Vacation - Part 2

After seeing so many animals enclosed, I was so excited for the second part of the break.  After returning to Stellenbosch for an afternoon, we were picked up my an overland bus (essentially a huge all terrain bus) at 9pm.  We drove through the night so that my the next morning we were close to the Namibia and Bostwana borders.  We were heading towards the Kalahari Desert and the Kgalagadi Trans-Frontier Park (in other words the park was South Africa, Botswana and Namibia).

After driving for a really long time (something like 12+ hours) we finally made it to the camp site.  We were told to partner up and pitch our tents.  Then we got to spend a few hours sprawling around after having spent so long sitting scrunched up in the bus.  In the afternoon we went for a walk in the surrounding land guided by a San man who called himself Elvis (they are also known as the bushman, but the San people is more proper).  The San people are a native tribe of South Africa who have been living in the area for thousands of years.  They had been living in the area that we were in for 40,000 or more years.  Some of the San people still live in traditional ways, but many have assimilated into modern society.  It was really fascinating to walk around with people that knew the land so well.  Although the walk was nice after such a long bus ride, learning about the traditional uses of some of the plants and the spirituality of the San people was fascinating.  I made a connection between the San people and the Native Americans in the US in terms of their political standing as well as some of the social problems they face such as poverty, alcoholism, loss of culture and language and a growing gap between the old and the young.

Some photos of our walk:

Hospital Bush - women used to (and some still do) lie in its shade when about to give birth and a stew of the leaved (into a kind of tea) is supposed to ease the pain.

These horses were allowed to roam free and mostly used for transportation.

Millipede - these were everywhere and were huge.  This one is probably 5 or 6 inches long.  There were also a lot of dead ones around.  After they die, they turn white (calcify) and when mixed with spit is believed to help heal wounds and sort out eye problems.

Our guide leaning of against the spiritual tree of the San people.  Things attached to the tree are herbs wrapped in ribbon.  The elders of the tribe can take these herbs and use them.

The tree is also used as a place to hold meetings and healers will go there for meditation and to get wisdom.  The rocks that are around the base make points in each direction (north, east, south and west) and only children and elders are allow to cross the rock barrier to get closer to the tree.

This tree (I'm not sure what it was called) was used to make bows and arrows.  It's kind of hard to tell but Elvis is using my Swiss Army knife to make an arrow.