impact
Culture
Culture may seem intangible, but it’s what makes us human. Conceived as a “love letter to the Karoo”, the Samara experience celebrates Karoo culture, stories and traditions.
We view the Great Karoo as an irreplaceable part of our heritage and are committed to honouring its cultural values.
The United Nations agency UNESCO defines the somewhat intangible concept of culture as: the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of a society or a social group, that encompasses not only art and literature, but lifestyles, ways of living together, values systems, traditions and beliefs. Put simply, culture makes us human and, accordingly, it is worth protecting.
Emphasis is placed on serving and selling products that are either made or procured locally, and recognisably from the Karoo region, renowned for its warm hospitality and small livestock farming culture.
A key cultural element of the Samara experience is the ancient art and science of wildlife tracking. This indigenous knowledge, once passed from grandfather to father to son, evolved for reasons of survival. Today it is being lost to increasing urbanisation and the commercialisation of the modern-day safari experience, both of which have obviated the need for old-fashioned tracking. By honouring tracking as a discipline in its own right, and training the guiding team to develop their tracking knowledge, Samara seeks to ensure this highly-specialised skill survives into the next century.
Some of the most well-known tracking cultures in Southern Africa are that of the San and the Khoi Khoi, the names given to the various indigenous peoples that descended from the Cape’s very first human inhabitants. Samara is located in a region that was once inhabited by both San and Khoi Khoi people, the former being nomadic hunter-gatherers and the latter coming from a pastoralist sheep and cattle farming tradition. As a result the reserve is fortunate to be custodian to several historic cultural sites. The most notable example is a cave containing rock art, including a rare depiction of a cheetah, which has been carefully preserved. Guests staying in one of Samara’s lodges can hike up to the cave with a guide to study the paintings and their significance as cultural markers.
The Karoo region’s more recent history is also in evidence at Samara. French explorer and ornithologist Francois le Vaillant camped along the Plaat River that traverses the reserve in the 1780s, recounting the experience in his travel diary; an old Voortrekker wagon route from the 19th century traverses Samara’s southern reaches; several buildings on the original farms that make up the reserve still stand after 250 years. The rich tapestry of cultural influences in our region, as in South Africa more broadly, instils a true sense of place in those who visit.
Culture is what makes us human
