Forget all that you have read and heard about the legitimacy of the San and Bushmen cultural tours available in and around South Africa. This is the genuine article: not polished and sold in the touristy hotspots of Long Street or in Cape Town‘s bustling markets or side streets. !Khwa ttu San Cultural Centre is situated a scenic 70-km meander north of central Cape Town along the R27 West Coast road. It’s a bucket list item relevant to South Africans of all ages and ethnic backgrounds.
Amongst the first people to inhabit the world, let alone the sprawling continent of Africa, the San people have been roaming the southern and central regions of the continent for thousands of years. The vast genetic complexities of the different tribes have produced diverse cultures of their own, all striving in their own right for a piece of the San heritage repute. The population on a whole has suffered devastating consequences throughout the last century and a half, and now numbers a mere 100 000. The very core of the culture has been eroded and manipulated with western ideals and popular ways of life. Suffice it to say all of this occurred amidst the extermination and racial prejudices that the previous regimes and colonies running South Africa sought to expatiate.
!Khwa ttu has set itself the goal of liberating the spirit of the San people. It describes itself as a cultural and education centre that seeks to inform the world of issues pertaining to the San, through the San people themselves. This it does by means of enriching local Southern African San people through training and various apprenticeships available to the employees on the old wheat farm that now calls itself !Khwa ttu, or ‘water pan’, named by the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA), and taken from the extinct |Xam language. !Khwa ttu is also the only facility of its kind in the world.
The short one-hour drive to !Khwa ttu, which officially opened to the public in March 2006, was interrupted only by a replenishment of my marmalade stockpile at one of the west coast’s quirky farm stall stops, Vyge Valley. Not long after that, I found myself at the entrance to the 700 hectare portion of the farm. This portion houses the main facilities including the restaurant, educational photo gallery and video auditorium, as well as the guided day-walk and cultural attractions the centre offers. The other 150 hectare portion of the farm, situated directly opposite to the main entrance, encloses some of the accommodation options available for visitors.
I had stepped out of the car again, this time in an attempt to photograph the assortment of cacti and fynbos lining the dirt road that snaked its way up to the main reception area, when I noticed through the corner of my eye an animated individual manning the gatehouse. Andre was very excited to see me and he managed to wrap an ear to ear smile on both of our faces when he greeted me. This was to be the warmth that I felt the entire day.
The San are hunter-gatherers whereas the Khoi are herders. This is one of the fundamental and striking differences between the two cultural groups. Although not dissimilar in foraging techniques, the San certainly hunted more than they gathered. There is archaeological evidence that strongly backs this up, illustrated in rock-art paintings, one of which Jobe Gabototwe pointed out to us along one of the guided tours. The hunting orientated tour, which we elected above the fynbos and flora tour, takes approximately an hour and a half and includes a short tractor ride to and from the start point. As luck would have it, the other parties joining our guided walk were late. This resulted in two jolly visitors and five ethnically unrelated San enjoying an intimate trek through history for an afternoon.
Jobe grew up in Kedia village, which is situated in central Botswana. He now also helps with the mood and aroma plants in the newly established water-wise garden. The garden not only provides fresh produce for the restaurant’s kitchen, it also provides the guides with an opportunity to add their respective ancestral fauna and flora to the centre. Elsie Boitumelo Andries, a Naro woman from D’Kar near Ghanzi in Botswana, explains that this is very important to her and that it also allows her to share with her fellow San something they may otherwise not ever have known. This in itself, is an important point upon which to reflect, as the word ‘San’ has various phonetically transcribed definitions in the English language. Amongst them, male and female forms of ‘gathering’, and the most commonly used ‘all of the people gathering’, which also happens to be the actual English meaning of the word ‘San’. This is the togetherness that is a most valued cultural trait amongst all San.
The other members of our tour included the head guide, Andre, who is a member of the “¡Khomani community from the southern Kalahari and Gelozi Munyeni who was born in West Caprivi in Namibia. Karel Kleinman, or Deedee, as he is more commonly referred to as, is in his late twenties and was privileged enough to be born in the then Gemsbok National Park, now Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. His expertise lies in fynbos and flora, a hobby he carries strongly into his workplace environment. Deedee gave us a detailed explanation about gomphocarpus fruticosus, or melkbos plant, which excretes a poisonous milky toxin that would have been used as a glue base on an arrow tip, to which further poison would be added when hunting.
The trainees all speak English to one another. This is so that they all understand each other as they all originate from different countries and regions of southern Africa. According to them this also builds their conversational skills and interaction levels with tourists from abroad. Each member of the group helps explain the spoor of the different antelope found on the farm. These include eland, oryx, zebra, bontebok, springbok, duiker and steenbok. Other inhabitants include the bat-eared fox, caracal, aardwolf, porcupine and a wealth of bird species. We learnt that an easy way to distinguish male from female eland is simply by looking at the size of the spoor appearing at the front of a two-spoor layout. If the front spoor is larger, then you’re more than likely looking at a male with a heavier neck and head to carry the horns. If the smaller spoor is ahead of the larger one then you probably have a female who is built for the nine month gestation period it takes for a calf to be born.
The guided tour culminates at the recreated San village where various day to day tribal activities are explained. Gelozi, Deedee and Elsie describe and demonstrate the basic clothing apparel worn by the San as well as the mixed variations thereof. Elsie and Gelozi also reveal and show the painstakingly slow process of creating jewellery and other beaded decorations. Unexpectedly, we learned that the majority of these bodily adornments and beautification practices come from the combination of ostrich eggshell chips, crafted by hand and burnt in a fire. Ostrich eggshells are also used as water bottles and Elsie tells how the Naro worked out long ago that certain grasses can be used as stoppers, effectively flavouring the stored water naturally, and eradicating the sulphur smell so often associated with eggs found in the veld. The ostrich itself is also central to San cultural belief. According to Jobe, tradition dictates that the San first acquired fire as a result of the ostrich and through the ostrich other powers of strength can in turn be drawn upon.
Andre stepped up to demonstrate a task vitally important to the tribe’s survival – fire. Making fire by rubbing two sticks together may seem like a very simple concept but I can promise you it isn’t. Ivan, who works in the curio shop and who was only too happy to leave his post to offer advice, chose my fire sticks for me and assured me it will take at least a year before I can expect my first few puffs of smoke, and possibly even a tiny ember to appear out of my hard work. It’s been a week and I can get them fairly warm but my hands are close to callousing as a result. Andre explained that two dissimilar sticks are required for the process to work at its optimum. That, and the right amount of constant friction. A combination of a hardwood stick and a softwood stick is what will work best, according to Andre. The softwood needs to dry naturally and the hardwood can be cut and dried on its own. Also relevant, was the placement of the hardwood on top of the softwood when rubbing. Moreover, he advised using the softer flesh that was closer to your wrist when rubbing the sticks together, as this would lead to less callousing. At the moment however, I’m happy to believe what Ivan said to me in the curio shop – eventually it will work.
You might find yourself spending hours in the photo gallery which highlights many important aspects of the San’s history, not just from a photographic point of view. It is a very lovingly created and moving environment to enter and it also contains the auditorium where videos are played. Conference facilities cater for large groups and !Khwa ttu encourages group celebrations as there is sufficient accommodation for those that wish to stay the night including beautifully set bush tents, a guest house and a ‘back to nature’ bush house. The guest house has three bedrooms, a kitchen with a large open fire place and two bathrooms with showers. It’s a renovated old farm cottage and comes fully equipped for self-catering purposes with a sheltered terrace offering dramatic views over the Atlantic Ocean. The bush house features two bedrooms and a cosy kitchen/dining room with a large open fireplace. The bathroom is semi-outdoor and provides a memorable shower. There is no electricity but good solar lighting, a geyser, cooking stove and small refrigerator run by gas to do the basics. The adventurous might want to try one of the tents in the tranquil fynbos setting. The camp sleeps 20 people in five tents, with four beds each. The permanent tents are hidden under a protective pole-roof structure and beautiful vegetation with a small, well-designed patio at the entrance. The open-air showers and sheltered toilets are specially designed to keep with the natural environment and offer an unforgettable showering experience.
Visit Khwattu for more information.
