Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Pans are home to one of the world’s most enduring living cultures. Through a partnership with Nanofasa, the Natural Selection Foundation supports the Wisdom Academy – a gathering place where Ju/’hoansi elders, master trackers, healers and craft makers pass generations of ecological and cultural knowledge on to the next generation and to visiting guests.
The Academy is a working village where knowledge is actively practised, shared and passed on. By supporting the Wisdom Academy, we help safeguard Ju/’hoansi traditions, create sustainable livelihoods rooted in indigenous knowledge, and give guests a deeper understanding of San culture and history.
This knowledge also has an important role to play in the future of the Makgadikgadi. By mapping ancient Ju/’hoansi travel routes and wellpoints alongside wildlife and land-use data, the programme is helping uncover historic pathways across the landscape and explore how traditional ecological knowledge can inform the restoration of wildlife movement today.
