Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
anklets made of dozens of white moth cocoons that rattled in rhythm with
the drums, positioned two long poles on his head to imitate the long straight
horns of the gemsbok. Two older men stalked him and mimed a kill, while
the onlookers shouted with excitement.
Alas, there are no gemsbok in the area now, though they are scheduled to
be reintroduced. The Nxaro dance was a window into a world that no longer
exists. And the San, closed of by their dii cult languages from the rest of
Botswanan society, may soon be relegated to life as an ecotourism curios-
ity, condemned to act out shadow plays about the oldest continuous human
culture on the planet.
The world that the San knew is preserved in their rock paintings. It is hard
to date such paintings, but some unequivocal ages of more than 3,000 years
have been obtained. These paintings predate the time when the San were
pushed into the Kalahari by the arrival of the Bantu. The half-human, half-
Figure 127
A young Nxaro boy mimics a gemsbok in a ritual hunting dance.
