| Duration: | 8 Day(s) - 7 Night(s) |
| Tour Category: | Culture Tours |
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 3 hours 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 containers on average for each person and enough for cooking, water rationing, rubbish disposal, pack provisions
Day 1: Arrive at SSKA
Pick-up is 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, and 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 discuss with the group the schedule for day 4 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. The duration of the nature walk is about 3 hours but most of the time is spent watching demonstrations.
Return 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 day 5. Make a small fire and extinguish it before bed.
Day 5: Walking Experience
Fill all water containers for cooking & drinking. Walk in a single file behind the guides, keep together, and keep close to the 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 stop 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 is divided into 4 for grass collecting, pole cutting, rope making, and 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 the day. Make a small fire and extinguish it
Day 6: Survival Challenge Exercise
Survival challenge exercise: 10-minute navigation practice in pairs, Wheel spokes 5 minutes out, 5 minutes 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, 30 minutes 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: The best spear thrower gets the spear, the best archer gets the bow & arrow, and Bush survival certificates for the pair with the most useful plants.
Later on, the day play Bushmen games, and 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
