The San of the Kalahari

See more Traditional Cultures. See best of Kalahari Desert in Botswana.

Inhabiting the Kalahari Desert for the last 25,000 years at least, the San -also referred to as Basarwa or Bushmen- have one of the world’s most ancient cultures. The population is divided into many sub-groups, spread throughout Botswana, South Africa, Angola and Namibia. Recent theories suggest today’s San are descendents of the first contemporary humans, with genetic evidence tracing back some 25-30,000 years.

Living as hunter-gatherers until as recently as 20 years ago, many San have suffered with severe restrictions and relocation threatening to disintegrate the culture. There are small victories being made; in 2006, the San in Botswana reclaimed their right to live and hunt freely in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Gudigwa village on the reserve is a settlement of over 800 San. Guides here lead tours on tracking expeditions, revealing traditional survival techniques including fire- building from wood. With the help of an interpreter they share their skills, as well as medicinal and gastronomical knowledge of the surrounding plant-life, providing valuable insight into what is possibly the world’s oldest culture.

You can also see many examples of San rock art, with works up to 26,000 years old. Famous examples are found in the Tsodilo Hills in Botswana, Drakensberg in South Africa, Twyfelfontein in Namibia, and Zimbabwe’s Matopos National Park.

4 / 5 Review by editor Amber Dobrzensky

‘Kalahari Bushmen’

Described as the ‘Louvre of the Desert’ the magical Tsolido Hills in Botswana’s Kalahari are home to one of the largest concentrations of Bushman rock ... Read more »

4 / 5 Review by expert member Julian Carter-Manning