The San People of South Africa

The San are the universally acknowledged first people of Southern Africa. Their hunter-gatherer society reaches back over 27,000 years, and their genetic origins to over one million years. It is believed the San represents the oldest genetic stock of contemporary humanity. Ten thousand years ago their vast exclusive terrain stretched from the Zambezi to the Cape of Good Hope, and from the Atlantic to the Indian Oceans.

Once widespread and plentiful in numbers, 300 years ago European colonist took away their lands and virtually wiped them out. The San people now number a mere 110,000 living in poverty on the outer fringes of society. Facing cultural extinction, they now struggle to win back a foothold in the lands they once owned and freely roamed.

Our Contribution
To this end we've ensured that the SAN people, owners of the traditional rights to the Hoodia plant (represented by *WIMSA) receive a portion of the proceeds from every Hoodia purchase we make. We are also delighted that WIMSA contested and recently won their case against multinational pharmaceutical companies seeking to develop a drug from South African Hoodia.

Their Legacy
The San believe in two gods – one associated with life and the rising sun in the east, and one with death and the setting sun in the west. A belief common across the different clans is that at some ‘early time’ people and animals were indistinguishable and only after a ‘second creation’ did people acquire the human qualities they have today. Another common practice across the clans is that of the trance dance, a means by which shamans and healers (both men and women) cross over to parallel worlds in order to heal. Knowledge of these religious beliefs and the role of the trance dance are important to the understanding of their rock art and paintings across southern Africa. The art and its interpreters have died out, but contrary to earlier western notions of simple naïve art, rock paintings are now believed to have been representations of cosmological and spiritual beliefs and occurrences. South Africa’s Bongani Mountain is rich in San rock art noted for their uniqueness by academics in the field.

Guests on CC Africa Expedition to the Central Kalahari also have the opportunity to experience the art of tracking with a San guide. Aside from their rock art, engravings and isolated remnant settlements, the legacy of the San and acknowledgement of their place in the region’s history, is enshrined in the motto on the South African National Coat of Arms, "!ke e: /xarra //ke, which in the /Xam" means “diverse people unite”.

*WIMSA (Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa) was established in 1996 at the request of the San in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. WIMSA was organized to provide a platform for the people of the San communities to address their needs and problems and express their concerns. WIMSA also advocates and lobbies for San rights, establishes networks for information exchange among San communities and other concerned parties, and provides training and advice to San communities on matters of tourism, integrated development projects and land tenure.