HADZABE HUNTERS



 Hadzabe men spend a majority of their time hunting, or making their bows and arrows. Due to the shrinking size of their hunting grounds they often have to travel away from the group to reach the game. Their favorite prey is baboons which they shoot in the trees during a new moon. They also use blinds near watering holes. Many of the men wear impala skins, another favored large game. They will, however, shoot game large and small including birds and bush babies. They are extremely skilled and accurate with bows and arrows.

 They spend a lot of time fashioning arrows, straightening them with their teeth, and adding feathers and metal arrowheads they get from the neighboring Datoga tribe. Their bows are from the same branches, but thicker and shaped after being heated and bent in the crook of a tree. They can have a pull of 100 pounds.


Arrowheads are made from old nails from the Datoga tribe, and are given to the Hadzabe in exchange for meat or honey, or through visitors like us, anthropologists and tourists.

Here is a video describing the process and comparing it with a 1st world blacksmith from the USA (who happens to be my brother). 


Watch the leader of the camp, Shakwa talk about his hunting and daily activities. He was introduced to us as the Chief. However, as we heard from various authorities on the Hadzabe, their culture is very egalitarian and there are no chiefs. However, it was clear that others followed Shakwa's lead whether it was in dancing or in hunting. He was never authoritarian in any way. In Hadzabe culture a bossy individual would be met by abandonment as others in the camp would simply go off to another camp.


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