The Bushmen or San are descendants from the Stone Age people who were the first to inhabit Southern Africa.

Coral Fourie, who spent many years with the Bushmen of the Kalahari, writes in her book “Living Legends of a Dying Culture” of their religion… ‘Most Bushmen believe in a greater and a lesser God.  There are also other supernatural beings as well as the spirits of the dead.  The Great God or Supreme Being is regarded as a good being, but who can send bad fortune when angered.  He created himself, then the bush-food, the earth, water and air. He wards off disease and protects, and it is he who taught people skills.  He is called different names by the same group as well as by all the different groups…The lesser god is regarded as bad, an evil spirit, a wizard, a destroyer, a bringer of bad luck and disease.  In a similar way he is called by different names…’ the only exception are the Kua tribe of bushmen, ‘The Kua do not believe in a lesser god but regard Bhize – their supreme God as the only god. The spirits of the dead brings bad luck because they wish to bring the living to where they are.  Where ancestral spirits are concerned, the Bushmen strongly believe that they have a leading role to play in the fate of any living persons’ life.’

The San / Bushmen love dancing, they clap and sing and it usually is an expression of their joy, which would follow a successful hunt, some say they call the spirit of the animal to be hunted and others say dance is used to allow the men to fall into a trance.  As in so many cultures, dance is a unifying action, which strengthens relational bonds.

It is said that the San are regarded as shy people and although they do not share their stories with strangers, Coral Fourie had the privilege of hearing many of their tales and her book “Living Legends of a Dying Culture” allows us to experience a bit of their folklore.   It is through these stories that we are able to learn more about these people of old.  As westerners we will never understand them, we think too rationally and with far too much logic, but they do tell us more of how the Bushmen think, their beliefs and customs and that’s what makes them so special.

As Coral Fourie quotes Francois Stroh, so do I “ “The Bushman story is to comfort and console, the Bushman story is to heal, the Bushman story is to motivate and encourage, the Bushman story is to teach and educate and finally it is to amuse. It is therefore clear that the Bushman story is not only a genre but more of a ‘mental medication’ which is inflicted by means of words; words together with gesticulation, expression and mimic mixed with the symbolism until the unseen becomes clear and true – that is the crux of a Bushman story.  When you comprehend and understand that, then a Bushman story becomes so enjoyable that you can ‘eat and indulge in it’.””

I have never met a Bushman, it would be a very humbling experience for me to be in the presence of a people who live so close to nature, who are conservationists in the true word and who align their lives with the elements.  The way they intimately know nature and the instinct they have about living in the wild makes me realise how all the knowledge of the world is incomparable to a life’s experience. They absorb everything there is to know about their environment daily, learning new things and recalling old, they learnt to live with what they had and that I admire.  The way they know where to find food, or when it will rain, which plants to use to make poison and which to use for healing, a highly intellectual people in their own field.  Each member of a group has a role to play and does so for the existence of their people and that is why they seldom fight, but they are human and they do anger like we – only their anger is limited to their simple life, so theft and murder would not rank high in their list of social economic issues!  I can learn so much from these wonderful, interesting people who love nature and will try keep the peace, who play, dance, sing, act and who are the best rock artists in Southern Africa!

The Safari we take you on – show you the artists these painters were and the guides who will accompany you, will tell you about the people their tales tell they are!