Experience

A Morning with the Hadza

A few hours near Lake Eyasi with a Hadza family who still hunt and gather for a living, walking out with them at dawn, at their pace and on their terms, if they are willing that week.

At a glanceOn land

How longOne morningA morning, from before first light

How hardModerateTwo or three hours on foot over dry, thorny ground, fast in places

SeasonDry monthsEyasi is hot and dry for most of the year

You meet in the dark, near Lake Eyasi, in country that is dry and thorny and does not look like it feeds anyone. The Hadza have lived off it for a very long time, still hunting with bows, still digging tubers, still taking honey out of baobabs, and a small number of families are willing, some of the time, to let visitors walk out with them in the morning.

That is the whole of it. You keep up if you can. They move quickly and mostly in silence, stop to read a track, dig for twenty minutes, climb for honey, and often come back with nothing. There is no commentary track and nothing to watch from a seat. A translator travels with you so questions can go both ways, which is the part most people end up valuing.

Two things worth saying plainly. First, this can be done badly, arranged as a show, paid for in a way that reaches nobody. We only book it through guides with long relationships around Eyasi, and we would rather cancel a morning than stage one. Second, it may simply not happen: a family moves, or is not willing that week, and no amount of planning overrides that.

Most people fit it in on the way between the crater and the Serengeti, or as a night out of Karatu.

Good to know

Availability is never guaranteed. Whether a group is in the area and willing changes week to week, and we will tell you if the answer is no.
Ask before photographing, every time, and take no for an answer.
Bring closed shoes and long trousers. The ground is thorny and the walking is faster than it looks.
Payments are arranged locally between the family, the guide and the district. We ask how the split works each time and pass on what we are told.

Whether a Hadza group is in the area and willing to be visited on your dates, what the community and district arrangements cost, how the payment is split, and which guides and translators are currently working with which families are all arranged locally and change constantly. We confirm what applies to your dates in writing before you pay anything.

Nobody is performing. You are walking behind people doing their morning's work.

Where to do it

Where we arrange a morning with the hadza

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Questions we are actually asked

Is this a set-up for tourists?

It can be, and badly done it is. The difference is which family you go out with and who arranged it. We work through guides who have long-standing relationships around Eyasi and who will call off a morning rather than stage one. If no group is willing that week, we say so and you do something else.

What actually happens?

You meet before light, and if the men are hunting you walk out with them and try to keep up. They move fast and quietly, stop to dig, check tracks, take honey out of a tree. Sometimes it lasts two hours and yields nothing. That is the accurate version of the morning.

How do the Hadza benefit?

Visits are paid for, and the split between the family, the guide and the district is arranged locally rather than by us. We ask the question every time and pass on the answer we are given, because it is a fair thing for you to want to know and we would rather tell you the real arrangement than a comfortable one.

Can we take photographs?

Ask first, every time, and accept no. Some families are relaxed about cameras and some are not, and it changes with who is there that day. Your guide will tell you where the line is before you set off.

How fit do you need to be?

Fit enough for two or three hours on rough, thorny ground at somebody else's pace, in heat. It is not a long walk but it is not a stroll either, and the group is not going to slow down much. Closed shoes and long trousers.

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A Morning with the Hadza

Good to know

Where we arrange a morning with the hadza

Questions we are actually asked

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