|
The Hadza's homeland lies on the edge of the
Serengeti plains, in the shadow of Ngorongoro Crater. It is also close
to Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important prehistoric sites in the
world, where homo habilis - one of the earliest members of the genus
Homo - was discovered to have lived 1.9 million years ago.
The Hadza have probably lived in the Yaeda Chini area for millennia.
Genetically - like the Bushmen of southern Africa - they are one of the
'oldest' lineages of humankind. They speak a click language that is
unrelated to any other language on earth. Over the past 50 years,
however, the tribe has lost 90% of its land.
|
|
 |
|
Until the 1950s all Hadza survived by hunting and gathering. The
Tanzanian government has since made repeated attempts to ‘settle’ the
Hadza. Today, only 300 – 400 of a population of approximately 1,300
Hadza are still nomadic hunter-gatherers, gathering most of their food
from the bush; while the rest live part-time in settled villages,
supplementing locally bought food with natural produce.
“In some areas, the Hadza are living in poverty on land stolen from them
by their agricultural and pastoral neighbours, in a situation where
there has been discrimination against them,” says anthropologist James
Woodburn, who has worked with the Hadza for decades.
During the last 5 years, increased worldwide awareness of their
situation has led to some significant successes for the Hadza. They
faced eviction in 2007 when a foreign safari company won rights from the
Tanzanian government to a large hunting concession. The company were
forced to withdraw from the deal following an international campaign led
by the Hadza themselves along with a coalition of local and
international ngos. More recently, in October 2011, a Hadza community of
700 people were issued with titles for land encompassing more than
20,000 hectares. It was a historic moment: the first time a Tanzanian
government had formally recognized a minority tribe’s land rights.
|
|
|
|
Metal from nails is hammered and shaped into arrow-heads, and the sap of
the desert rose shrub used to coat the tips in poison. Certain rules and
beliefs govern Hadza hunting practices. If an animal is only wounded
when shot, the name of the species may not be mentioned directly; in
uttering its name, the Hadza believe that the animal would recover – and
escape.
Wild honey, which constitutes a substantial part of the Hadza diet, is
shared. Hunters follow the honeyguide bird to a wild hive. The bird
calls to the hunters, who whistle back to it. It flits from tree to
tree, stopping to wait for hunters to catch up, so leading them to a
bees’ nest often high in the reddish-grey boughs of an ancient baobab
tree. The Hadza have a very intimate relationship with the honeyguide
bird, and they’ll whistle a certain way to attract it and let it know
they are listening says Daudi Peterson, Safari guide and Founder of the
Ujamaa Community Resource Team and the Dorobo Fund. Some trees have been
harvested repeatedly by the Hadza for hundreds of years.
The Hadza make huts by bending tree branches into round structures, and
covering with grass.
|
|
|
|
The Hadza are preoccupied with equality. Differences of power, wealth
and status are systematically subverted. And equality is, in a sense,
generalised by them to all mankind.
On top of Mukelengeko, a rocky outcrop that is one of the Hadza’s most
important ritual sites, Gonga looks out over his homeland; the woodland
is deep green from recent rains. Beyond lie the soda waters of Lake
Eyasi and the red earth of the Iraqw people. “This is my home. Our
grandparents lived here. I am part of the land, this is where we feel
free,” says Gonga.
“Land is our biggest problem,” says Richard Baalow, a Hadza man. “We
need people like Survival to keep on working for us. Loss of land
deprives us of our cultural identity and the means to move with dignity
into the future world.”
|