Few people realise that the native population of Zimbabwe is made up of the bits and pieces of a large number of tribes, all of whom have a history of migration from some other part of the continent of Africa. The largely known tribes are the Shona and the Ndebele. There is abundant evidence that for many centuries this country was subjected to waves of migration first from the north and in more recent times from the south and also in invasions by people from outside Africa, possibly more in the nature of trading ventures and acquisition of slaves than territorial conquest.

The Bushmen, Amasile, Abatwa or Watwa, probably in many respects the most culturally intact tribe and in some respects are considered to be the most backward tribe, we find that these small but sturdy people who are credited with having roamed over most of southern Africa and who are alleged to be the artists of the superb paintings of animals, humans and hunting scenes in nearly every cave in the country, still cling to their nomadic life.

Their home is the wild game country on the western border of Zimbabwe, they live in the open without huts or other dwellings, sheltering when desired under an overhanging branch. They do not cultivate crops and their diet consists of wild roots, berries, fruit, bird and game meat, fish, snails, mushrooms, honey and grass seeds.

They are expert hunters, using the bow and arrow and assegai. They can run down an eland or giraffe and,in fact, the dowry fur a wife is a live eland or giraffe driven to and killed at the bride’s camp. A mother carries her child strapped in a skin on her back facing the direction she is coming from so as to give her warning of any follower be it beast or man. The language is monosyllabic with a profusion of clicks, for example mother is ma, father is ba, elephant is zho, some of the place names are fascinating, e.g., Cansikulu, Cgoboholo, Lingombe Lishanku, Sholo Len Zho.

They wander around the veld in ones and twos, rest and sleep anywhere, completely unperturbed by lions, elephant or other wild game. I was once tracking an elephant in the Gwayi (formerly Gwaai) reserve when I noticed a slight movement at the foot of a broken mopani tree, about fifteen yards from the elephant track. Investigation revealed an old granny who had spent the night alone sheltering from the heavy rain under this tree and was quite unconcerned about the elephant which had passed by her some twenty minutes earlier. I asked her what she was doing there and she said this was her home because the nearby pan provided her with water and snails sufficient or her daily diet. Now and then her son would visit her and supplement this diet with roots, bulbs, fruits or perhaps if he was lucky a tortoise or a piece of porcupine meat.

One thing about these Bushmen that impressed me was their very detailed knowledge of vast areas, and their ability to locate their friends scattered and roaming over this wide area. I knew many of them personally. They could always tell me where any member of the tribe could be located. It was usually something on the lines of “Yes, Gumbo, he is in the Bambadza pan area. he is catching some wild duck there, you will find him in the thicket near the big mtswili tree on the sunset side of the pan. Next week he will be at Manzituba pan“.

Written by W. H. H. NICOLLE