How are you doing? Quiz time. Can you guess which country I am? I am located in eastern Africa. I have the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the largest fresh water lake in Africa, Lake Victoria. And Freddie Mercury froma the band Queen was born here. Time’s up. I am the United Republic of Tanzania.
I am about 2.5 times as big as Japan. My capital city used to be Dar es Salaaam, but no it is Dodoma. My population is 55 million and is made up of around 130 tribes. There is one tribe I want to talk about today.
It's a tribe called the Hadza. It is said that there are only about 1000 Hadza people now. They are special because they do not farm. If they are hungry, the men go catch animals or birds, and the women gather berries and wild potatoes.
The hadza tribes lives in groups in the northeastern part of my country. When they speak, they sometimes make clicking sounds with their toungues. They have no calendar. They only have words for today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, but nothing else. They hunt when the sun rises, and they go asleep to sleep when night comes.
Oh, and they have a unique way of finding people. If they need to find someone, they look at footprints on the ground. Why you ask? Well, each person carves their own symbol on the back of their sandals. So they can tell where someone went by looking at the footprints.
Their lives are different from those of people who live in cities. If you need to move to a different room or house, how many boxes do you need to pack all your things? Many, right? But the Hadza people only need a blanket to carry their things. They wrap their bows and arrows, some dried food, clothes a pot and spoon and move whenever they like. They move quite often, you see. Sometimes they move as many as six times a year. They move to find more animals to hunt and a better place to gather berries.
There are groups of tourists that visit them, so they know of the modern way of living. But they say, Hadza people live the Hadza way. They value their way of living, and it has not changed much in 10000 years.
They have not changed, but the environment around them has changed. Other people have started making farms and raising animals in ther traditional Hadza hunting areas. So there is less food for them to eat.
There is so much more I want to tell you about my country. You have to come and experience a safari, amazing scenery, beautiful beaches and many different and wonderful cultures. We are waiting for you.