Brief information about the Hadzabe and Bushmen tribes
This indigenous ethnic group lives in north-central Tanzania, near Lake Eyasi in the central rift valley and the Serengeti’s surrounding plateaus. For many years, the influence of tourism and pastoralist encroachment has posed a serious danger to the continuation of their traditional way of life.
The Hadzabe tribe’s oral history is separated into four epochs, each inhabited by a different culture. The Hadza’s archaeological and genetic history reveals that they are not closely linked to any other tribe, and while their language was originally categorized with Khoisan languages due to clicks, there is little evidence that they are related.
The Hadzabes are semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers which belonged to the Khoi (Person) and San (Foragers) groups culturally and linguistically. They share cultural links with the Sandiwe, who have cultural linkages to the Khoekhoe hunter-gatherer cultures of Southern Africa. Women wear “Hangweda” made from indigenous skin, while Hadzabe males are polygamists with a patriarchal social system.
The Hadzabe tribe, descended from Tanzania’s ancestral hunter-gatherer population, they have a division of labor between foraging and hunting. While Hadzabe men typically forage alone, women are reported to forage with at least one adult male in the group. The Hadzabe women typically carry digging poles, huge skin pouches for carrying belongings such as knives, shoes, clothing, and other objects placed in the pouch around their neck, as well as a grass basket for collecting berries while foraging. Their food is primarily composed of honey, fruits, tubers, and meat. During the dry season, when men generally hunt in pairs, expecting to shoot animals with their bows and poisoned arrows, the availability of meat in their diet increases