German youth group The San Culture & Education Centre

Adventurous visit to !Khwa ttu and surroundings

“This is so cool” was probably the most used phrase by the group of eight youth from central Germany who stayed for ten days at !Khwa ttu’s bush camp. They were immediately taken with the camp “which is blended so nicely into nature” and has “these cool showers [incorporating a tree branch]”, as two of the girls pointed out. “I have never ever seen such a clear starry sky than here!” added another girl. The two boys and six girls are keen swimmers and thus had the opportunity to join the travel programme of their swimming club, which brought them to the West Coast of South Africa. They were accompanied by two adults and at !Khwa ttu they were looked after by Manuel Nicklaus and Massi Jabbari the two German ‘weltwaerts’ volunteers, who are currently spending their ‘social year’ at !Khwa ttu.

As the English proficiency of the grade 10 students was not fluent, the group was lucky that Axel Thoma, a knowledgeable person, who has worked with the San for more than 20 years, had some time to tell them in German about various San communities. Issues such as the traditional practice of reaching consensus and the impact of loss of the San’s ancestral land caught their attention at once. Axel also showed explained to them some of the almost 150 edible and medicinal plants of the new trail. Questions such “Can I use the aloe [ferox] for my scratch on my arm?” What about my wart, can I use the ‘milk bush’ for it?” “Does this plant not smell like mint?” rained down on him. He patiently provided detailed answers and of course, let the young people try out the healing powers of the plants.

The highlight of their outing with Axel was the appearance of a pitch-black, maximum sized (2 metres long) mole snake. After Axel had convinced them that the constrictor was harmless, the more courageous among the youth cautiously touched the snake only to exclaim “oh, it isn’t slippery at all!” Then one of the boys was bold enough to ask whether he could put it around his neck, as long as Axel would have a strong grip on the snake’s head. The cameras clicked away to capture this brave moment which everyone intended to recall at home.

They will carry with them many more memorable moments not only of the !Khwa ttu tour and photo gallery but also of the whales they watched at Yzerfontein beach and the immense diversity of 5 million old remnants of about 200 different kind of animals at the West Coast Fossil Park. The evening at Gansekraal Resort, where other adolescents from Ethiopia and England introduced them to their traditions, songs and contemporary lifestyle and vice versa certainly enriched their understanding of other cultures.   

"!Khwa ttu is an unforgettable adventure in the wilderness which at the same time has also taught us quite a bit", Anne Stoffregen concluded her “cool” experience at the southern tip of Africa.