Alex & Gus' Kalahari Expedition

We discovered this expedition through a talk that was given at our school earlier this year, and within two weeks both of us had done some research on the plight of the bushmen, had signed up and been selected for the expedition. It is an expedition that we both believe will give us an experience that neither of us can get sitting behind a desk in the UK.

We are looking to raise money to fund an expedition to the Kalahari to work with some of the community groups to restore the lives of one of the oldest inhabitants in Africa, the San Bushmen.

The Bushmen have lived in Southern Africa for the last 80,000 years and sadly there are less than 100,000 left alive, they live mainly in the Kalahari Desert across Botswana and Namibia. Their unique clicking languages, attitude to life, expert survival and hunting skills and their astonishing method of healing through trance dancing have made them a source of worldwide fascination and give them a sense of living at one with the natural world and the universe.

With humanity changing so much of our planet today I believe many of us should not only cherish these people but also actually learn from how they interact with this fragile planet before we destroy it all together. They are hunter-gatherers, living completely off the ground, in some of the harshest environments, and are in fact Africa’s last hunting “Bushmen”. They have no paramount leader and decisions are made by a universal discussion, they don’t believe in the ownership of land so roam free, which has inevitably caused so many of their clashes with modern society.

The Bushmen were given the Central Kalahari game reserve in 1961; this sadly is as far as their fortunes go. Diamonds were discovered in the 1980’s, which meant that in the three big clearances, in 1997, 2002 and 2005, virtually all the Bushmen were forced out. Their homes were dismantled, their school and health post were closed, their water supply was destroyed and the people threatened and trucked away.

Their cause has been championed by Survival International, see the information on their website (http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/bushmen). Although the Bushmen won a court case in 2006 (in Botswana), enabling them to return, they were denied water and the ability to hunt. With no way of returning to their homes they are forced into camps where they are gripped by alcoholism, boredom, depression and illness such as TB and HIV/AIDS, the camps are now talked about as ‘The place of death.’ This has become a slow and secret genocide of an unbelievably unique group of people.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9064191/the-battle-of-the-bushmen/

However, with the help of the Dorset Expeditionary Society, a not for profit registered charity, we are joining an expedition to the Kalahari in August 2015. Where we will be working with the Bushman community to help rebuild a traditional Bushman village deep in the Dqae Qare reserve in the northern Kalahari region that has been acquired by the Kuru Development Trust and handed to the San Bushman as a social enterprise community project. This village will enable the community not only to preserve their way of life but will also create an Eco-tourism centre thus providing sustainable work to the community.

To fund this expedition each of the participants are looking to raise money that can be donated directly to the Dorset Expeditionary Society. Any support/donations would be so much appreciated.

We each have to raise £2,250 for the expedition.

If you would like to find out more about the expedition please have a look at the DES website: http://dorsetexp.org.uk/expeditions/kalahari-2015/

- Alex & Gus