It is a strange — and perhaps comforting — thought that in an area rich with hominoid fossils there is a Home sapiens very much alive today, one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes left in Africa who live a traditional life passed down through the ages. The Hadzabe, or Hadza, forage on the edges of Lake Eyasi in Tanzania’s Rift Valley.
Finding enough food to survive is a challenge, all the more so given today’s influences from outside, and the inevitable effects of climate change and drought. The hunter-gatherer way of life is harsh and unforgiving. There are just 1,200 Hadza left, and of those fewer than half follow the old ways. The future looks uncertain, and unknowable.