Faszination Afrika 3D

I belong to the Sand People.

I'm a bushman.

We've been living here in Africa for thousands of years...

... and we know this country, its nature and animals better than anyone else.

We not only live here, we actually exist in harmony with nature.

We eat nature's fruits, we sleep on nature's ground...

... and we honour our nature and celebrate it.

Namibia is a large country...

... and when we have to travel...

... we only use what nature provided us with...

... our feet.

Now let me take you on a stunning and fantastic trip...

... across this wonderful land.

I will show you my country, my Namibia.

The most wonderful thing for me in this beautiful country...

... is the variety of animals.

Namibia has an almost infinitely rich biological diversity...

... starting with the big cats...

... through to small insects and large birds, to the tiniest of rodents.

You'll encounter many of these animals while we're travelling.

The sand bushmen are not the only inhabitants of Africa.

There are several other tribes that we used to be at war with.

But thank heavens, this is a thing of the past...

... and today, we can all live together peacefully.

When we are travelling through our country...

... we don't carry much with us.

Just a few tools to hunt or to collect roots.

And of course, we have to extract drinking water to survive.

This is necessary in order for us to remain flexible.

Nature doesn't just offer us the food we need..

... it also harbours certain risks and dangers.

There are several animal types that would literally love to feast on us.

But you don't have to be afraid of the cheetahs.

They're shy, and definitely much more afraid of us than we are of them.

Before they'd even consider attacking us...

... they'd much rather just run away and hide.

The cheetah is mainly found in Africa.

The predatory behaviour of the cheetah is highly specialised...

... and is regarded as the fastest land mammal.

Its basic colour is yellowish...

... whereas the stomach is significantly lighter.

It's covered with black spots...

... which are noticeably smaller than those of leopards...

... and don't create rosettes.

The face is darker and unspotted.

But it has two dark stripes running from the eyes...

... to the corners of the mouth...

... tear stripes.

Cheetahs are pure steppe and savannah animals.

They prefer to live in regions with high growing grass...

... to provide protection and hills for lookout posts.

Densely wooded countryside is inappropriate for cheetahs...

... because it would slow them down.

Now, the leopard is a different matter.

He would love to have us for dinner.

Whenever I see one of them...

... I stand still at a respectful distance and just watch him...

... in awe.

What leopards eat, actually depends on...

... what the territory they live in has to offer.

Leopards have an extraordinarily wide prey spectrum.

It ranges from bugs to reptiles...

... as well as from birds to large mammals.

Whenever possible, leopards will try to capture prey...

... weighing somewhere between 30 and 50 kilograms.

Leopards are normally looked upon as night hunters.

But a specific or preferred hunting time has not been confirmed.

The time of day has most likely to do with the availability of the prey...

... and their hunting territory.

Basically, you can watch two kinds of hunting methods.

The leopard either stalks or passively ambushes its prey.

He likes to climb up into trees to do so...

... to just sit and wait for it.

The leopard is an outstanding climber.

Just watch how precisely and fast he can climb that tree.

Just watching is a great experience in itself.

Lions are the kings of the animal kingdom, and are my favourites...

... even though they're the most dangerous for the bushman.

We treat them with respect.

And by reading in their eyes...

... we've learned a lot about their movements, and also their behaviour.

If a lion has just eaten and isn't hungry...

... you could almost pat him without fear of being eaten alive.

A lioness, however, protecting or defending her cubs...

... cannot be compared to this.

You should never get too close to a lioness.

The lion is a big cat.

In comparison to other cats, he lives in prides...

... and can be identified by the male lion's mane.

Their natural habitat is Africa...

... as well as the Indian state of Gujarat.

This is the largest carnivore in Africa...

... second only to the tiger worldwide.

Lions have a short sand-coloured coat...

... or a yellowish to dark ochre tone.

In addition, the males have a long mane.

It's mostly dark brown...

... but it can also be black or light to reddish brown.

The mane covers the cheeks, and goes up to the shoulders...

... but seldom across the stomach and chest.

The mane's shape and colour varies...

... not only between individual animals...

... it can change during a lifetime...

... depending on the lion's physical condition.

Particularly long and dark manes...

... are evidence of good health are fighting strength.

The length and thickness of the mane...

... is result of the hormone and nutrition status...

... of the individual animal.

Lions favour a savannah habitat.

But may also be found in dry forests and semi-deserts.

They hunt mainly at night or during the cool morning hours.

The lion's prey includes antelopes, gazelles, gnus, buffalo and zebras.

But also rabbits, birds and sometimes even fish.

Contrary to the widespread belief that the male lion lives off the prey...

... the female hunts down, it seems they do hunt a larger part...

... of their prey themselves.

A new study at the Kruger National Park...

... has shown that even territorial male lions...

... leading a pack are very successful and regular hunters.

Namibia's vegetation took millions of years to become what it is today.

We now have deserts, steppe and rich dense forests.

Namibia is versatile and every region has its own challenges for us bushmen.

My forefathers taught me how to provide myself...

... with water in the desert, how to find edible roots...

... and even medicine in the solitude of the desert.

The most beautiful tree to me is the quiver tree.

It's one of our national shrines...

... and also adorns the flag of our country.

Our favourite foods are tubers that we find in the ground.

But of course, we would never reject a good piece of meat...

... which we prepare on an open fire and enjoy very much.

Our nature has plenty of animals we duly respect and worship.

But we will hunt them if necessary...

... in order to feed our families and children.

This is a kudu.

The bull's coat is a greyish brown.

The cow and calf's coats are middle brown...

... and have 6 to 10 white cross stripes.

The kudu's ears are large and round and their tail is bushy.

The bucks have twisted horns that can grow to a length of 1 metre.

The greater kudu lives mostly in philopatry herds...

... of 3 to 10 individuals...

... roaming an area of about 50 square kilometres.

The males live in their own bachelor groups or as loners.

They only come to visit the females during the mating season.

As a general rule, kudus have one kid at a time...

... that weighs about 16 kilograms...

... and is born during the rainy season.

The heraldic animal of the Republic of South Africa is the springbok.

The springbok's appearance resembles that of the thomson gazelle.

They also have a dark reddish brown stripe...

... that divides the upper side from the white stomach side...

... going from the eyes down to the upper corner of the mouth.

The longer back hairs can only be seen when the animal is pronking.

This means jumping up with stiff legs and bent backs...

... which gives the springbok its name.

Both genders, male and female have curved wire-shaped horns.

That of the female, however, is slimer.

They got the name springbok, thanks to their vertical jumps into the air...

... whenever they are frightened by something.

They can jump up to 3.5 metres high from a standing position.

While they are pronking, they keep their legs stiff...

... and their backs are arched upward.

And only then a skin fold opens up and the white hair becomes visible.

This behaviour may well be a warning that a predator is near.

The damara dik-dik is the smallest of Africa's antelopes.

Even though it prefers dense vegetation...

... it can also be found in biotopes with meagre grass growth.

Kirk dik-diks are able to exist even in areas with sparse vegetation.

Their main habitat lies in the rich shrub territories...

... of Central and North Africa...

... where they can feed on the large number of plants available.

They are very selective in choosing only certain parts of the plants.

Kirk dik-diks are monogamous and they live in fixed territories.

The males are very dominant...

... and defend their territories against intruders of any kind.

As soon as the male offspring are half-grown...

... they are chased away by their fathers.

Although they have not yet reached sexual maturity...

... they go out to find a partner...

... and immediately start marking their territory.

My brothers and sisters of the Sand People...

... belong to one of the oldest tribes in the world.

We prefer to live in large groups...

... so we can share the work that needs to be done.

We only live off the things that nature has to offer.

We live in straw huts and spend the whole day together.

We stay in our village or go out into the nature.

We have no bosses or kings...

... nor rankings or any sort of relationships of dependency.

Anytime we can't come to an agreement...

... we just vote and the majority wins.

Everything we need for our everyday life...

... we produce ourselves.

We can make great tools.

String, shoes, clothing...

... and containers to store our food.

But what we are best at, is our handmade jewellery.

And we wear it on every possible occasion.