Oupa Dawid Kruiper led the historic land claim against the newly formed democratic government of South Africa in respect of land that had been ‘taken’ from the Bushmen in the sense that they could no longer live on and from the land in the way that their forebears had when the Kalahari Gemsbok Park (now Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park) between South Africa and Botswana was formed. The small clans that inhabited the area were at first allowed to live adjacent to the park headquarters before being ejected from the park to live in the dry river bed South of it, where they sold their crafts to park visitors to eek out a meagre living. When I first met Oupa Dawid he and the traditional people still wore skins, but as the years went by these were replaced by modern attire. In this photo was are sleeping out at Bobbejaanskop, their traditional camp in the park, with Oupa in an oversized suit that someone had donated to him. His mischievous grin says it all about his incredible sense of humour and of irony.
Oupa Dawid Kruiper led the historic land claim against the newly formed democratic government of South Africa in respect of land that had been ‘taken’ from the Bushmen in the sense that they could no longer live on and from the land in the way that their forebears had when the Kalahari Gemsbok Park (now Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park) between South Africa and Botswana was formed. The small clans that inhabited the area were at first allowed to live adjacent to the park headquarters before being ejected from the park to live in the dry river bed South of it, where they sold their crafts to park visitors to eek out a meagre living. When I first met Oupa Dawid he and the traditional people still wore skins, but as the years went by these were replaced by modern attire. In this photo was are sleeping out at Bobbejaanskop, their traditional camp in the park, with Oupa in an oversized suit that someone had donated to him. His mischievous grin says it all about his incredible sense of humour and of irony.
