DAY 1

Arrive by midday at Xai Xai on the Namibian border of Botswana by light aircraft from Maun where you shall be met at the airstrip and transferred to a remote campsite deep in the ancestral gathering lands of the Joan/huansi Bushmen.

Settle into your traditional grass hut replete with proper bed, feather bedding and all the accoutrements of a proper safari. Partake of a fresh and tasty lunch under the shade of a grass shelter and retire for a peaceful siesta in your hut to rest after your journey.

After a delicious tea, walk through the bush to the nearby Bushman village where you will be met in a traditional manner by the elders of the Joan/huansi community.

Around the fire before dinner, listen to the history of the Bushmen people from their origins to the complex political challenges that are confronting them today.

Sleep peacefully through the night under a fragrant shelter of wild grass thatch.

DAY 2

In the morning, walk out into the bush with the men, women, children and your Guides.

The focus of the walk will be to provide a gentle introduction to the Kalahari and Bushmen way of life. Your Guide will point out the distinct ecological characteristics of this area and it's animal and bird species. Spontaneous gathering and discussions about the uses of plants and wildlife by your Bushmen Guides provide the link between culture and wild environment that we seek to offer our Guests on these very special safaris.

Return to camp for lunch and a siesta.

After tea, meet up with the men and walk out to find suitable rhygozum plants from which your digging stick, the most important tool of the Bushmen can be harvested. Return to the Bushmen village and prepare your gathering tool by the fire for the next few days.

DAY 3

The next day depart early after breakfast with the women for a morning's gathering. An adolescent Bushman girl knows more than 200 species of usable plants. An extraordinary variety of plants and herbs with both culinary and medicinal value will be found.

Return to lunch and a siesta

Return to the Bushman village where you will learn from the women how to prepare the bushfoods using only the most basic of tools and an open fire. You will be able to sample a variety of foods from wild spinach and roast beetles to ostrich egg omelette cooked on the coals.

Some of the women will show us how they make beads from ostrich eggs and the simple but striking jewellery that they make from porcupine quills, seeds and ostrich eggs. Leather is decorated with both glass and ostrich beads to complex and beautiful effect.

The women can be requested to do the melon dance, a joyful expression that celebrates a successful harvest.

Return to camp for a rather more conventional but still delicious meal and retire to bed.

DAY 4

After a restful night's sleep, meet the men after breakfast to prepare for a traditional hunt. Walk into the bush and search out the poison grub beetle, gathering suitable roots, sanseveria leaves and branches for the manufacture of rope, bows and arrows.

Return to camp for a lunch and siesta.

After tea return to the Bushmen village to watch the men prepare bows, arrows and quivers.

Young boys may also demonstrate various traditional games that provide training for the hand-to-eye co-ordination skills that will be so necessary when on the hunt.

DAY 5

Depart early after a hearty breakfast of porridge and eggs for a day's traditional hunting with the men. Track, stalk and hopefully hunt down some wild quarry using traditional bows and arrows.

A picnic on the way under a shady tree enables one to be flexible and react fast to the day's events.

Return to camp hopefully bearing the results of a days hunt and prepare the meat to share and sample around the fire.

Retire to the camp for dinner and to bed early after the day's hunt.

DAY 6

Meet the traditional healer by the morning fire and walk out into the bush searching for ancient traditional remedies and cures still in use today.

Return to camp for lunch and a siesta.

After tea, meet the traditional healer and the women at the fire in the village to prepare and administer the medicines.

Back to camp for an early dinner so we can return to the village for a trance dance. This is a deeply spiritual experience for the Bushmen people. It is a great privilege for our Guest to have the opportunity to be able to observe the mysterious passage of the healer into a state of semi-conscious where he can make contact with their spirit Guides. The aim of the trance is to provide both healing and also to clear the air of conflict and tension. The woman sit bolt upright clapping and singing into the early hours while the men tirelessly dance a well-worn groove into the earth circle formed by their tracks.

DAY 7

Bid the community farewell and drive by vehicle to the Xai Xai airstrip and return to Maun by light aircraft.