The Hadza are Africa’s last hunter-gatherer people. They are similar to the Bushmen who speak the click language, and it is believed that their language still contains clicks and pops that no other language produces. This small African Bushmen tribe is thought to have been driven out of the Ngorongoro Crater and the Crater highland woods by the more hostile Maasai and Iraqw (Mbulu), who later established themselves in their current territory near Lake Eyasi. These African Bushmen survive entirely on hunting and gathering fruits and berries. They never raise cattle or produce agricultural products.

They can use their powerful bows to hunt wild animals such as zebras, giraffes, and buffaloes, but most large mammals have declined in number, leaving them to rely on smaller animals such as antelopes and birds. They poison the arrows with a poison derived from a tree they are familiar with. Hadzabe males typically hunt alone throughout the day, feeding themselves and occasionally bringing home honey, fruit, or wildlife when available. Women forage in larger groups and frequently bring home berries, baobab fruit, and tubers, depending on what is available. Another cooperative activity between men and women is foraging for fruit and honey, and a group of foraging women is usually accompanied by at least one adult male.

During the wet season, the diet consists mostly of honey, some fruit, tubers, and sporadic meat, and visitors can either hunt with the Bushmen using traditional bows and arrows for their daily food or go fruit and berry picking with the women. Meat consumption increases during the dry season when wildlife is more likely to congregate near water sources. Men hunt in pairs at this time of year, spending the entire night waiting by waterholes in the hopes of shooting animals that come close for a nighttime drink with poison-tipped bows and arrows.