Where It All Began

The San community of the Kalahari

 

A splendid photo sent to us today by travelers who have just returned from Botswana.

It’s of a guide called Joseph, a member of the San community living in the Kalahari Desert, Botswana. He and his tribe live near Deception Valley Lodge, one of only two formal lodges you can stay in across the whole desert.

Whilst staying at Deception Valley Lodge, you become part and parcel of the lives of the San people, being guided by them through their country, seeing the world through their eyes.

However, the San, like most threatened indigenous people, are acutely aware of the threats of global culture to their own. Yet they also cannot maintain total isolation from the world around them.

In this photo, taken by one of our travelers, Joseph is using a laptop to check the Latin name of a bird he only knows the San name of:it’s thus a most portentious image, either symbolising the erosion of the traditional way of life or the shaping of a new one.

If you’d like to meet Joseph and his community, rates at Deception Valley Lodge start at US$1,000 per night (ZAR16,000)