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00:11The
00:12Which I go cook cool. Yeah, go back. Oh, cool
00:17They are tobacco training mimic and I cook the training
00:22We got one get last we've got one this tree is hollow and there's a big
00:29Beehive inside the tree and it's just a matter of making it accessible enough to get our hands in and
00:35grab the honey out
00:52I
00:52Met Stafford as an explorer and survivalist. I've made a career out of mucking about in the wild
00:59If I'm honest, I've never really grown up
01:02Look at that so now
01:06Ready guys
01:08I've set myself a mission
01:11To see how cultures across the world navigate the messy business
01:16of becoming an adult
01:20I believe many of us in the modern world have lost our sense of identity
01:25But I'm hoping by immersing myself
01:27In the often extreme trials that young people face
01:30I can figure out how these rituals make us better members of our communities
01:36I've never experienced anything even comparable in terms of pain
01:41By joining them on that journey. I hope I'll learn to become a better man
01:49Maybe even grow up
01:50Maybe even grow up
01:51Maybe even grow up
01:51Okay, he wants me to jump up. I'm gonna jump up
01:53And successfully pass my own
01:57Rite of passage
02:17I'm currently in northern tanzania's great rift valley a vast area steeped in humanity's ancient history
02:25I've been traveling for 48 hours just to get here and this is now my final leg
02:30A five-hour drive deep into one of the most remote corners of the african bush
02:35I'm heading to the socorro community on the fringes of lake easi
02:40A place often called the cradle of mankind and where human remains dating back around 2 million years were discovered
02:52I'm here to live with the hadzer and from what I know of their right of passage into adulthood
02:57It involves using expert tracking and bush kills to find honey and big game
03:02The hadzer have been surviving on these lands for over 50,000 years
03:08And one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribes left in the world
03:22Okay, one of the local hadzer boys is just come out. It's nice to see a smiling face. Hello, mate
03:33Hi guys
03:35Hi guys
03:38Ed
03:41Ed
03:43I'm about
03:43I'm about
03:46I'm about
03:48I'm about
03:51I'm about
03:52Thank you
03:53I'm about to say enough a long with it
03:58What's your name?
04:01What's your name?
04:05That's your name?
04:08Oh
04:09Oh
04:11Oh
04:12Oh
04:13Oh
04:26Bitch!
04:47Chop the tree?
04:50lecture
04:51Cool. Nice to meet you.
04:52Not only do I not speak the language,
04:54but I can barely pronounce their names.
04:57This could be a challenging week.
05:00I appreciate being allowed to come and live with you
05:03for a small period of time in your community.
05:05The key thing for me coming here is to learn
05:07about how you guys transition young men into adults.
05:11And if it's OK with you, the thing that I'm really, really interested in
05:14learning about is how you hunt for the honey
05:17and extract the honey from wild sources.
05:24Thank you very much, mate.
05:31OK.
05:46The guys are hungry and they've got no food
05:49and they need to hunt, so it's almost perfect for me
05:52rather than sitting around and all the awkwardnesses
05:55of being introduced to a tribe.
05:57We're straight out on a hunt.
06:01Hatsa camps are named after their best hunters.
06:06With this community named after Socorro.
06:14His right-hand man is 17-year-old Gonga.
06:22year-old lovinges shouted in Australia.
06:39He owns the
06:43US to defend it.
06:47not for picky eaters. I reckon they like squirrel. Consisting of over 30 different
06:54wild mammals including monkeys, porcupines, badgers and impala.
07:02Do you want some water?
07:03Take it off, take it off. Yeah. Other end, other end, other end, other end.
07:22Amazing. It's good water. It is good water, mate. Yes. Wow. I mean, that's so cool, isn't
07:29it? Look at that. That's extraordinary. He's cut the bottom, drank out the bottom because
07:34he didn't know that you could unscrew the top. Why would you? Just to show, doesn't it,
07:42how divorced from everyday life this place is. Thank God that plastic still hasn't
07:47infiltrated this corner of the world yet. Nice.
07:56You've got a quite a big tuberous root being exposed now.
08:02It's good, is it? What's it called?
08:16Halfway between a potato and a kind of a cucumber. It's kind of got that watery inside like
08:22cucumber hash. But with the flavour of your potato.
08:31What are we looking for, mate?
08:43OK, cool. Looking for honey.
08:46For Hadza boy to transition into manhood and complete their rite of passage, they must prove
08:51themselves as a provider for the community. So although facing an angry swarm of bees seems
08:58daunting. It's a primary food source for the Hadza people. So it's something I must help them collect
09:05if I'm to pass my own rite of passage.
09:23The white wax on the exterior of a bee's nest means that bees are actively building new combs,
09:29which should hopefully be overflowing with fresh honey. How do you get the honey out of that?
09:34Oh, wow. OK.
09:57Wow. OK.
09:58With the hive more than 10 metres above the ground, it's not exactly the kind of place that you want
10:03to be
10:03stung by a swarm of angry bees I'm not sure I particularly want to go
10:08climbing up to make it even more precarious the only way to climb is by
10:14using homemade wooden pegs with only one squirrel successfully hunted and now
10:24shifting our focus to honey we've returned home with little food
10:38she looked really hungry I'm very grateful that that tuberous rube got
10:44given to her she looked really hungry
10:55the Hatsa's traditional hunting grounds have been whittled away to only 10% of
11:00what it was just 50 years ago meaning less game to hunt for food yeah there's a
11:06lot of little mouths to feed not that long ago the Hatsa could easily feast on
11:13giraffes elephant and their favorite baboons but that looks like a distant
11:22memory today dead posh service this is thank you this is perfect you like I
11:28got like I got like I got like I got like I got I get me slide down hey I'm
11:33at that
11:33copy copy yeah thank you mate thank you thank you watch the call this is cool so
11:41basically this is my accommodation for the next week I don't want to become
11:50another mouth to feed making my need to help provide honey for this community all
11:55the more vital don't go out how many me do we need to make pepper I'm not
12:10gonna some of the guys were saying there's a girl that you want to get married to I got
12:14cut out this oh cool have you known her a long time then we will try me yeah no longer
12:21what's her
12:45name for a had to boy to complete their rite of passage and marry they must prove to the
12:50bride's parents that they can provide for and protect a family but right now it looks like
12:56we're off to slave vampires and climbing a 10-meter high baobab tree to raid a hive filled with bees
13:04sounds just as daunting the beehive right in the crux of that say about 10 meters off the floor
13:15I'm gonna have an apartment you live in a quad cool time
13:21so sure that's that way that way
13:32but actually like this could easily be 2,000 years old archaeological evidence found in this region
13:38reveals that had to have lived on these lands for over 50,000 years which means their ancestors were
13:44likely hunting and raiding beehives like this during the stone age gonga's skill level of being able to
13:51hang on to a little peg while standing on a little peg was banging in a little peg is is
13:58crazy the east
14:00African lowland honeybee is one of the most aggressive bee species in the world making up half of the infamous
14:06Africanized africanized bee hybrid known as the killer bee he's almost at the top now though
14:13look what I'm gonna what I want to know what I don't know what I don't know what I told
14:23me
14:23public one wrong move and the bees could swarm gonga and us you can hear them up there they are
14:33angry
14:35I'd love to get stuck in and help but Socorro says this is no job for a newbie
14:42and this time I'd have to agree
15:06despite still being stung they pushed through the pain to access the prized honey
15:15the only problem now is getting all the liquid gold down
15:20and the arm
15:22you know what
15:27Kathy
15:38Hey, hey, hey, hey.
15:41Yeah, I got it.
15:44Got it?
15:50Oh, look at that.
15:57Beautiful.
16:01Yeah?
16:01Yeah.
16:02Are you sure?
16:05Oh, my God, that was amazing.
16:08Needless to say, that's one of the best-tasting honeys I've ever tasted.
16:13That tastes extraordinary.
16:16To have that as part of your natural diet.
16:21You can see why it's worth the effort of making all the steaks
16:25and going up into the tree and risking your life.
16:29Ain't no knocking on doors, we knocking it down.
16:32Coliseum floors shining, reflect off the crown.
16:35Sneakers, we keep clean, it rip the sound.
16:37When I pivot off the good foot and bounce out of bounds.
16:40Well done, mate.
16:42Congratulations.
16:43Well done.
16:45Did you get stung much?
16:47Ding, ding, ding, ding.
16:55Get some honey down here, mate.
16:58But this honey isn't really for eating.
17:00They had to also use it to trade.
17:02And it's going to help Gonga in his mission to win his future wife.
17:07What could you buy with this?
17:09Yeah, but I'll call it a little bit.
17:13I'll call it a little bit.
17:15So you can see why it is important both as part of the rite of passage,
17:19but also as something to trade.
17:22And the boys are so happy.
17:27And the plastic bucket of fresh honey is a welcoming boost to the community's morale.
17:45This plastic bucket of fresh honey should be a welcome boost to the community's morale.
17:51And by the end of my week here, I will have to place my own hand into a wild bees
17:56nest
17:56to provide for the community something I'm a little nervous about.
18:12How important within your culture is honey?
18:15Clearly, it's not just a food, is it?
18:17You use it for trade and stuff like that, but how important is it?
18:20Because what I want to do is the water and the water and the water and the water are on
18:26my way.
18:28I will just be able to help you.
18:30I am a little bit too.
18:31I can't wait to get a little bit more.
18:35I can't wait to get a little bit.
18:35Do you worry that, when the men go out hunting, they're not going to come back with any food?
18:40Because, obviously, you've got kids to feed and young males to feed.
19:00Do any of you ever get tempted to go and live outside of Hasda community?
19:09Despite the challenges of raising a family in the African bush,
19:13Hasda women believe their way of life is still best for their children.
19:18For them, survival doesn't come from money or possessions,
19:22but from community and a husband who can hunt.
19:26Ganga obviously is looking to get married.
19:29Do you think he's a good catch?
19:38Nice.
19:42I'm already fascinated by the Hadza and how a young man's rite of passage is directly connected
19:47to the survival of the tribe and his future family.
19:51Here, becoming a man isn't just symbolic, it's life or death.
19:59Without barbed metal arrowheads, Ganga can't hunt baboons.
20:04So we make the long trek through the wilderness to the area's only forge.
20:08And I hope, for our sake, the people running it still like honey.
20:23This is very different.
20:27Nice view.
20:31The Tatoga are another of Tanzania's oldest tribes.
20:35Their ancestors were fierce warriors and masters at making weapons.
20:40The neighbouring tribe appeared to be blacksmiths.
20:43We've got an arrowhead being made here, and it's all using old little scrap bricks of metal.
20:50It's incredibly simple, and yet, obviously, it's a skill that the Hadza people don't have.
20:55But what the Hadza do have is honey.
20:58It's a time for a bit of bartering.
21:26Socorro is getting offered quite what he was hoping he was going to get offered.
21:53And he gets a pot of honey.
21:55Everyone's a winner.
22:00It's been a successful mission, and Ganga now has the tools he needs to prove himself
22:05on a baboon hunt.
22:07But first, he wants me to meet the girl that he hopes to marry.
22:12Everything in terms of honey collection, potentially baboon hunting, it's all focused towards Ganga
22:19getting married.
22:20So it's time to meet the lady herself.
22:23The Umkowa-Boma community is home to other hunters and their families, but with less than 400 Hadza living a
22:31traditional
22:31life in the region, every camp is like an extended family, with many Hadza being married or related
22:38to one another.
22:39Which is your girlfriend?
22:41In the middle?
22:47She's beautiful.
22:48She's beautiful.
22:51Hi.
22:53Lovely to meet you.
23:20She's a mother.
23:25her father looks a little less convinced in general how does the Hadza man prove his
23:33worthiness if he was to want to marry a lady in another community how does he how does he prove
23:38himself I think oh I don't want to go talk about what you call no what I'm a shot question
24:07to go
24:15it seems like a bit of a tall order especially since all I've seen so far has been scrappy
24:20little squirrels but I guess some traditions die hard baboon is then so if gonga wants a wife it
24:27seems he's got a cough up a baboon and a decent amount of honey is it true that the room
24:32of the
24:32baboon is the best part you understood me didn't you didn't need a translator then and although
24:42I'm a bit of a newbie out here I hope I can help him on his own Hadza rite of
24:46passage my time with
24:54the Sakura community is quickly running out so now focus tends to gonga's rite of passage and helping
25:00him get his hands up right but simple as that and the first thing we need is not an engagement
25:14ring
25:14but an arrow deadly enough to bring down a baboon why is it for baboons you need these barbs like
25:21today
25:21the arrowhead is lethal but without feathers it won't fly and when your whole future depends on the
25:47success of a hunt there's no room for error so keep going around them look at them talk about that
25:59so if I could use abag he was a kid you can't get. He said he would use my parents
26:09to do it you can't pay me
26:10it won't carry him or not. He would use your parents to try out to achieve them and act like
26:14you do it all
26:15because the clock here says he's in the middle of the hours and he says you want to prove it
26:17to him
26:17the man that he says he's funny I'm hearing that's a new five-year-old and he says he's probably
26:20the only thing that he says I'm saying YouTube is following his friends I'm a very good man. But sometimes
26:23it's
26:23a new one-year-old and he said a newbie that's his friend, he said he was wearing my family
26:33These are some of the happiest people that I've met in a long, long time, and they have nothing.
26:39You really do not need stuff in your life.
26:43They have a bow and arrow, they have a knife.
26:46Even the shelter, the home that they're sleeping in, is a temporary one that will work for the season.
26:51And yet, it's experience and knowledge and skill level that's enabling them to actually glean an existence from the environment.
26:59Being able to craft tools, being able to make weapons, being able to know all of the different hunting techniques
27:06that they need.
27:07And by putting it all together, you free yourself from the need to accumulate stuff.
27:13And I think that's the key.
27:16Happy life.
27:26Thank you, mate. Thank you so much.
27:34Okay, I didn't do it all myself.
27:37But I consider that to be my first hunter arrow.
27:42Thank you, mate.
27:44Happy days.
27:46Poisoned arrows ready.
27:47We're all set to hunt baboon.
27:59We've been walking about two hours from camp now.
28:04It's a long way away.
28:06Them boys are on a mission.
28:09To stand the greatest chance of success, we are heading to new hunting grounds.
28:14An eight-kilometre hike away under the rising African sun.
28:25So this is baboon country.
28:29And it's stunning.
28:31It's so different to the horizontal scrub.
28:35If I was a baboon, I'd be hanging out on these rocks up here.
28:40Classic baboon territory.
28:53Spotting movement on the horizon.
28:56Gonga gives the signal, and we head down into the valley.
29:03All of a sudden, the hunt is on.
29:07That was definitely a contact with a troop of baboons.
29:13The shouts from that direction, that direction, and that direction.
29:17Baboon.
29:18In the chaos of the chase, the group has splintered.
29:24I'd better keep up, because I don't really want to get lost alone out here.
29:30You guys are hot on the trail of a baboon, or a troop of baboons.
29:37I'm just struggling to even keep up with them.
29:52Okay.
29:54Baboon.
29:55Right in the top of that crescent of that tree.
30:01Okay, it's coming down.
30:02It's coming down.
30:03That was a huge baboon.
30:07Exactly what Gonga's.
30:09A future father-in-law wanted.
30:12And that big-ass baboon is looking quite impossible.
30:18Okay, there's two.
30:19There's two baboons moving left to right through that underground there.
30:27They're closing in on them.
30:29This is it.
30:30With Hong Konga ambushing the baboons with the dogs,
30:33and Gonga closing in,
30:35we're moments away from a possible kill.
30:43But once again, confusion kicks in.
30:50Gonga is constantly the one right at the front.
30:53He's the one that's spearheading the whole operation,
30:56but because he is so up front,
30:57I'm hardly getting a glimpse of him.
31:00He's the one leading the charge.
31:03He's the best hunter out of this lot.
31:07Then suddenly,
31:09the silence is deafening.
31:13By the time I catch up with the rest of the group,
31:16I can immediately tell it's not good news.
31:18It's not good news.
31:20It's not good news.
31:36What is very cool is that this is Gonga wanted to get married,
31:40found a girl he likes,
31:41wants to impress her parents,
31:42and all his mates are very happy to turn out with him
31:45at a stupid o'clock in the morning to go hunting.
31:49That's pretty cool, isn't it?
31:51That's what mates are for.
31:54Failing to bag a baboon
31:56is the often harsh reality for modern Hadza.
32:00So we're now relying on finding a cache of honey
32:02to restore some of Gonga's fortune
32:04and save his right of passage.
32:09But with light quickly fading,
32:11time is not on our side.
32:18We are losing time in terms of getting the honey.
32:20It's part and parcel of what Gonga needs to provide,
32:25and therefore, if we can just nail that,
32:28that would be good.
32:32But all isn't lost when Gonga is leading the brigade.
32:35Eddie, we're going to go.
32:37Uh-huh.
32:38We're going to go.
32:41Have we got one?
32:42Yeah.
32:47Nice.
32:49Okay, at last, we've got one.
32:54Tree is hollow,
32:55and there's a big beehive inside the tree,
32:59and it's just a matter of making it accessible enough
33:02to get our hands in and grab the honey out.
33:06I'm going to have a go
33:07trying to extract as much of this myself as possible.
33:10I really want to nail this for Gonga
33:12and make sure he doesn't go back to his future bride empty-handed.
33:16Success would also be a massive boost for me
33:19to at least partially complete my rite of passage
33:22as one of the primary harvesters of this wild honey.
33:25Without looking at the sun,
33:27I reckon we've got about 40 minutes of daylight.
33:31with the clock ticking.
33:33It's now or never.
33:40Okay, far going.
33:41Stage one complete.
33:43But this beehive is not going to be an easy one to get into.
33:45It's very enclosed,
33:48and the bees are very well protected.
33:51Okay, stay in here, yeah?
33:52Okay.
34:02It's brutal work,
34:04and the longer we take,
34:05the more likely we are to aggravate the bees
34:08and potentially cause a swarm.
34:11But with Gonga's help,
34:13we gain access to the hive.
34:28The bees don't think that they can access enough of the honey
34:32from the hole that we've cut.
34:34We need to open up the secondary hole.
34:41With the beehive still deep inside the tree
34:43and the light fading fast,
34:45the other boys also step in to help.
34:49I came here thinking,
34:50you know what,
34:51I want to prove that I can get the honey out of myself.
34:53And as I was chopping away
34:54and the boys are standing around,
34:56I'm thinking,
34:56that's not the way they had to do things.
34:59These boys are a group of mates.
35:01They help each other.
35:02They all muck in.
35:03They all put the effort in.
35:06And not because I'm being lazy,
35:09but I'm going to embrace that team spirit.
35:13Teamwork makes a dream way.
35:22Gonga's just got stung, I can see.
35:37It looks like the smoke from the fire I made
35:40has done its job in subduing the bees.
35:48This is it.
35:49Time to get some for myself.
36:07Well done, mate.
36:10That is beautiful.
36:24Everyone has now had a lot of stings.
36:26It's got to the stage where the honey out,
36:28but the bees,
36:29they just go for you.
36:31I've probably got 20 or 30 stings.
36:33There's this crazy pleasure pain thing
36:35going on here at the moment.
36:37Everyone is high on sugar.
36:39And in excruciating pain
36:41at the same time.
36:44Oh, my gosh.
37:11That was just spanking without moving on.
37:15his lips at all worth the pain worth the pain i would say that was a big success
37:29it's not a bad haul i'm not putting my hand in there again
37:39will your future father-in-law be happy with that
37:53but with the honey bagged a night upon us we have no choice but to spend the night sleeping rough
37:58in
37:58the bush what a day i mean that was honestly one of the most rewarding days of my life um
38:09we have honey to speed gonga's wedding on its way today has just shown me it's all about team
38:16this isn't a one-man effort this isn't gonga demonstrating his prowess on his own
38:22clearly he's one of the most competent in the whole group but it isn't about that
38:25to the hadza it's about sticking together it's about turning up for each other um
38:31and it's about having fun and they have done all three of those in bucket loads
38:40morning and with everyone from the community gathered for our return
38:44this is the moment of truth has gonga done enough to win the blessing of his girlfriend's parents
39:14we tried to get a baboon but i'm afraid it went away we didn't get it in the end
39:22so
39:29gonga's been a little bit shy
39:32maybe he's worried about the fact that he hasn't got a baboon
39:36i think he's just feeling the uh public humiliation a little bit
39:46they're all just tucking into the honey that's so amazing
40:00are you happy with the honey that i'm going to provide let me back
40:03love but you're not in one way
40:05with dollar could get a taco that in your bala cop uh uh who are there or no state that
40:13they are
40:13That's it
40:19Does going to stand a chance with your daughter then
40:28Look what's up and I'm like
40:32Yeah, I've got a call. They're calling cut the food cooler. I could Jenna
40:39All right, mate enjoy your honey
40:40Go then. It's a lovely day. I'm not going to shake your hand because you're coming
40:50Like they say anything easy isn't worth having so hopefully on Gonga's next baboon hunt he can successfully secure the
40:59hand of his girlfriend
41:01If we've got a baboon that would have been amazing, but you know you can't you can't get a baboon
41:06every time you go hunting
41:19Yeah
41:22And maybe you're a step closer to marrying their daughter no quite how that they go cook
41:31May can I just say thank you for giving me your time for allowing me to live with you guys.
41:37Thank you
41:50and good luck with everything this is such a positive end to quite an incredible journey really
42:06Gonga is a step closer to being able to marry the girl of his dreams everybody is here is happy
42:11I think they're all slightly high on honey again but that's kind of cool in itself I've learned so
42:17much over the past few days they call these guys the happy tribe and you can see why they have
42:25an
42:25innate joy within them and I do think that comes from living a simpler life and I don't mean that
42:31in a patronizing way I mean that in a inspirational way I think the simpler we can all make a
42:36our lives the better I constantly look at communities like this and worry about their
42:43future they don't think like that it's all about today it's all about feeding themselves and their
42:48children today and that again spills into the whole happiness thing I just think don't think
42:54worrying about the future is in the Hadza at all so no they're not bothered about it they're happy
43:03fingers crossed Gonga's gonna get the girl obviously I think he will he's a charming man
43:09I think it's probably more to do with his cheeky grin than it is to do with his proficiency in
43:13baboon
43:14hunting but whatever it is I wish him all the best and I'm sure he's gonna have a very happy
43:20life
43:34you can see yourself
43:54thanks mate
43:55thanks
43:56thanks
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