- 8 hours ago
ed staffords rite of passage s Episode 3 Engsub
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00:11The
00:12Which I go cook cool yako, but I got a tobacco cook
00:17They are tobacco coach in a mimic and not cook the training
00:22We got one get last we 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'm at Stafford as an explorer
00:54And survivalist. I've made a career out of mucking about in the wild
00:59If I'm honest, I've never really grown up
01:03So now
01:06Ready guys
01:08I've set myself a mission
01:11To see how cultures across the world navigate the messy business
01:16becoming an adult I
01:20I
01:21Believe many of us in the modern world have lost our sense of identity
01:25But I'm hoping by immersing myself
01:27And they're often extreme trials that young people face I can figure out how these rituals make us better members
01:34of 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
01:46No, maybe even grow up
01:51Okay, he wants me to jump and I'm gonna jump up and 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
02:24I've been traveling for 48 hours just to get here and this is now my final leg a
02:31Five-hour drive deep into one of the most remote corners of the African Bush
02:36I'm heading to the Socorro community on the fringes of Lake Easi a
02:41Place often called the cradle of mankind and where human remains dating back around two million years were discovered
02:52I'm here to live with the hatter and from what I know of their right of passage into adulthood
02:57Involves 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 and
03:09One 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
03:34Hi guys
03:37I go and I'm a coco and
03:41Ed
03:43I'm not power and I bow above
03:50My mama, yeah, thank you I'm our sonics in a fall on wood it
03:59What's your name I bet who cook it oh no, I can't be basketball
04:06That's your name sakura maha sakura maha
04:40Sakuroma
04:42Gonga
04:45Gonga that would chop chop the tree
04:51Cool nice to meet you
04:52Not only do I not speak the language, but I can barely pronounce their names
04:57This could be a challenging week
05:00I appreciate being allowed to come and live with you for a small period of time in your community
05:05The key thing for me coming here is to learn about how you guys transition young men into adults
05:11And if it's okay with you the thing that I'm really really interested in learning about is
05:15How you hunt for the honey and extract the honey from wild sources?
05:20Because I tell it by luck or call with a quite political tip. I bet I got not on the
05:23mother one
05:24Thank you very much
05:26Okay
05:47The guys are hungry and they've got no food and they need to hunt so it's almost perfect for me
05:52rather than sitting around and all the awkwardnesses of
05:56Being introduced to a tribe. We'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
06:45The Hatsa diet is not for picky eaters. I reckon they like squirrels
06:53Consisting of over 30 different wild mammals including monkeys porcupines badgers and impala
07:02So some water to fight to fight. Yeah
07:07Other end other end other end other end other end
07:22Amazing
07:24It's good water is good water mate. Yes. Wow. I mean, that's so cool, isn't it?
07:30Look at that. That's extraordinary look. He's cut the bottom drank out the bottom because he didn't know that you
07:36could unscrew the top
07:39Why would you?
07:40Just just show doesn't it how divorced from everyday life this place is
07:45Thank God that plastic still hasn't infiltrated this corner of the world yet
07:50Nice
07:56You've got a quite a big tuberous root being exposed now
08:00Just take all of
08:02It's good is it? What's it called?
08:04Oh, I yeah, door. Oh, yeah, back. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh
08:23But with the flavor of potato
08:31What are we looking for me?
08:43Okay, cool. Looking for honey.
08:46For Hatsa boy to transition into manhood and complete their rite of passage,
08:51they must prove themselves as a provider for the community.
08:55So although facing an angry swarm of bees seems daunting,
08:58it's a primary food source for the Hatsa people.
09:03So it's something I must help them collect if I'm to pass my own rite of passage.
09:23The white wax on the exterior of a bee's nest
09:26means that bees are actively building new combs,
09:29which should hopefully be overflowing with fresh honey.
09:33How do you get the honey out of that?
09:38Woo!
09:40Ooh!
09:45Ooh!
09:56Wow, okay.
09:58With the hive more than 10 metres above the ground,
10:01it's not exactly the kind of place that you want to be stung by a swarm of angry bees.
10:06I'm not sure I particularly want to go climbing up that one.
10:10To make it even more precarious,
10:12the only way to climb is by using homemade wooden pegs.
10:21With only one squirrel successfully hunted,
10:24and now shifting our focus to honey,
10:26we've returned home with little food.
10:38She looked really hungry.
10:41I'm very grateful that tuberous rube got given to her.
10:45Yeah, she looked really hungry.
10:55The Hatsa's traditional hunting grounds have been whittled away to only 10% of what it was just 50 years
11:01ago,
11:02meaning less game to hunt for food.
11:05Yeah, there's a lot of little mouths to feed.
11:10Not that long ago, the Hatsa could easily feast on giraffes, elephant, and their favourite, baboons.
11:17But that looks like a distant memory today.
11:23Dead posh service, this is.
11:27Thank you, this is perfect.
11:28Laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga means lie down.
11:32Eh, eh, eh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
11:37Thank you, mate.
11:38Thank you, thank you.
11:38I've got a Coke.
11:39This is cool.
11:41So, basically, this is my accommodation for the next week.
11:49I don't want to become another mouth to feed
11:52Making my need to help provide honey for this community all the more vital
11:58Gonga, how many do we need to make?
12:10Gonga, some of the guys were saying there's a girl that you want to get married to
12:13I got a kind of girl
12:15Have you known her a long time then?
12:20No long, what's her name?
12:29I just want to go in a long time
12:34I can go in a long time
12:35What do you want me to do?
12:38I don't want to get married
12:39I'll send a girl to my wife
12:39I'll send a girl to my husband
12:51I'll send some help
12:52and protect a family.
12:54But right now, it looks like we're off to slay vampires.
13:00And climbing a 10-metre-high baobab tree
13:03to raid a hive filled with bees sounds just as daunting.
13:08The beehive is right in the crux of that.
13:12I'd say about 10 metres off the floor.
13:32A baobab tree like this could easily be 2,000 years old.
13:36Archaeological evidence found in this region
13:38reveals that Hadza have lived on these lands for over 50,000 years,
13:42which means their ancestors were likely hunting and raiding beehives like this
13:46during the Stone Age.
13:49Ganga's skill level of being able to hang on to a little peg
13:53while standing on a little peg,
13:55whilst banging in a little peg, is crazy.
14:00The East African lowland honeybee
14:01is one of the most aggressive bee species in the world,
14:04making up half of the infamous Africanised bee hybrid
14:08known as the killer bee.
14:11He's almost at the top now, though.
14:26One wrong move, and the bees could swarm Ganga and us.
14:30You can hear them up there.
14:32They are angry.
14:35I'd love to get stuck in and help,
14:37but Socorro says this is no job for a new bee.
14:42And this time, I'd have to agree.
14:44THEY ARE ARIGES
15:03THEY'RE ARIGES
15:05Despite still being stung,
15:08they pushed through the pain to access the prized honey.
15:13THEY'RE ARIGES
15:15The only problem now is getting all the liquid gold down.
15:27Kati!
15:44Got it?
15:51Oh, look at that. Beautiful.
16:01Yeah? Are you sure?
16:04Oh, 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.
16:40Well done, mate.
16:42Congratulations.
16:45Did you get stung much?
16:47Ding, ding, ding, ding.
16:55Get some honey down you, mate.
16:58But this honey isn't really for eating.
17:01They had to also use it to trade.
17:03And it's going to help Gonga in his mission to win his future wife.
17:07What could you buy with this?
17:08You can see why it is important, both as part of the rite of passage, but also as something to
17:21trade.
17:22And the boys are so happy.
17:27And the plastic bucket of fresh honey is a welcoming boost to the community's morale.
17:51And by the end of my week here, I will have to place my own hand into a wild bees
17:56nest to 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.
18:19But how important is it?
18:30How important is it?
18:36When 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, Hadda women believe their way of life is still
19:16best for their children.
19:18For them, survival doesn't come from money or possessions, but from community and a husband who can hunt.
19:26Gonga obviously is looking to get married. Do you think he's a good catch?
19:41Nice.
19:42I'm already fascinated by the Hadda and how a young man's rite of passage is directly connected to the survival
19:48of 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, Gonga can't hunt baboons. So we make the long trek through the wilderness to the area's
20:07only 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 Tetoga are another of Tanzania's oldest tribes. Their ancestors were fierce warriors and masters at making weapons.
20:40The neighbouring tribe appeared to be blacksmiths. We've got an arrowhead being made here and it's all using old little
20:48scrap bricks of metal.
20:50Incredibly simple and yet, obviously, it's a skill that the Hadda people don't have.
20:55But what the Hadda do have is honey.
20:58So time for a bit of bartering.
21:26Socorro is getting offered quite what he was hoping he was going to get offered.
21:43Happy days. You happy?
21:45Happy.
21:47Excellent.
21:4820 arrowheads and two knives.
21:52And he gets a pot of honey.
21:55Everyone's a winner.
22:00It's been a successful mission and Gonga now has the tools he needs to prove himself on 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 Gonga getting married.
22:20So it's time to meet the lady herself.
22:24The Umkowa-Boma community is home to other hunters and their families.
22:28But with less than 400 Hadda living a traditional life in the region, every camp is like an extended family.
22:35With many Hadda being married or related to one another.
22:39Which is your girlfriend?
22:41In the middle.
22:48She's beautiful.
22:49She's beautiful.
22:50She's beautiful.
22:52Hi.
22:53Lovely to meet you.
23:00Some guys are beautiful.
23:02Some people.
23:04She's beautiful.
23:06She's beautiful.
23:07She's beautiful.
23:11She's beautiful.
23:12She's beautiful.
23:12I'm beautiful.
23:12You're beautiful.
23:16I'll meet you.
23:17see they are called not quite cacaua while she moves mom seems sold on the
23:23idea her father looks a little less convinced in general how does it has a
23:31man prove his worthiness if he was to want to marry a lady in another
23:37community how does he how does he prove himself
23:50dama пока kaka k coach you ok ritual ok wired yeah a paganiche laca particularly
23:59GREAT CHILLERA patient doctor
24:15it seems like a bit of a tall order especially since all I've seen so far has been scrappy
24:21little 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
25:01him 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 late
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
25:59let's go
26:00look at this look at the leg we got a quaver perchedou go go away our man to make a
26:09basket I'm a pretty much
26:33This is 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 even the shelter the home that they're sleeping in is
26:49a temporary one that will work for the season and yet it's experience and knowledge and skill level that's enabling
26:55them to actually glean an existence from the environment being able to craft tools being able to make weapons being
27:03able to know all of the different hunting techniques that they need and by putting it all together you free
27:10yourself 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 but I consider that to be my first hunter arrows thank you mate
27:43happy days
27:46poisoned arrows ready we're all set to hunt baboon
27:59I've been walking about two hours from camp now it's a long way away and boys are on a mission
28:09to stand the greatest chance of success we're heading to new hunting grounds an eight kilometer hike away under the
28:17rising African sun
28:25so this is baboon country
28:29and it's stunning it's so different to the horizontal scrub if I was a baboon I'd be hanging out on
28:38these rocks up here classic 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 baboon
29:18in the chaos of the chase the group has splintered
29:24I 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
29:34or a troop of baboons
29:37I'm just struggling to even keep up with them
29:52okay
29:53okay
29:54baboon
29:55right in the top of that
29:57crescent of that tree
30:01okay it's coming down it's coming down
30:03that was a huge baboon
30:06exactly what gonga's 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 he 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
30:59he's the one leading the charge
31:03he's the best hunter out of this lot
31:08then suddenly the 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
31:36what is very cool
31:37is that this is gonga
31:39wanted to get married
31:39found 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
31:47to 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 that would be good
32:32but all isn't lost when gonga is leading the brigade
32:35ready
32:35uh-huh
32:38uh-huh
32:38uh-huh
32:43uh-huh
32:43uh-huh
32:44uh-huh
32:48okay
32:49nice
32:50okay 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 gonna have a go at trying 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
33:26I reckon we've got about
33:2940 minutes of daylight
33:32with the clock ticking
33:33it's now or never
33:40okay
33:40okay fine going
33:41stage one complete
33:42but this beehive is not going to be an easy one to get into
33:45it's um
33:47very enclosed
33:48and the bees are very well protected
33:51okay so 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
34:18okay
34:19go go
34:19go go
34:28the boys don't think that they um
34:31can 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
34:44and the light fading fast
34:45the other boys also step in to help
34:49I came here thinking you know what
34:51I want to prove that I can get the honey out myself
34:53and as I was chopping away
34:54and the boys are standing around I'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
35:03they all muck in
35:03they all put the effort in
35:05and 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
35:38it looks like the smoke from the fire I made
35:40has done its job in subduing the bees
35:48this is it
35:50time to get some for myself
35:53okay
35:53thank you
35:53thank you
36:05thank you
36:08thank you
36:08well done we
36:10that is beautiful
36:24Everyone has now had a lot of stings it's got to the stage where the honey out but the bees
36:29they just go for you I've probably got 20 or 30 stings there's this crazy pleasure
36:35pain thing going on here at the moment everyone is high on sugar and an excruciating pain at
36:42the same time
36:56on the crowd
36:59rock while the ground on guys to be well bringing the house now raising the roof when we ready to
37:05bust out the gate with a boost
37:07that was just speaking without moving his lips at all
37:21worth the pain worth the pain
37:27I would say that was a big success it's not a bad hole I'm not putting my hand in there
37:32again
37:39well your future father-in-law will be happy with that
37:42go quackle back up a couple by a go to shop
37:45back nice one going to quite cut it a cool cool cool yeah I got back up with that internet
37:50and I
37:50Google with the honey bagged a night upon us we have no choice but to spend the night sleeping rough
37:58in
38:02the bush what a day I mean that was honestly one of the most rewarding days of my life um
38:09we have
38:10honey to speed Gonga's wedding on its way today has just shown me it's all about team this isn't a
38:18one-man effort this isn't Gonga demonstrating his prowess on his own clearly he's one of the most competent in
38:24the whole group but it isn't about that to the Hadza it's about sticking together it's about turning up
38:30for each other and and it's about having fun and they have done all three of those in bucket loads
38:40morning and with everyone from the community gather for our return this is the moment of truth
38:48has 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
39:29Gonga's been a little bit shy maybe he's worried about the fact that he hasn't got a baboon
39:36I think he's just feeling the 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 bug love but one one one way
40:06with dollar could get or talk with that in here by la copa who are there oh no state that
40:13they are
40:19there's going to stand a chance with your dozer then
40:28look what's up and I'm like oh yeah I'm like oh Nicole and got the food cooler I could Jenna
40:36all right
40:39mate enjoy your honey go 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
40:57successfully secure the hand of his girlfriend if we've got a baboon that would have been amazing but
41:04you know you can you can't you can't get a bad printer I have to get them back adver didn't
41:11look awesome
41:22and maybe you're a step closer to marrying their daughter now what type of their船 you
41:31May can I just say thank you for giving me your time for allowing me to live with you guys.
41:37Thank you
42:02This is such a positive end to quite an incredible journey ready
42:07Gonga is a step closer to being able to marry the girl of his dreams
42:10Everybody is here is happy. I think they're all slightly high on honey again
42:15But that's kind of cool in itself. I've learned so much over the past few days
42:22They call these guys the happy tribe and you can see why they have an innate joy within them
42:27And I do think that comes from living a simpler life
42:30And I don't mean that in a patronizing way I mean that in an inspirational way
42:34I think the simpler we can all make our lives the better
42:40I constantly look at communities like this and worry about their future
42:44They don't think like that. It's all about today. It's all about feeding themselves and their children today
42:50And that again spills into the whole happiness thing
42:53I just think don't think worrying about the future is in the Hadza at all
42:58So no, they're not bothered about it. They're happy
43:04Fingers crossed Gonga is going to get the girl
43:06Obviously, 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 hunting
43:15But whatever it is, I wish him all the best
43:18And I'm sure he's going to have a very happy life
43:35You can see yourself
43:55Thanks, mate.
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