"I am living on sand - I am walking on sand - I have seen these animals tracks on sand - we are both running on sand, so if I kill the kudu, I must put sand on its body - to pray to 'Bi-hi-sabolo' for good meat."
	This is a film about the unique relationship between the San and their environment seen through the experience of hunting and tracking with a band of !Gwi and !Xo San in the Central Kalahari. Tracking, Hunting and Survival are inextricably linked but hunting is also an important cultural and social fact. There is a need to eat meat; there is also a need just to hunt. Hunger and malnutrition are very real problems, but hunting in itself is a pleasurable, exciting, challenging and fulfilling experience and it is socially/culturally important for men to engage in this activity. Men behave as men when they hunt. Women, of course, also play an important and integral role in tracking and observing signs whilst they go about their other tasks; all members of the community help to build the knowledge base. Traditionally, most of their nutrition comes from plant foods (fruits, berries, roots, and leaves) and most of their meat protein comes from hunting, snaring and even scavenging. The latter involves chasing other predators off their kills or even eating parts of old carcasses - with the meat sometimes so rotten that it might kill someone not habituated to this. The hunting of live game however, has a special place in their culture, and this film focuses primarily on this element. "If I visit you, it is my job to look for tracks on the way. If I see something, sorry about the visit, I have children to feed."

This is an intimate film about their own experiences as expressed by them - in their words and through their eyes; what hunting and tracking mean to them from an experiential (emotional and intellectual), a physical (survival) and a historical (the old days versus the present reality) perspective. This is the art, science, raw and undiluted experience of hunting and tracking. Hunting is a multi-faceted experience: spiritual (closeness to the animals), mythological (animals were once human, animals have language), cultural (it defines a man in their society), human psyche (it is an exciting challenge and a pleasurable fulfilling experience), practical (meat protein food). We are most interested in the relationship between the people and their environment, and especially the people and the other animals that occupy the same space. Also the relationship between the hunter and the hunted (man and steenbok/kudu), the people/animals and the elements/weather (heat, rain), animals and animals (crow and springbok), hunters and predators/competitors (man and hyena/lion/cheetah and vulture). The San are connected to the animals (especially the ones they hunt) in a strange and very non-European/industrialized world way. This relationship is multi-faceted; there appears to be a deep 'religious' connection and respect and yet they view animals as being on the same level as them, and thus have no deep moral dilemma about seeing them as food. "When you follow the prints, you see in your mind how Porcupine thinks. Every animal is like this - you jump when the track shows it jumps." We attempt to celebrate their wealth of knowledge of the world around them and the special way in which they perceive it and interact with it. They are able to see what to outsiders is often the unseen or almost invisible. They see through different eyes, based on their experience and depth of knowledge. They know everything about every track and sign, and every tree and hill and pan has a name. Weather patterns (seasons, droughts and rains) and animal migrations and numbers are also well understood and remembered. The wind and insects are referred to as the timekeepers, allowing the age of tracks to be accurately determined.   Communication and sharing are fundamental to the San culture. They communicate their knowledge in many ways - sign language, dancing, storytelling, myths. This sharing of knowledge is critical to their survival and is so different to the Western reality where the exclusive possession of knowledge is power. It is important to differentiate between the poverty of their material existence today (with game fences and having been "settled" in "villages" effectively ending their nomadic hunter gatherer way of life) and the wealth of their knowledge and culture. However, as the social and historical problems that have led to their present circumstances are hugely complex (and very political), we try not to dwell on these or to even make too much of the "poverty" issue. Their lives are incredibly tough but it is not a simple case of material poverty. Their way of life has been changed significantly and there is little of real substance to fill the cultural and spiritual void (thus alcoholism, apathy and internal leadership/"ownership" rivalries). We do not want the audience to feel pity for the people - this would be degrading - rather we want to celebrate the positives, albeit set in the context of their harsh reality. They have a natural "joi de vivre" and wonderful sense of humor, a deep seated belief in sharing and a sense of equality of all people, there knowledge is very deep, they can survive incredibly harsh conditions, their skills on the hunt/tracking are unmatched. "The Hunt by Running" is a phenomenon not well documented or recorded except as hearsay and never before filmed. We have the hunt on film from start to actual conclusion; an incredible feat of endurance and mastery of tracking through difficult terrain and tortuous conditions (heat and limited water intake), at high speed. "In the old days we could speak to the rain, and ask the sky to send soft rain. The sky used to listen to us, but now lightning is very dangerous. It brings no rain, it kills, because our ways are being changed." "In the old days people relied on the technology of magic, nowadays we rely on the magic of technology." says Stephen Watson in his book 'Return of the Moon'. There is a constant need to propitiate God to supply food and rain to the people. Hunting tattoos, trance and song are means of doing this. Food and rain as with other things are regarded as gifts and are accepted as such, with deference. Their simple yet effective technology (spears, poisoned arrows) is also possibly a determining factor in the San's depth of environmental knowledge, awareness of their surroundings and extreme tracking skills. 0oo--oo0             Next Page

 

	The Great Dance is proudly sponsored in South Africa by Coca-Cola		Web Design: Copyright © L. Blaine Content Copyright © Sense Africa Email: greatdance@senseafrica.com		Top of Page	Sense Africa	Home	The Movie	Images	Sales