The Hadzabe Experience

A visit to the Hadzabe is one of the most extraordinary cultural encounters in East Africa. Living around Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania, the Hadzabe are among the last true hunter-gatherer peoples on earth, numbering only around 1,000 to 1,500, of whom a few hundred still live largely traditionally. Their click-based language is unrelated to any other on the planet, and genetic studies place them among the oldest continuous human lineages in existence.

The experience begins before dawn, joining the men as they set out to hunt with handmade bows and poison-tipped arrows. You walk with them through dry acacia scrub as they track birds, small game and baboons, reading signs in the sand and moving with a quietness that takes a lifetime to learn. Later, the women demonstrate foraging for tubers, berries and baobab fruit, and there is often honey gathering, fire-making by hand-drill, and time around the camp.

Most visits combine the Hadzabe with the neighbouring Datoga, a pastoralist blacksmith community who forge the arrowheads the Hadzabe hunt with, offering a window into how the two groups trade and coexist.

Visits usually take a morning, and Lake Eyasi sits within easy reach of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Highlands, making it a natural addition en route to or from the Serengeti.

Worth knowing: this is a genuinely sensitive form of tourism, and experiences vary widely depending on the operator. The most rewarding visits are arranged through guides who work with the community on fair terms rather than staging performances. Ask questions before booking, and follow your guide's lead on photography.