Hunting Methods

On the previous post, there was a video giving us an idea on how the San people hunt. Now that we have a general idea, let's talk about some of their methods.

The San hunters are very excellent at what they do. Other than making traps, they are good using a bow and arrow. Instead of killing animals instantly, they sometimes slowly poison animals to death, which takes from a few hours to a few days depending on the size of the animal.


bushmen making arrows


They get their poison from different sources: poisonous caterpillars, larvae from of a small beetle, poisonous plants, and snake venom. Once they get the poison, the poison is boiled repeatedly until it looks like red currant jelly. Once it is done cooling down, it is put on the arrow inside the reed collar so that the hunters or anyone else won't be harmed by the poison. When the arrow hits an animal, the hunters would have to track it  until it dies.

You would think that the poison will contaminate the prey completely, making it uneatable, but the poison does not spread throughout the body. Once the animal that is hunted falls, the San cut around the area where the arrow hit and throw it away.


The San are clever when it comes to traps. One thing they would do is dig funnel shaped pitfalls near rivers and plant a sharp stake in the middle, then covering the hole with branches.
For smaller animals, they make traps out of twisted gut or fibers from plants. When a small animal enters a snare to collect the bate that was left for them, the trap strangles them.
There are other ways trap and catch animals, and these were just a couple ways.

Not only were they good in traps, but they also know how to track animals by studying there habits and learning where the herds are gathering.

No doubt that the San are clever when it comes to hunting. Their ability to track animals, make weapons, and create traps are what make them good hunters.



http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_bushmen_p2.html

Hunting Video

Here's a video that will give you the idea of their hunting abilities.

History

The San were hunter-gatherers. Before the migration of the Bantu, the San inhabited the entire southern Africa region. They did not have a permanent place to live. Instead, they carefully would plan to migrate seasonally between mountain ranges and coastlines for plant foods, and would take shelter in caves, rocky overhangs and other temporary shelters.

These people did not domesticate animals, and even though they have a vast knowledge of flora and fauna, they did not cultivate crops.

During the beginning of the Christian Era, another type of tribe called Khoihoi began to move southward from the sub-Saharan desert. Then the Bantu began southward also, bringing the ideas of settled life in villages and farming.

Because the San were hunter-gatherers, they couldn't live with settled community. The San fought against the Bantu, but were at a disadvantage with numbers and lack of weapons.When Europeans came, they fought with their lives, even though they had much fewer people and lack of advance weapons. Those that were caught, were forced into slavery.Colonialism would destroy the San's migrating way of life.

http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_bushmen.html

http://goafrica.about.com/library/bl.san.htm

Who are the San people?

The San is the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa. Nobody knows how long they have been around, but it is believed that they were around for over 20,000-100,000 years, probably making them one of the oldest, if not the oldest tribe in the world.
The San go by other names: Bushmen and Bansarwa.



The San people live without a general leader or rulers. Although there are leaders for things such as rituals and hunting, the people are usually  in charge of governing their lives themselves. Sometimes though, there are disputes amongst each other and it can be difficult to have someone express their thoughts.

We will learn more about the San from their history to their culture.

http://www.africapoint.com/newsletters/san-people.htm

http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_bushmen.html