The Hadza: 'The Hadza are a small group of hunters and gatherers, living in the vicinity of Lake Eyasi, a salt, rift-valley lake.The country of the eastern Hadza, dry, rocky savanna, dominated by thorn scrub and acacia trees is rich in wild foods. Animals are exceptionally numerous and were certainly commoner at the beginning of the century.Elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, waterbuck, gazelle, warthog, baboon, lion, leopard, and hyena are all common, as are smaller animals such as porcupine, hare, jackal, tortoise and many others. All of these animals, apart from the elephant, are hunted and eaten by the Hadza. The amount of meat that could be regularly eaten without endangering the future of the game is probably greater than anywhere else in the world where hunters and gatherers live or have lived in the recent past.
Vegetable food-roots, berries, the fruit of the baobab tree, etc.-though not often obvious to the casual observer, is always abundant even at the height of the dry season in a year of drought. The type of vegetable food available is different in the six month wet season from the dry season but there is no period of shortage. The honey and grubs of seven species of wild bee are eaten; supplies of these vary from season-to-season and from year-to-year.
Sources of water are widely distributed over the country in the wet season but are very few in the dry season. The Hadza consider that about 5-6 kilometres is the maximum distance over which water can reasonably be carried and camps are normally sited within a kilometer of a water course.
Part of the country consists of open grass plains but the Hadza never build camps there. Camps are invariably sited among trees or rocks and, by preference, among both.
The eastern Hadza assert no rights over land and its resources. Any individual may live wherever he likes and may hunt animals, collect roots, berries, and honey and draw water anywhere in Hadza country without any sort of restriction... In spite of the exceptional numbers of game animals in their area, the Hadza rely mainly on wild vegetable matter for their food. Probably as much as 80 per cent of their food by weight is vegetable, while meat and honey together account for the remaining 20 per cent.
Camps are commonly small and widely dispersed in the wet season, large and concentrated near the few available sources of water in the dry season. There is never any shortage of food even in the time of drought.
Questions:
- What do you know about Hadza group?
- Describe the dietary habits of Hadza group.
- “People of Hadza group did not face food scarcity during dry season.” Why?
- Why did people of Hadza group not claim their right over land and its produce?