Gudigwa Camp
Okavango Delta, Botswana
GUDIGWA CAMP - OKAVANGO DELTA,
BOTSWANA
Gudigwa camp offers guests the rare opportunity to experience the cultural richness of the San people who live in the far northern reaches of Botswana, between the Okavango Delta and Namibia’s border. Genetically it has been that each and every human on earth can trace their ancestry right back to the San people who lived in southern Africa about 150,000 years ago. Today, the San’s way of life and culture is close to extinction through pressures brought on by modern mankind. Gudigwa village is the largest settlement of the San people in Botswana, with around 800 “Bukakhwe” San Bushman. The Bukakhwe people are indigenous to the Okavango
Delta, and are related to the Bushman tribes of the Kalahari. Their traditional
ways of living off the land are very much the same.
Gudigwa camp is a wonderful, small camp that has been built on a remote location about 5 km from Gudigwa village. The Bukakhwe San people are indigenous to the Kalahari Desert and the northern fringes of the Okavango Delta. The Gudigwa camp highlights the intimate connection between the Bukakhwe San’s cultural heritage and their natural environment. By sharing their culture and knowledge of the bush they should be able to revive a dying culture and pass on their intricate and intimate knowledge of their environment of future generations.
As the largest remaining Bushman village in Botswana, the Gudigwa people
are proud to be promoting this cross-cultural exchange and reviving
their traditional way of life, which is increasingly being threatened
by modernization.
Accommodation 
For images of Gudigwa, click Gudigwa
Images
Guests stay in large, cozy, comfortable and safe grass huts made from local materials that are modelled after traditional bushman shelters. Each of the six rooms (or 8 for groups) has comfortable beds and linen, solar lighting with a private open air bathroom with a flush toilet and hot showers. Tasty meals including local delicacies are cooked over an open fire. Gudigwa camp is located in a massive tract of land that abuts onto the northern sector of the Okavango Delta and the western reaches of the Selinda.
There are about seven small villages in this area where the Bayei and San people continue with their way of life much as they have done for hundreds of years.
Activities
Activities focus around various
aspects of both traditional and modern life in Botswana. Walks will reveal
the secrets of the bush and guests will learn about the medicinal uses
of plants, discover where to find underground water, and will learn how
to survive off of nature's abundant resources. Villagers will perform
traditional dances and songs, tell animated stories in their mother tongue
- a language of "clicks" and guttural tones - and will cook
local dishes for guests to sample. This "camp" and its activities
take place 5 km away from the Gudigwa community.
• Walks with professional and traditional guides (men and women) to discover
the secrets of the bush
• Learning about the medicinal uses of various plants and tips on how to
survive off nature’s resources
• Discovering where / how to find underground water sources
• Learning how to make fire with sticks etc.
• Villagers perform traditional dances and narrate animated local stories
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