(Hatsa, Hadzapi, Kindiga, Tindiga, Wakindiga, Kangeju)
The Hadza still live in bands, hunting with bows and arrows, gathering roots, tubers and wild fruits, as man lived 10,000 years ago. About thirty years ago, the Tanzanian government tried to change the lifestyle of the last remaining bands of bushmen who inhabited the inhospitable region of the Lake Eyasi basin. They forced the bushmen to settle down, gave them livestock, grain and tools, and left them to cultivate the land. The settling program was a failure as the Hadza, who had always been hunters, lacked the knowledge or inclination to be successful at agriculture. Once the livestock and grain were gone, they returned to the bush, and regained their primitive status as free people.
Today they are still there, although fighting a losing battle against the progress that will eventually force the extinction of a life style which has been almost unchanged since the Paleolithic. The Hadza speak a click-language, they don't have chiefs, houses, or a political system, and they roam the land in small bands with little sense of tribe. Bali may be a dialect. They hunt baboons, gazelles, and dik diks (small antelope-like creatures) which are still available today. They share their land with another remarkable tribe, the Barabaig or Datoga. They are located quite a distance northwest of the Sandawe, southeast of Lake Victoria, Singida, Arusha, and Shinyanga regions, in the Lake Eyasi region. However, pressures from outside are resulting in less land, food and more disease.
Though this page has been carefully researched, the author does not claim expertise on the Hadza.
Please send questions, comments, and corrections to emuseum@mnsu.edu and include the URL.
If you are Hadza, your feedback is much appreciated.
“Tanzania the Bushmen”Sunday, November 28, 1999 4:14:47 PM GMT. http://saallianceair.com/travel.htm
"Tanzania." Ethnologue; (1982) http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/countries/Suda.html#SHK
Written by: Adam Kane