Xai-Xai location scouting
The road to Xai-Xai was quite long, almost always rough and sandy, in many places often waterlogged, or else just completely overgrown with no visible trace at all. Fortunately, it had rained recently so that the very soft sand, which usually is the main road, had turned a bit harder and easier to drive on. However, the rain itself had left behind such large waterholes that it was somewhat scary to just drive through it.
I had been warned not to come on the weekend, since people tend to have money in their pockets and they tend to spend it on alcohol. The village of Xai-Xai (with the X as click sound) is only about 150 km west from the main road, but turned out to be a 10 hours drive. Maybe only one car in a week might drive this road and apparently the last car got attacked by elephants and the people jumped out and ran away.
I heard this story from the lady in charge of the Gcwihaba Cave. She also gave me the person's name to see, if I wanted to do something in the village.
My impression of the village was at first promising, with its idyllic scenery. The village is spread out on both sides along a dry but green riverbed, which in earlier days was flooded with water. It's a drainage basin for the close by Aha mountains. Nowadays, it rarely flows and even then only in small amounts, appearing like a stretched out oasis, with some vegetable fields in its midst. Some children stormed towards the car to greet us and we were able to understnad each other enough to find the direction to the hut of the person in charge of the Xai-Xai people.
Surprisingly he was not a Bushman but a Baherero. I explained to him the reason for my visit and he presented me with the rules to be followed around Xai-Xai. To be even just be present in the village one had to hand over a certain amount of cash per night. Later he allowed me to camp inside the fence around his house and to use his bathroom. A communal meeting with the Elders of the village and other interested parties would then be arranged. This had to happen at the 'Kgotla', which is the central meeting place to discuss all the issues of the village. To spread the word for such an event we had to drive around to the hamlets and assorted dwellings on both sides of the riverbed and invite people for the afternoon. Not far from the 'Kgotla' there is a certain tree with a large iron ring and by banging on it, like on a church bell, one can alert people about the get-together.
In the end, after all the running around, a grand total of 5 people showed up for the meeting, so we decided instead to just look for a location for the future possible placement of the World in a Shell in Xai-Xai.
Later on in the day, we also had a bit of fun with a couple of visiting elders, until they discovered we had only a small amount of sugar with us. They then just sort of disappeared kind of instantly, away in the opposite direction and out of sight.
The next morning was a Monday and this time the second attempt to get people together worked out. The Kgotla itself was in a beautiful setting, under a large tree, cool and very pleasant. But unfortunately the actual Kgotla consisted of a rectangular concrete floor, roofed with corrugated iron. The shade of the tree gave beautiful light for some close-up shots and I managed to film a backward moving Dung beetle rolling a dropping along.
Before things started a tabletop and some chairs were brought along from the local police station to make the meeting more official. I explained the basic elements of the World in a Shell and what the meaning of swap-shopping was and my host translated this to the locals. The first question for them turned out to be how much money they would be receiving from me. Apparently they must have mixed me up with the director of the 'The Gods must be crazy' or the occasional tourist who flies in with his chartered airplane. I was very disappointed that these wise men did not feel my energy or could even just differentiate me from the Hollywood film industry. Maybe they had just had a heavy weekend and needed to get over their hangover.
Overall, Xai-Xai left the impression on me that poverty and alcohol are rampant in its society and that the ancient ways are a mere memory.