I'm Alice Ford and we're back in Northern Norway.

This is the Garden Island, Kauai, Hawaii.

As you guys can see, it is absolutely beautiful down here.

The views are just already stunning.

We are on our way to Antarctica.

So right now we're having a traditional tea here.

Wow.

Hey, everyone, I'm Alice Ford, and in this episode, I brought you deep into the Tanzanian bush to tell you the story of one of the last truly primitive hunter gatherer tribes.

They're called Hadzabe or Hadza for short.

And their history goes back generations spanning more than 50,000 years.

Now they used to live in a place called the Olduvai Gorge, which is near the Ngorongoro crater.

But when that became a national park, they were forced from their homeland, and they now live in this area.

But things have changed drastically for them over the last couple of decades.

Their resources are slim, their land is slim as well, and they're trying to preserve their way of life.

This is their story.

There really aren't that many Hadzabe people left.

Only around 890.

And they live in small groups called bomas, usually around 20 to 30 people in each.

And it's not just relatives, but also groups of friends.

And the one that we're visiting has lots of young people.

And what I love is that they have people of all age and there's always elders here to make sure that the younger generation are not only learning about the traditions, but the history to keep this alive.

The Hadzabe are known to be the last of their kind and one of the last remaining hunter gatherer tribes on Earth.

They're known for shunning material possessions and having a social hierarchy.

They also have an oral tradition for remembering their past.

They don't use calendars.

They don't think about time or even counting past 3 or 4.

And their language is completely unique.

It's an isolate, which means it's not related to any other language, even in Africa.

Their survival depends on natural resources.

And for years they have watched in frustration as their ancestral territory has disappeared.

I'm not just here for a short visit.

I am embedding myself in this community for a few days.

I want to learn just what drives these people to continue their ancient way of life.

So I'll be sleeping, eating, gathering, and learning right alongside them.

In order for me to communicate with them, I'm traveling here with a few people.

This is Samuel.

He's a Hadza man that now lives in town, and he helps facilitate a lot of the visits to these local tribes.

I'm also traveling with my friend Annina.

She's an anthropologist and also the owner of the tour company, Visit Natives.

Now she's visited the Hadzabe people several times and also takes small groups of people into the bush to stay with them.

So together, Samuel and Annina will translate from Hadzabe to Swahili to English so that we can understand just what these people's lives are like.

They use homemade bows and arrows to hunt.

Now arrowheads are actually made by another tribe, the Datoga people, that the Hadza have traded with for decades.

Each animal that they hunt also has a specific arrowhead, most suitable for the size of the prey, and the elders of the village make a poison that is put on the arrows.

That helps stun the animal enough so that even large prey can be humanely killed once fallen.

So this is for the really big game, and it actually has a poison on the end of the arrow here.

And it will basically put the animal to sleep, and then they're able to cut out that portion of the animal that had poison and this helps them put those really big animals like antelope, zebra and in old times, giraffe, and other bigger animals as well.

It's my first morning here in the bush.

The sun is just coming up over the mountains.

It's absolutely beautiful here.

The Hadzabe are hunter gatherers but during the dry season there's a lot less gathering and a lot more hunting.

Since it's breakfast time here.

I've been invited out to join in on a hunt.

Small hunting parties consisting of usually 4 to 5 men head out on foot every day to find food for the village.

So as a woman and an outsider, getting to join in on this daily practice is a special occasion.

Before we head to far into the bush, I ask the men to introduce themselves in their native language.

Starting with the chief of the tribe who was selected for his great hunting skills.

We've just left the village.

I with, actually, the chief here, four of the other men of the village.

A bunch of dogs.

Everyone's got their bow and arrows.

Spears.

And we're on the move.

Quickly.

The Hadza's diet is primarily plant based, but also includes meat, fat and honey because they don't store food.

Each and every day, they must go out looking for what they'll eat that day.

In years past, the Hadzabe have eaten well.

Hunting for a large game like baboon, antelope, warthog, and even zebra.

But as natural resources dwindle and land is developed, the big game is harder and harder to find.

There's a squirrel up in this tree.

In their language, it's called Sindi.

That's what they're trying to get right now.

The expansion of farmland is one of the biggest threats to the Hadza way of life.

And as we run through what was once forest, it is impossible not to notice how much of this land has been cleared for crops and livestock.

So they've caught a bird.

Probably one of the most difficult things you could catch out here with the bow and arrow.

And, uh, they're looking for a few more things, I think, to bring back to the rest of their family.

So.

Hopefully, a couple of birds.

What kind of bird?

After several hours running through the bush looking for food, the men stopped to rest and share a small meal along the riverbed.

Fire is essential here.

And they got this one started extremely quickly.

The chief has set up a little bow drill for me to give it a try.

And we're going to use some dried animal dung once we have, a little bit of a spark.

Like this.

This is really hard.

I tried.

Today's been a really successful hunting day for these guys.

Sometimes they go days without eating at all.

And they've gotten two sindis or squirrels and a couple of birds.

So we're making a fire now.

They're going to enjoy one of the things they caught.

And then we're going to take the rest back to the community.

Tastes just like chicken.

Just returns from the hunt.

Well, that was a lot of work.

We were out there for over four hours, and I think all the, All the men are very happy today because we got two squirrels, three birds.

I even gave my try it hunting at the end there.

Incredibly difficult.

I can't imagine having to do this every day for food.

But really, really interesting to be out there with them today, hunting and gathering food for everyone here in the community.

Now, it's about midday here, so it is quite hot.

So everyone's kind of gone to rest.

Then I'm going to do the same.

One of the really unique things about the Hadzabe and there are many, is that their social hierarchy is really egalitarian.

Men and women are seen as equals, and they share many of the tasks that are needed to be done throughout the day.

Now, when the men are out hunting in the morning, the women are out gathering.

And I've joined them this morning to find some of the things that they gather in the bush.

One of those is the baobab fruit.

When you crack this open, there are little white seeds in here that taste just like candy.

And it's definitely one of the staples of their diet that men, women and children all love.

But one of the other things that they're gathering right now are bush potatoes.

And many of the women are behind me here in some of the little water ravines digging for those.

Now, they look a bit like yams, and they have a high water content, so they're able to get a lot of not only water from these, but nutrition as well.

A lot of work to get this.

I need more practice.

Oh, unlike a potato, it's really got a lot of water in it.

Oh, it tastes like a turnip.

Really juicy.

Wow.

Many afternoons now for these women are spent making necklaces and bracelets.

Years ago they would just forage all day and find food for their people.

But today because they're kind of pushed outside of where they used to forage, they're actually selling these to visitors that come and visit the tribes as a way for them to make money so they can buy things like sandals and arrows and other tools.

This area that we're in is incredibly protected, which is why they chose to live here during this season.

And this is kind of their typical houses right now.

You have a cooking area here and over here, a sleeping area where you put an animal skin down and they just sleep outside.

Now they have another kind of shelter as well, which they're going to show me how they make Shelter building, like most all tasks in this, Boma is a team effort.

We gather large branches from the surrounding area.

While a few of the men dug holes in a circular layout to create the main bones of the hut.

The branches are small, so they can be easily bent and then tied together with small pieces of plants that resemble cordage.

Now, once the basic dome is shaped, we added branches to wrap around the structure and soon enough we had the framing of a shelter.

The rains are hopefully just about to arrive, which means we have to get this shelter done.

So we've done a little bit more work and If you spent most of the day, You can probably get this done just just in a full day and it's amazing.

They just use all the natural ingredients around here.

There grow in abundance around here, and by cutting them at the base and putting them around the walls here, they actually continue to grow and they block any animals like snakes from being able to get in here.

The Hadzabe have found uses for many of the plants that grow in this area, and while they don't have traditional medicines, this tree is one of the tribe's favorites for treating skin ailments.

This is a special tree when it's sunny and green.

You can use it to rub on your body like a lotion or a soap.

It smells really good, like lemon, or a shampoo.

When the rains come here, many of the people take shelter inside their huts and and inside the trunks of the baobab trees, which are actually hollow, providing protection for a few people at a time.

But for the entire Boma, there's another place they go Thats to caves in the mountains where we're heading now.

Caves like this are one of the places that many of the bomas come when the rains come.

And almost all of them have their own caves.

But if a boma happens to come to a cave where another boma is, they're also welcomed happily.

And this is a great place for them to shelter for many months during the wet season.

As descendants of Tanzania's aboriginal Pre Bantu expansion hunter gatherer population.

They have probably occupied their current territory for thousands of years, with relatively little modification to their basic way of life until the last century.

They have no known close genetic relatives, and their language is considered an isolate.

So it is so important that these people's history and traditions are protected for years to come.

I was just asking some of the ladies about their lives and what they did with the money that they made with the jewellery, and if there was anything they needed or wanted, and water and food were the top two things.

Turns out that especially this time of year, getting water is extremely difficult and since we have a vehicle and the ability to go get them some water, we're going to go do that now and bring some back here for the villagers, because They can't cook without water.

They can't wash the children either, so it's definitely a necessity.

Compared to my last trip to Africa visiting Uganda.

This part of Tanzania is dry, hot and dusty.

It's the end of the dry season here.

A tough time to be a hunter gatherer when plants and berries are scarce and hunting is difficult.

And because it's so dry right now and this area has been cleared so much for farmland and livestock.

The scarce amount of animals in this area are even fewer than in years past.

This is the watering hole.

This small little pond of water here for not only their entire village, but all of the other pastoralists who have their cattle and livestock in this area.

They all share this little tiny water source.

And for the Hadzabe, they have to walk miles and miles to get here.

So carrying it back to their village, even if they make it out here, is nearly impossible.

So, they're filling up every container that they have right now, and I can tell that they've all been very thirsty for a really long time.

There's no way I could just drink this water straight from this.

But they have different bacteria and enzymes in their stomachs, allowing them to just drink this water straight from here without boiling it or filtering it.

We are back from fetching water.

It is very hot.

So I am cooling off in my tent here.

It's just wild.

For me to think about not having the ability to get water.

You know.

Something as easy as this.

For these people, it's extremely challenging, especially during the dry season.

Because land is a huge issue here.

And they are sharing it with so many other tribes and not in a place that has access to water year round like they would have been if they were still on their ancestral lands.

Sometimes they go an entire day or a few without water.

Not able to wash their clothes.

Sometimes not able to drink because they need to give the children water.

Um, and they can't cook without it either.

So.

Just puts things in a completely different perspective.

When we think about how easy it is to just turn on the faucet at home to take a shower, wash our clothes, and of course drink, eat, and even brush our teeth, these little things that we don't even blink an eye at.

For the people here, it's ah, it's a whole different story.

The knowledge in this tribe will be forever with the oldest generation, since they don't record their history on paper.

I felt that it was so important to sit down with the elders and hear about their struggles and the way life has changed.

So, in the past, the life was so great fo the Hadza, they had plenty of honey there were bush fruit and they said like a place like this, they didnt suffer because there were elephants There was always something to eat.

And everybody was like not starving, ever.

Yeah.

The problem and the problem at the moment is, like, the animals are so far so they cannot get, uh, meat.

So they rely on the bush potato, and then they also have to ask, like, food help.

Ah, now the other tribes have cut the trees and they don't have bush fruit anymore that they used to have.

Because, you see, it's all farming land.

So now there are so many cows and pastoralists and people.

So all the animals have left and went to Serengeti.

So now they they have to ask for help because they are in a big trouble.

So they are lacking basic things.

So it makes them to beg for help.

Kids from, like the kids from, from today will never, will never experience the Hadza life that they had.

Because the life is so hard that many, many, many teenagers, they go to the cities to live an easier life.

So because now they have no animals they get some money from tourism to buy like mainly food for the children.

Their survival depends on natural resources.

And for years they have watched in frustration as their ancestral territory has disappeared.

Over the last decade or so, there has been a coalition of ten plus NGOs that have been working to create a thriving landscape where people and wildlife co-exist.

This has helped secure more than 1.2 million acres of land.

Which is where all these people now live around Lake Eyasi.

But much of that land has been turned into farmland or grazing land by other tribes who do not rely as much on the natural resources in the same way.

Next time you are sitting at your desk counting the minutes or arguing with your relatives over politics politics at the dinner table.

I want you to remember there is at least one place on earth where modern day trivialities don't exist.

If my time here with the Hadzabe has meant anything.

It's taught me that the most important things are really community and being happy with what you have.

No one here wants anything except food and water, and while they largely don't know what they don't have.

Wouldn't it be nice to still live in this state of bliss?

The people here I've spent time with the last few days have a kindness and an innocence you rarely see in adults.

Their needs and wants are extremely small.

They don't worry or think too much about the future.

Save for the elders who just hope that one day they can have a land of abundance once again.

I've learned a lot over these last few days.

It's just really been eye opening, experiencing life with the Hadzabe and seeing the struggles that they go through on a daily basis.

And what these people need most is land.

Indigenous people are largely left out of conservation, rewilding and reforestation when we talk about these on a global level.

But they're a big part of the puzzle as well.

And if we want to preserve culture, giving people like the Hadzabe a little piece of land that has an abundance of life is extremely important to, you know, their impact on the environment is so small because their numbers are very few, and because they hunt and gather and move from place to place, they never have a profound impact on the environment that they're living in.

Because as soon as they've used some of the resources in one area, they move on to the next.

So I think including indigenous people in the topic of conservation in the future is something we absolutely have to do.

Or groups like this entire civilizations, really, will be wiped off the map in no time at all.

I hope you enjoyed learning about the Hadzabe with me.

I'll see you in the next episode.

As always, I'm Alice Ford.

Never stop exploring.