Hoodia Gordonii Succulent and The San Tribe
The San are indigenous people of Southern Africa and live in isolated groups in the widespread semi-desert regions of the Kalahari in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. They traditionally used to be hunters and gatherers who migrated in small family bands. Total population is estimated to be around 90,000. The San followed the water, game and food and had no animals, crops or possessions. Traditionally women tend to look after the children as well as collecting edible plants whereas the men arer involved in hunting.
Leadership among the San is reserved for those who have lived within that group for a considerable time, who have achieved a respectable age, and who have desirable personal qualities. San are largely egalitarian, sharing such things as meat and tobacco. Land is usually owned by a group, and rights to land are usually inherited bilaterally. Kinship bonds provide the basic framework for political models. Membership in a group is determined by residency. As long as a person lives on the land of his group he maintains his membership. It is possible to hunt on lands not owned by the group, but permission must first be obtained by the owners.
San religions generally observe the supremacy of one powerful God, while at the same time recognizing the presence of lesser Gods along with their wives and children. Respect is also paid to the spirits of the dead. Among some San it is believed that tilling the soil is contrary to the world order established by their God. Some groups also reserve reverence for the moon. San peoples have extensive oral traditions, and many of their tales incorporate stories about the Gods that serve to educate listeners about what is considered moral San behavior. Of prime importance in all San groups is a ritual dance that serves to heal the community. The dance is a communal enterprise that transforms spiritual power and energy into medicine for all those who dance. The power is harnessed in the stomachs of both men and women, many of whom go into trance. This power can be used to heal both physical and psychological illnesses.
The San diet consists mainly of edible plants and they eat up to 100 different plant types. Of the most important is the mongogo nut, this is a staple food and provide more than half of the San tribe daily diet. The tsama melon is an important food and a valuable source of water. The pips of the melon are normally roasted over a fire.The San tribes to the North of the Kalahari eat mostly plant food that grow above the ground and those living in the central and southern part rely a great deal on underground bulbs and tubers as a source of food and water.
The San women have detailed knowledge of the desert environment and they use special sticks to unearth the bulbs 
and tubers.The men in turn are expert hunters, from time to time they are urged by their family to bring home a wildebeest or even one of the smaller animals like a porcupine or a few birds. Large animals include eland, kudu giraffe and antelope. These animals are hunted with bows and poisoned arrows. In some instances they use a snare to trap the smaller game. Animals that are caught in traps are swiftly killed with a spear, to avoid a slow painful death.The meat including liver, heart etc is roasted immediately after the hunt. The women normally share out the food to the entire group that spend hours feasting and chatting around the open fires.
Although the Kalahari is a dry region it contains a great variety of highly nutritious food plants, but they are spread over a vast expanse of the Kalahari Desert.
One of these is a cactus type plant known the world over as the famous Hoodia Gordonii, the miracle appetite suppressant. The San people have been using this Hoodia Gordonii Succulent for centuries to kill the appetite when food was in short supply and on journeys through the bush in search of food.
The Western World only “discovered” in the last century this plants ability, to suppress the appetite and kill food cravings. In 1996 scientists from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) isolated the hunger-suppressing chemical component in Hoodia, now known as P57, and patented it. At a ceremony in Andriesvale, a remote area of the Kalahari, the South African San Council and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of South Africa signed an agreement that recognizes and rewards the San as holders of traditional knowledge. The San would receive a mutually agreed percentage of the profit from the CSIR along with offers of education programmes, computer training and employment cultivating the Hoodia cactus plant in the Kalahari.
In 1997, CSIR licensed the UK-based firm Phytopharm to further develop and commercialize P57. It is available on the internet in lots of different forms but it is recommended that you buy capsules. The best effects are achieved from the Kalahari Hoodia Gordonii Succulent in capsule form.