A fierce debate has been triggered by a hunt for oil in Namibia’s Kavango East region. CNN correspondent David McKenzie journeyed to the remote exploratory wells of ReconAfrica, a Canadian oil company that secured the rights to explore more than 13,000 square miles of land in Namibia and neighboring Botswana. The find - potentially containing 12 billion barrels of oil - … [Read more...]
New project aims to capture oral Bushman traditions
The Cape Bush Doctors (CBD) are currently trying to raise funds for a project that will use digital technology to record the threatened and vastly disappearing oral traditions of the San healers and 'shamans' in their own words. The Cape Bush Doctors/Kaapse Bossiedokters main objective is the formalization, protection and restitution of Southern African indigenous healers … [Read more...]
Walking with Paul the Bushman
One of the greatest blessings of my work is to meet fellow travellers whose passion for this planet and her creatures compel them towards unique action, transcending the norm as we know it. And so I spent an afternoon in my garden with Paul, the bush man, who spent seven years with the last of the First People, three of which were with the last band of wild /Gwikwe in the … [Read more...]
Green villagers spread climate gospel
Climate change is fast becoming one of the biggest threats that mankind faces, yet if you walk through the village of Vatsonga it’s hard to believe any of the scientific predictions. At first glance Limpopo is not an ideal contender for South Africa’s greenest city. Most farming activities in the area are now taking place on the edge of survival, due to even minor changes to … [Read more...]
Botswana Bushmen’s borehole breakthrough
Survival International has been speaking to Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve as they celebrate drinking water from the Mothomelo borehole for the first time in nine years. It marks a significant step towards their full return to their ancestral lands following a landmark court ruling in 2006. Despite winning Botswana's longest running court case over four … [Read more...]
Nature, melody and poetry
I am walking with John Roff up the slopes of a krans on the Hilton College Estate, some 600 hectares of wild land that lies between the school and the Umgeni River where giraffes, zebra, buck and blue wildebeest roam. John is the environmental education officer of the school. I have come to the College as writer in residence and John takes me into the wilderness so I can … [Read more...]
