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Published: March 28th 2015
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Boesman
He holds 4' Oryx horn Bushman/Boesman
The Bushmen or San, indigenous people of the Kalahari and Namib deserts, are a study in adaptation of the species. No longer free roaming on ancestral lands their ways of survival have been lost from father to son. At one time hunted as animals, driven off their land, now about 50,000 in number, their blood lines impure, they have settlements, communities in remote regions.
The name Bushman comes not from people who live in the bush, but, rather from men who hide behind bushes and shoot intruders with poison arrows. Intruders who were German, Dutch and Afrikaans, invaders from South Africa, now barely a century later, Boesman (of Afrikaans heritage yet a son of the Namibian soil) stands barefoot in the Namib desert and with a voice of pathos and passion yet pragmatic, tells us this tale:
When the Bushmen roamed wild and free they knew all the secrets of their harsh land, even their very physical appearance was adapted over time to suit their environment. Like the lion they were yellow in color, the better camouflage to have, their stature was small and economical, barely 4' tall their stomachs large and distended when full, or with
loose hanging flesh when empty, the better to carry a kill and gain the most from it. In the desert heat meat rots quickly, in ones stomach it was easily transported and used to the maximum.
They knew the ways of the lizard and snakes, their best edible parts. An adult Bushman seldom if ever drank water, water was for babies.
The Oryx or Gemsbok(Afrikaans) Namibia's national animal held a special place in the lives of the Bushman.
The Oryx although an antelope is an extremely dangerous animal. Bent on survival it does not waste it's precious store of energy in flight if confronted, with it's sharp senses and lightening quick movements, it will in a flash impale you on it's deadly 4' sword like horns.
In order to marry the daughter of a Bushman a prospective son in law was expected to present the tail of an Oryx to his future father in law, this proved he would be a capable husband able to feed and defend his family.
At times conditions in the desert were so harsh that parents were forced to walk away from their children, sons and daughters from aging parents,
Oryx or Gemsbok
Oryx grazing with one eye open the wounded, were left to die alone never to be mentioned again. Survival of the fittest, the species must go on. Often at night when the fire was made and the small family unit gathered close, to mourn their dead the broken hearted would sit downwind of the fire, so, as they observed the tradition of their tribe and made no mention of their loved ones, the tears could freely flow....don't you know smoke gets in your eyes?
So what do we make of Boseman... (whose name like his forefathers means Boss man).....he the champion of the Bushman, the man whose fore fathers hunted them, the man who stands barefoot in the desert, miles from nowhere, who bands with his neighbors to takes their fences down, a Namibian, proud of his land, passionate about it's preservation, who speaks with such knowledge and compassion about the Bushmen, such pathos and longing?
The barefoot Afrikaans who as he talks looks away into the blinding cloudless sky...you know...the sun gets in his eyes.
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