HUNTING TO SURVIVE with Africas LAST Hunter Gatherers

If you want to know how I got here, we have to start here. Let's do that again. Three and a half hours later of bumpy terrain, rough rural roads, and I'm covered in dust. But we have just arrived here at the foot of Lake Eyasi to take you to one of the few remaining places in the entire world where men are still living by the spear, catching their every meal with their bare hands and surviving off of this beautiful land. And right to my left is Ngorogoro Crater, which is where we went just the other day and we saw rhinoceroses and just about every other animal you've dreamed of seeing. Today we're going to be showing you a very different side that the average person doesn't even know still exists. We're going to be going off to experience the Hadzabe tribe. Guys, we are going deep, deep, deep off the path and we are just about there. I have no idea what to expect. This is the entrance I was hoping for. We're here? Oh, they're so cool. Wow. What did we sign up for? I'm so excited. This is honestly the most insane thing ever. This is exciting. So how do you say hello to a man? Anabawa. For a woman? Anabawa. We're all practicing? Yeah. Anabawa. Oh my lord. Anabawa. Anacoco. Coco. Anacoco. Yeah. Anacoco. Coco. Anaya. Wow. Anaya. So before sleeping, they have to make a fire. They sleep, they just sleep on the ground. Top. So what do they smoke here? They smoke tobacco and weed. Oh. He says tonight we smoke, tomorrow we go find a bed room. Wow. He's literally picking up the charcoal. Same here. The amount of questions that I have for them is just through the roof. But the beautiful thing is we have up to 24 hours to try and understand even just a small piece of what life is for the Hadzabe tribe. This is one of my favorite travel experiences already. Robbie's been given a name by the tribe. Yeah, it's Opoto. Opoto means the bearded man. Man with lots of hairy beard. They've gotten these bells to do some sort of a dance. Apparently we have to follow them. Hey! I want to join. Did you expect this when I said, hey, do you want to join me on a trip? Uh, no. It's probably not snow. This has been an unbelievable start. First thing in the morning, we've got a hunt to do. I'll see you then. Good morning. It is a beautiful start to the day. It's a bit of a chilly morning, which is why we're sitting around this fire here with the Hadzabe tribe. I'm Christian. That sounds so lame. Now the Hadzabe tribe are a nomadic tribe. And that is their typical home right there. It can be set up in just about two hours and taken down even faster. As soon as the food supply in the area dries up, then they are packing up and finding their next place to call home. And their current establishment is right here underneath this beautiful acacia tree. And you can see here, this is where they sleep at night. You basically just have some plants, some straw, and some sticks to keep it all up together. And this morning, we're about to go on a hunt. Now this part might be a little uncomfortable for some people. Just keep in mind that we cannot just apply our modern-day way of looking at things, our lens onto their situation. These men live off the land. And while it may be graphic, and while it may be uncomfortable, it's also very beautiful. They don't over-consume. They only take what they need. And this has been an age-old relationship between man and Mother Nature. And today, we are so fortunate to be here to experience it. And of course, before a big hunt, gotta roll it up, you know? How else are you gonna start it? You gotta get the munchies, you gotta need the food. You gotta be craving it a little bit. The hunt is about to begin. Now I thought it'd be more a game of sneaking up. Seems like it's the opposite. They want to be as loud as they can be to scare anything out of hiding. That's when the hunt begins, when something comes out of its hiding. Wow, he got it. That is a sniper right there. He just shot that bird out of the air. So that's a mercy killing, I suppose. It's just to make sure the bird is no longer suffering. It's a gift for Apoto. Well, that's for the bird. And we're off again. What is happening right now? We were supposed to meet in New York, now we are hunting in the bush. Alright guys, we're on hot pursuit. Let's go. I don't see it. So there's a little bush baby up in the tree right there. So they have it surrounded, and they're basically sealing off all the escape points. Okay, here we go. This is crazy. There it is, there it is. What is it? That was hard to watch. That thing is so cute. Caught another one. So why do they break the legs? So when they had a bush baby, they had to break their legs. Because once you break it, so it gets swell, and they get enough meat from there. I felt really queasy about that one. But this is what we signed up for, to see a different way of living. And wow, there's no show here, this is just reality. At this point, I don't know who's still watching. But again, I just really hope that everyone's watching this with a very open mind. And while it may feel very rough, they have nothing but respect for the land and what it provides them. The creatures that give them their daily meal. So, Ng has found a new aero shaft right there. He's preparing it. Because every now and then during the hunt, they go flying, never to be seen again. Can I kill a person? So the poison is called Desert Rose. And it's actually just from the local plants here. In five minutes, it will stop a giraffe's heart. It is that toxic. So you can only imagine how careful they have to be when they're playing around with these aeros. One little nick, and that poison's working against you. Guys, this one here is a bit more blunt, as you can see. So it's meant for smaller animals. With the smaller animals, you don't want very sharp objects. It'll travel right through, destroy the meat. You actually want something more blunt to kind of stun them, knock them out of the tree. And that way, the meat will stay more intact. This is the weapon of choice out here for long distance, as we've all seen. I've tried archery before. I'd love to give it a go. They're giving me the blunt arrow. I think that's a good move for everyone's sake. Oh, Lord! They called me the bush baby. I hope you guys brought food, because I'm not providing. Nice! That was really, really good! So what's super interesting is that in the tribe, your ranking has nothing to do with your age. In fact, they don't even know their age. This is Sokolo. He is the leader of the tribe, and it's purely based on his performance as a hunter. He's investigating. It's like investigative work. We've been following these tracks now for 15, 20 minutes. These guys are fast. Super fast. We've been on a very fast walk now for about an hour and a half. We've actually come up into the mountain. This is a wild berry. It has a husk on the outside. Wow, that's a nice sweetness. It tastes like goji berries. It's nature's candy. So if you're wondering why they're starting a fire, after catching a few bush babies and I heard a mongoose, it's time to smoke and have breakfast. This is just wow. That's all I can say. Thank you. I'm blessed and welcomed into the tribe. Strong? Strong woman. Ah, what's that? Atukwai is my Hadza name, which means strong woman. You can see just how hard these guys have to work to get their food. I'm okay. Thank you. This is our pigeon friend. A bit chewy. A bit gamey tasting. It's good. Very similar to chicken. So the bush babies are now being turned into today's little meal. Yousef was just saying that if they catch a big animal like a buffalo, that could be food for like two to three weeks. It doesn't happen every day, they're catching big things, but when it happens, it's an exciting jackpot. It's chewy, but there's not too much of a flavor that's invasive, so it's nice, it's nice. Very chewy. But like you said, there's not really a harsh flavor. It's very muscular, I think. Well, I'm all for experiences. Everything I've ever imagined would be unattainable and something I would never see, I am here in the moment seeing it firsthand, and it just feels insanely shocking, exciting, and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. Let me just tell you guys that literally every weed, plant, tree, bush is covered in thorns. This environment is so rough, and these guys are running around with no covering on their legs, on their arms. They are just such hardened bodies. Thank you. Thank you very much, Yousef. Some scratches. The fact that they're so physically fit, I mean, they get cut and they go through all these thorn bushes and they don't even care. I asked our guide, Yousef, if they ever go into town, and he said occasionally a couple of them have, but they've immediately come back. They've returned to this life. Going to the big city of Arusha or Dar es Salaam here in Tanzania just is not a fit, especially when they grew up this way. My gosh, look at this tree. How gorgeous is that? I think we found what we were looking for. I can't wait to show you what's happening. Now, you might be curious, why is he hacking away at a tree? Well, basically, it's liquid gold. One of the things that inspired me to first take this trip was when I saw the Hadzabe tribe on Mike Corey's channel, and it's just the ultimate badassery. A dude climbing up inside a tree, getting stung by bees on all corners and sides, and not giving a ----. It's unbelievable. There it is right there. Good as gold. There's a few bugs in here. There's a bunch of larvae. Oh, so he's going to squeeze it. Thank you. So this honey is actually from a stingingless bee. They're much, much smaller than your average bee. They're really good though. There's a lot of bees in it, but it's so tasty. You guys are probably wondering, how did we find ourselves all the way here with the Hadzabe tribe? You can't exactly find them in Yellow Pages, so Gumbo is the one who has brought us out here to experience something I couldn't even imagine possible. Thank you so much for all of this. You're most welcome, Christian. These feet can't carry me much longer. At this point, guys, this is the most challenging and most exhausting hike I have ever done. It's coming up to sunset now, and we literally haven't taken more than two 10-minute breaks since sunrise. We've been on our feet, walking up and down these hills, these mountains, chasing after things, ducking under branches and bushes. I am so, so beat. But for reals though, our guides, I think they're low-key lost. They told us an hour and a half ago we were 30 minutes away. Oh, that's it? Yeah. How far is that? About an hour. Oh, that's not bad. 20 minutes later, they said we were 40 minutes away. And then just 10 minutes ago, they're like, we have an hour and a half to go? Maybe? They said maybe. We've run completely bone-dry out of water. Mom, Dad, if you're watching this, I just want you to know I love you. I feel like we're going to start to see vultures circling us, and we still don't have a baboon. Still no baboon. We're going to fight over that little... That morsel of bush baby. We can't even talk at this point. I think I hear children. Oh, my gosh. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Oh, my gosh. Ow. That just went up my butt. Cowabunga, Mario. I see blood on the end. Anyways, that's a nice icebreaker. All right, guys, so get this. 36,000 steps, but this is the scary one. I don't think I've ever walked that far in a single day, and my feet are destroyed. It feels so good to be barefoot right now. Can you believe it? They haven't even hit the like button yet. Pretty crazy. Please hit the like button. So, naturally, this is such a different way of living, and you can't really understand why people do the things they do unless you actually get to know them a little better. And so today's excursion, hike, hunt was an amazing way to walk in their shoes, but I actually want to understand what drives them. What happens when they die? Do they have a god? God is the son? Yeah, he's the son. Can you ask what makes him happy? Wow. That answer just kind of hit me really hard because it just shows happiness from such a simple place or something we take for granted. When life is kind of slowed down and brought back to the basics, maybe happiness is so much more attainable. Thank you for making this happen. Seriously, it really was an unbelievable day. Thank you, Kristen. This was one of my most challenging but also rewarding travel experiences ever. Thank you. Thank you very much. And guys, if you thought this video brought value to you and you think it would be great for others to see it as well, the best way to do that is to hit the like button. Leaving a like is a simple way to let YouTube know that it should recommend this video to other people. So if you do that, thank you so much. And on that note, let's get lost again in the next one.