times. Make a small fire and extinguish it before bed.

Day 4: Nature Walk

After breakfast prepare for a nature walk. Have a break during the walk when everyone sits down to watch a survival technique demonstration. Duration of nature walkabout 3hours but most of the time is spent watching demonstrations.

Return back to base camp for lunch. After lunch, demos of bush survival techniques, ie making string, setting a trap, ‘Robi, making a bow and arrows, making bracelets, making a digging stick, a hunting spear, archery, spear throwing, ambush, etc Team divides into groups to practice these activities helped by the Bushmen.

After dinner around the campfire story sharing with the guides. Discuss with the teams the schedule and set times for day5. Make a small fire and extinguish it before bed.

Day 5: Walking Experience

Fill all water containers for cooking & drinking. Walk-in single file behind the guides, keep together and keep close to guides to hear explanations. Walk-in one group. This is a nomadic hunter/gatherer walking experience. The guides look for further food/medicinal plants while walking and the stops to dig these up to serve as rest breaks. By 2 pm find a suitable spot with materials for building a guide sleeping hut. Rake the site before the group enters it in case of snakes.

The team divides into 4 for grass collecting, pole cutting, rope making, digging the holes for the poles. Later, collect firewood, set a trap, and try animal tracking and hunting. Discuss with the teams the schedule and set times for day6. Make a small fire and extinguish it

Day 6: Survival Challenge Exercise

Survival challenge exercise: 10-minute navigation practice in pairs, Wheel spokes 5minutes out, 5minutes back. Each pair has a whistle.

Put up a flag pole/ garment on the vehicle roof.

Useful plant collecting; Working in pairs Wheel spokes so they do not follow each other, 30mins to bring back all the plant samples they can recognize. Keep the flag in sight. One pair at a time takes the samples to the senior Bushman guide for checking.

The rest of the group while they are waiting to be checked try their hand at archery, spear throwing, and ‘robi’.

Awards ceremony: best spear thrower gets the spear, best archer gets the bow & arrow, Bush survival certificates for the pair with most useful plants.

Later on, the day play Bushmen games, enjoy the last night with your guides.

Day 7: Kaudwane

Break camp, load the truck, bid farewell to the guides in Kaudwane, and arrive back in Gaborone around mid-day.

Day 8: Departure

Transfer to airport