This is a long overdue story for you that I have finally had the chance to write up in detail...
Back in May- July 2012 I was working on a one off TV show which involved a certain welsh hottie (from T4) and his family. The concept was that they would head into the Namibian veldt with the San Bushmen in order to learn how to live like they do and see how they coped. The idea would be that they would eat only what they hunted, caught or gathered with the assistance of their guides and would live, hunt, sleep and eat as the bushmen did traditionally for a week and film this challenge.
"Our pleasures were simple - they included survival." -Dwight D. Eisenhower
They came to us as fixer and translator to organise the trip and communications. Aside from putting together all the logistics, permits, accommodations etc etc from our end there were a few common sense things I needed to learn, like how to put up a roof tent, put together a camping shower and change a tyre. Luckily between the entire team, and people being kind with their time and knowledge, we possessed enough skills and I learned everything I needed to know.
"Common sense is not so common." - Voltaire
The day before we set off everything was being loaded and checked. After watching two of our team put up a couple of roof tents to check them, I suddenly realised that these were not the tents we were using and despite half an hour of puffing and panting in getting them up my colleagues were very good natured, laughed it off and started on the ones we would be using!
Having worked in events for years I suddenly realised this one was going to be somewhat different when several drums of fuel were loaded onto the back of the bakkie with a TLB!
"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn." - C.S. Lewis
Back in May- July 2012 I was working on a one off TV show which involved a certain welsh hottie (from T4) and his family. The concept was that they would head into the Namibian veldt with the San Bushmen in order to learn how to live like they do and see how they coped. The idea would be that they would eat only what they hunted, caught or gathered with the assistance of their guides and would live, hunt, sleep and eat as the bushmen did traditionally for a week and film this challenge.
"Our pleasures were simple - they included survival." -Dwight D. Eisenhower
They came to us as fixer and translator to organise the trip and communications. Aside from putting together all the logistics, permits, accommodations etc etc from our end there were a few common sense things I needed to learn, like how to put up a roof tent, put together a camping shower and change a tyre. Luckily between the entire team, and people being kind with their time and knowledge, we possessed enough skills and I learned everything I needed to know.
"Common sense is not so common." - Voltaire
The day before we set off everything was being loaded and checked. After watching two of our team put up a couple of roof tents to check them, I suddenly realised that these were not the tents we were using and despite half an hour of puffing and panting in getting them up my colleagues were very good natured, laughed it off and started on the ones we would be using!
Having worked in events for years I suddenly realised this one was going to be somewhat different when several drums of fuel were loaded onto the back of the bakkie with a TLB!
"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn." - C.S. Lewis
We set off early Friday morning and drove and drove until we got to Tsumkwe - about 12 hours in total. DJ Daisy was in the passenger seat and provided all the tunes that the radio was sadly lacking and I don't think we paused in conversation once.
We turned off the main tar road and after an hour hit the conservancy gates, convinced we were nearly there we felt a little more relaxed. Then, the villages petered out and we were still driving, and driving and driving. The north is very dry and there have been some problems with natural fire and fires set as land claims by different cultural groups of people that live in the area. So, its dark, we don't really know where we are and there are fires all around.
"Not all those who wander are lost." - J. R. R. Tolkien
Despite this we decided to stop for a quick photo-shoot of the surrounds...
Luckily its one road, you just keep driving and it takes you right into the town. Unluckily we had no cell reception. However, we both agreed that if it came to it we felt safe enough to unroll the mats and sleeping bags and sleep on the back. Eventually we saw the mobile telephone mast - we knew we were in sight.We finally arrived (with a supply of wine which seemed to be much needed!) just before they sent out a driver to look for us.
The first night started with a lovely buffet dinner and a few glasses of wine, and finished with a few more glasses of wine in one of the staff's houses. Everyone else had been there three days, we rock up and within an hour we are off consuming wine after hours with the staff. At this stage you realise we were well paired as roomies and going to have lots of fun and be a little tired by the end of the week.
"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body." - Benjamin Franklin
In the morning we headed out and set up the first camp, about an hour from the lodge, not too far from the 'traditional village' where they were shooting the first day. We organised the camp, set up the shower, got the food ready and watched the guys spend an hour or two putting up the marquee (this was the only time it came out of its bag - after a two hour set up it was truly in disgrace).
This first day filmed the family meeting the San community and learning about how to build a traditional hut. The family were all 6ft plus and the bushmen are generally about 5ft on tip toes, so their hut well and truly stuck out!
We were lucky enough to see some beautiful flamingoes on the salt pan whilst waiting for filming to wrap up one afternoon...
...and some elephants in the distance. As it was quite a dry season up there some of the team did run right into elephants at one point and were lucky to get away without incident. We were also aware that there were lions in the area and we needed to be careful in certain areas as we did not want to be snook up upon.
After waiting for the filming to finish for a couple of hours so we could pull the car up we were eventually called in, they were hunting for porcupines and this was going to take some time. Porcupine is a San delicacy, highly prized, hard to catch and apparently delicious. We went up onto the hillside, all burnt out from the fires that had ravaged the area. The San hunters were digging holes to catch three porcupine who were burrowed into the ground...
...it's quite a complex process involving digging several holes and tunnels to get to the porcupines. We had to light a fire as the sun set and that involved going out into the veldt to collect wood, grass and twigs so we could see and continue filming. The director from the farm and I had to laugh as they sent us two women off into the bush in lion country to for forage for wood as they stayed nervously close to the hunting spot. I suppose we were just more used to being in that environment, but still we chuckled at chivalry in action.
Eventually they managed to catch one porcupine and the filming director was happy to go. Unfortunately the San hunters were not, a diplomatic translation took place between crew and hunters and despite the crews desire to leave, the hunters were not budging.
"Gotta watch out for directors." - Stephen Sondheim
After seven hours of digging they wanted all three porcupines. Fortunately the cast did understand and were happy to stay to catch the other two. An hour later, after falling down several holes in the dark but three porcupine richer, we left.
That evening back at camp the porcupines were stripped of quills and roasted. To be honest it was a real nature in blood and tooth moment, having never hunted for food before and hearing the porcupines being slaughtered and seeing them roasted was not pleasant, one of the family cast was vegetarian and barely ate for the whole week, this part of the week genuinely upset him and being honest I wasn't 100% comfortable either. However, for me, despite the obvious harshness of hunting it was interesting to see that this is how some people live and also interesting to see people so close to nature, taking just what they need. They say porcupine is a delicacy, so I tried it, sadly for me all I tasted was sand and fat, but I am sure someone there was enjoying their meal.
"If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart." - Cesar Chavez
Over the next few days as we drove through the bush one of the San guides stopped us and pointed out that he could see the site of where a leopard had killed and dragged an animal into the bush, we got off to look and film...
We turned off the main tar road and after an hour hit the conservancy gates, convinced we were nearly there we felt a little more relaxed. Then, the villages petered out and we were still driving, and driving and driving. The north is very dry and there have been some problems with natural fire and fires set as land claims by different cultural groups of people that live in the area. So, its dark, we don't really know where we are and there are fires all around.
"Not all those who wander are lost." - J. R. R. Tolkien
Despite this we decided to stop for a quick photo-shoot of the surrounds...
Luckily its one road, you just keep driving and it takes you right into the town. Unluckily we had no cell reception. However, we both agreed that if it came to it we felt safe enough to unroll the mats and sleeping bags and sleep on the back. Eventually we saw the mobile telephone mast - we knew we were in sight.We finally arrived (with a supply of wine which seemed to be much needed!) just before they sent out a driver to look for us.
The first night started with a lovely buffet dinner and a few glasses of wine, and finished with a few more glasses of wine in one of the staff's houses. Everyone else had been there three days, we rock up and within an hour we are off consuming wine after hours with the staff. At this stage you realise we were well paired as roomies and going to have lots of fun and be a little tired by the end of the week.
"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body." - Benjamin Franklin
In the morning we headed out and set up the first camp, about an hour from the lodge, not too far from the 'traditional village' where they were shooting the first day. We organised the camp, set up the shower, got the food ready and watched the guys spend an hour or two putting up the marquee (this was the only time it came out of its bag - after a two hour set up it was truly in disgrace).
This first day filmed the family meeting the San community and learning about how to build a traditional hut. The family were all 6ft plus and the bushmen are generally about 5ft on tip toes, so their hut well and truly stuck out!
On the first night, as the family struggled to sleep they kept the fire burning all night to keep themselves and the dogs warm. The san were a little annoyed this used up much of the villages fire wood, however the family just wanted to keep the dogs warm - different cultures see things differently.
Every day the camp moved so they could film different experiences and areas of the conservancy, this one camp already had an amazing structure in place which we chose to build around.
Our hospitality manager did an amazing job of the camp set up, catering and looking after the crew, with us as her loyal, hard working team. The food was amazing, even in the middle of the bush and despite the running around and setting up camps I swear we all put on weight.
Amazing menu considering being in the middle of nowhere.
"Any celebration meal to which guests are invited, be they family or friends, should be an occasion for generous hospitality." - Julian Baggini
Most days we would get up between 4.30-5.30am and get to bed between 11pm and midnight, we usually had an hour or two to travel to and from the camp - the distances were not too far, but the speed you can travel over there is very slow with road conditions, bushes and animals. The cars were often packed with the full team meaning on one occasion about ten of us tessellated inside the double cab and a couple of others on the back! Before we set off and when we got back each day there were things to organise, safe to say at the end of the week we were refreshed from something different, but shattered from all the running around!
So off go the crew and family on the first day to get to the start location...
...and the filming and activities begin...
...and some elephants in the distance. As it was quite a dry season up there some of the team did run right into elephants at one point and were lucky to get away without incident. We were also aware that there were lions in the area and we needed to be careful in certain areas as we did not want to be snook up upon.
After waiting for the filming to finish for a couple of hours so we could pull the car up we were eventually called in, they were hunting for porcupines and this was going to take some time. Porcupine is a San delicacy, highly prized, hard to catch and apparently delicious. We went up onto the hillside, all burnt out from the fires that had ravaged the area. The San hunters were digging holes to catch three porcupine who were burrowed into the ground...
Eventually they managed to catch one porcupine and the filming director was happy to go. Unfortunately the San hunters were not, a diplomatic translation took place between crew and hunters and despite the crews desire to leave, the hunters were not budging.
"Gotta watch out for directors." - Stephen Sondheim
After seven hours of digging they wanted all three porcupines. Fortunately the cast did understand and were happy to stay to catch the other two. An hour later, after falling down several holes in the dark but three porcupine richer, we left.
That evening back at camp the porcupines were stripped of quills and roasted. To be honest it was a real nature in blood and tooth moment, having never hunted for food before and hearing the porcupines being slaughtered and seeing them roasted was not pleasant, one of the family cast was vegetarian and barely ate for the whole week, this part of the week genuinely upset him and being honest I wasn't 100% comfortable either. However, for me, despite the obvious harshness of hunting it was interesting to see that this is how some people live and also interesting to see people so close to nature, taking just what they need. They say porcupine is a delicacy, so I tried it, sadly for me all I tasted was sand and fat, but I am sure someone there was enjoying their meal.
"If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart." - Cesar Chavez
Over the next few days as we drove through the bush one of the San guides stopped us and pointed out that he could see the site of where a leopard had killed and dragged an animal into the bush, we got off to look and film...
Here you can see the drag lines....
...and spatters of blood...
It's really amazing to witness the San seeing something you or I would totally miss and watch them read the land and tell you what happened there.
Here you can see one of the San hunters setting a trap for guinea fowl...
...this is one of the hunters now also involved in the ancient san skills academy on the farm.
We didn't get to see all the filming as there was plenty to do behind the scenes but some of the other scenes involved the attempted hunting of a kudu and a warthog and hiding in a hunting hole with the San hunters, there were also scenes of them walking long distances in the veldt and using natural roots and plants to survive from. As one of the family was vegetarian food for him in particular was limited, but he loved the water root and got little more than this.
One of my favourite evenings was where we were about a two hour drive from the camp, the family cast were out in the bush sleeping with the San guides and we had finished for the day. We ended up sitting round the fire and talking in a mixture of English, Afrikaans and San and a few of us received our San names - which included names for 'house-maker' and 'gossip', however mine was zebra, which delighted me greatly, of course.
"Naming a baby is an act of poetry, for many people the only creative moment of their lives." - Richard Eyre
This was also such an interesting evening as we were looking into ways in which to work closer with the community up there, so ended up having a meeting in the middle of the bush with potential supporters, a very unusual meeting (no powerpoint and conference calls)!
This was also the evening that after our happy campers had gone to bed there was a leopard round the campfire where the family were staying and one around the campsite. The bushmen stayed awake all night protecting the family. In the morning both the family cast and the crew were fairly freaked out as they saw the tracks!
Sadly there were quite a few skinny stray dogs in the area, one of whom (nicknamed Clara and who nearly came home with us) managed to get into our food stores on day one and eat a lot of the chocolate brownies!
It was amazing how much my Afrikaans improved - mainly my understanding improved, but I also gained a few choice words to my vocab! Not only did my Afrikaans improve, but so did my off road driving, especially when we had to drive straight through a field of long grass in a salt pan with clouds of dust everywhere you looked. My directions didn't fair as well though - as one night I set off across a field to camp sure I knew where I was going only to arrive back a the camp ten mins later!
After the filming had taken place and we had our last wrap up evening we had the opportunity to see the local area, from the shabeen that we (honestly) never went to...
...to the more important local women and children's shelter...
We said our goodbyes on the airstrip before their flights back and our long drive...
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