It was only 7am but already the sweat was trickling between my shoulder blades and down my back. The sun was high and brutal in the impossibly blue sky. Dust was everywhere, the sand underfoot soft like a beach and fine.
Early September had found me at Meno A Kwena, the Natural Selections Botswana camp perched on a cliff overlooking the Boteti River, somewhere between Maun and Gweta. It was the perfect base for a San Bushmen walking safari through the wild heart of the Makgadikgadi Pans.
The Makgadikgadi Pans National Park stretches away into the distance, the views gorgeous, but my eyes were very much taken with the action along the drying river below. You see, the zebras were on the move, their ceaseless circular migration following water and grazing.
And where there are zebras, there are lions. And wildebeest, those clowns of the bush.
I had a date that morning with a small family who were to take me on a San Bushmen walking safari into the wild brown yonder to teach me a few of their survival tricks, though part of me wondered if I could blow them off in favour of the pool (it has a perfect view of the river below). Did I tell you it was hot?
And then they were there. I heard them before I saw them, their language a fast moving series of clicks so strange to my English ear. It sounded like song.
I was immediately entranced by the two small boys, barely older than toddlers, accompanying their parents. They were both carrying big sticks, like the older men, and earnestly went about the business of man’s stuff.
The little group was just six strong, eight with the children, led by an old man. Two great grey feathers stuck out his white hat. There were two much younger men; an old woman, a fringe of bright beads covering her eyes; and two younger women.
It wasn’t a long walk; far from it. But it was an interesting one. There was also the scorpion incident: the two younger men spied a hole in the ground and instantly set about digging up a scorpion. Which they then picked up and played with, even offering me a go. I declined.
No scorpions were harmed in the making of this, and it was carefully placed back in its burrow and covered up again.
Here was the lesson: there is no reason to kill it if you’re not going to eat it. Everything has a function in its ecosystem and removing a step in any ecosystem upsets the balance.
I learned about the value of plants, this ancient knowledge passed down through the generations. A member of our touring party had a bad stomach, and one of the two young women spotted a particular plant among the scrub. Its root was very helpful for upset tummies, we were told. She sat down and carefully dug up a single piece of root, making sure not to leave the rest of the roots exposed to the sun.
Here was the lesson: only take what you need and leave the rest for another day when you will need it again. If you destroy everything now, there will be no more for tomorrow.
An aside: yes, my fellow traveller ate the root, and yes, their stomach was quickly soothed.
Our San guides showed us how to make a fire by rubbing two sticks together, and how to build a trap to catch a hare. We danced and sang, those two little lads an utter delight.
And then it was over. And I was back in my luxury tent, a little bit wiser and a lot more in love with our world, a place filled with extraordinary beauty and incredible people.
The San, who live in Namibia and Botswana, really are an incredible people. They are globally renowned as some of history’s most skilled trackers, a reputation supported by research papers and historical records.
San trackers can follow the spoor (tracks) of animals across almost any terrain, can tell apart individual animals, wounded prey, and read complex patterns to anticipate behaviour.
They pioneered persistence hunting, tracking and literally running down prey over vast distances for hours or days, relying on endurance and reading the environment rather than brute force. It’s among the oldest human hunting strategies.
In modern times, San master trackers play a critical role in scientific research, wildlife conservation, and anti-poaching efforts. Indigenous San trackers using smartphones record animal movement and behaviour with extreme accuracy, supporting biodiversity field studies more effectively than many technological or aerial survey methods.
Their tracking skills are all about rigorous observation, peer review, and evidence-based validation. Just like Western science. The CyberTracker certification system originated with San trackers and is now used internationally to train and assess trackers of all backgrounds.
Take a walk with the San. You’ll come away a lot more knowledgeable about our world and enriched for it. Walks with San usually take place immediately after dawn, when animal tracks are fresh. They can be short, or take a half-a-day.
You’ll hear how to read the direction of a herd; tell the difference between fresh and old spoor; about the spoor weight and age. You may see signs of pangolin digging, termite-mound disturbances (a sign of aardvark activity), subtle scratchings and scent posts of honey badgers.
You’ll learn – as I did – which plants local communities harvest for medicine, which trees are rope-makers, which roots cure stomachs.
Being on foot with a San tracker gives you a deeper cultural immersion and knowledge from indigenous ecological memory systems. A San Bushmen walking safari isn’t just an activity; it’s a masterclass in reading the land, respecting balance, and reconnecting with the oldest living culture on Earth.
You can walk with San Bushmen in Namibia through guided cultural tours near Windhoek and at lodges in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Some tours focus on ancient hunter-gatherer knowledge like bushcraft and language, while others may involve interactions at a community or living museum setting, such as the Ju/\’Hoansi Living Museum near Grootfontein.
In Botswana, there are also several lodges that offer guided walks with San, such as whre I was at Meno a Kwena. You can also do guided hikes at Tsodilo Hills to see the ancient rock art and learn about San culture from local guides. There are more than 4,500 rock art paintings at Tsodilo Hills, in an area of about 10km² in size. The site is known as the Louvre of the Desert.
Local guides explain the historical stories behind the paintings and teach you about the culture, including traditional hunting and tracking. The hills are a spiritual site for the San, and the walk is an opportunity to experience their culture and history firsthand.
Nxamaseri Island Lodge in the panhandle of the Okavango Delta, is close to Tsodilo Hills, a world heritage site and one of Botswana’s greatest treasures. The lodge offers guided day trips to the hills.
When you’re on foot, you’re more likely to see those elusive species you rarely see:
