Northern Tanzania is home to the Hadzabe, one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribes on Earth. Known for shunning material possessions and social hierarchy, the Hadza roam as needed to find game, tubers, and wild berries. Hunter-gatherer societies understand that their survival depends on natural resources.
Tanzania offers tourists the exceptional opportunity to witness a hunting demonstration by the local indigenous people. Early morning hunting excursions provide a remarkable chance to observe the survival techniques of these proud people who have managed to thrive in the wilderness for millennia, while other tribes have yielded to the pressures of modernization. This experience offers a unique insight into the cultural traditions of the region and provides a firsthand glimpse into the practical skills that have enabled these people to survive in their environment for generations.
The Hadza, also known as the Wahadzabe in Swahili, is an indigenous ethnic group in Tanzania. They are a protected hunter-gatherer community residing in the Baray ward of the Arusha Region’s southwest Karatu District. The Hadza people live in the central Rift Valley’s Lake Eyasi basin and the neighboring Serengeti Plateau. As of 2015, there were around 1,200 to 1,300 Hadza people living in Tanzania. However, only about 400 of them still survive solely on traditional foraging methods. The traditional way of life of the Hadza is under threat due to the increasing impact of tourism and encroaching pastoralists.
Hadzabe Men typically hunt and bring home honey to feed their families, while women and children gather fruits, berries, and roots with which to supplement their diet.
The men are particularly adept hunters, and their daring and inventive hunting style is a sight to behold. Using parts harvested from other animals, they cunningly lure and put down the game. As this is their only source of food, they are the only tribe permitted to hunt in the Serengeti.
The Hadza language, called Hadzane, is oral and is thought to be unrelated to any other language. Although Hadzane is considered vulnerable by UNESCO, the language is not predicted to be in danger of extinction as most children still learn it. Swahili, the national language of Tanzania, is also commonly spoken by the Hadza people.
The Hadza are the descendants of Tanzania’s aboriginal, pre-Bantu expansion hunter-gatherer population, and they have likely lived in their current territory for thousands of years with little change to their way of life until the last century. However, since the 18th century, the Hadza have come into contact with farming and herding communities entering Hadzaland and its vicinity, leading to hostile interactions that caused a population decline in the late 19th century. The first written accounts of the Hadza by Europeans date back to the late 19th century. Since then, there have been many attempts by successive colonial administrations, the independent Tanzanian government, and foreign missionaries to settle the Hadza by introducing farming and Christianity. Despite these efforts, many Hadza still maintain their traditional way of life, as described in early 20th-century accounts. In recent years, the Hadza people have faced pressure from neighboring groups encroaching on their land, and they have also been affected by tourism and safari hunting.
