Stone Age Experience - in the east African savanna 

 

The “Rebirth Stone Age Experience” will send you for 9 days back to the roots of human life, to an adventure camp with an expert Stone Age instructor and real Bushmen in the East African savanna.

 

A group of 12-20 participants will live for 9 days as in Stone Age time – at the location where humanity has its origins, in the savanna of the East African Rift valley, at Lake Eyasi in Tanzania. The participants will sleep in simple huts which are reconstructed based on archaeological evidence. They will have to collect water from a source and the food will be hunted, gathered or swapped with members of local tribes.

 

A Stone Age expert will practically demonstrate skills from Stone Age life such as the production of tools, cloths and jewelry, fire-making, Stone Age cooking, cave painting and shamanism. Real Bushmen of the Hadzabe tribe will teach the participates in reading tracks, hunting with bow and arrow, gathering edible plants, fishing with a spear or smoking out beehives. The participants will have to apply the skills they learn to solve certain tasks with their group, such as the daily obtainment of food.

 

The Hadzabe Bushmen are probably one of the most interesting indigenous people on the earth. As Africa’s last people of hunter-gatherers, their life seems to have changed little during the past thousands or even ten thousands of years: They still move around the savanna in small groups of around 30 persons (4 families), only staying for around 2 weeks at one place. During the dry season they build primitive shelters from leaves and branches, during the rainy season they still live in caves. Around 2-4 males hunt together with bow and arrow; they are making use of metal arrowheads that they get from members of the Tatoga people and which they treat with herbal poison. The women are foraging berries, fruits and tubers.

 

At the last night of „Rebirth”, there will be a large ceremony which will be attended by members of the Hadzabe and other tribes. Accompanied by wild drumming and dancing, the participants will be symbolically reborn into an authentic, original life.

 

Rebirth is a „real” adventure: It is neither a „Flintstones costume play” nor a soft Stone Age theme park. It will be challenging for many participants to live a very simple life in the middle of the savanna, without a light switch or modern outdoor equipment. Just sleeping on coconut straw in a simple wooden hut where you will hear the cries of African animals at night such as elephants or hyena is an experience by itself.

 

However, we have thought about all realistic dangers. Around the camp we will have armed watchmen that will keep away all potentially dangerous animals. They are Maasai who have stayed all their lives out there. We will have a paramedic and a completely equipped first-aid tent. All participants will automatically have a membership with the Flying Doctors of Nairobi who can do an emergency air evacuation within a short time. We make sure that the participants will get clean drinking water and hygienically safe food. The huts will have a plastic floor and mosquito wire and there will be an introduction to living at the camp the day before we move to Lake Eyasi. So participants don’t have to be afraid and can totally enjoy the Stone Age fun!

 

There is a separate website for the Stone Age Experience with dates and rates, where you can also book online: http://www.stone-age-experience.com.