Legendary Bushman's Paradise

The Bushmen of South Africa's Kalahari Desert are poor by the standards of the rest of the world, but there is a legend that may prove them to be among the wealthiest diamond tycoons on the entire planet...

Although they live in a third world environment, and for all intents and purposes look to be amongst the most poor of the worlds poor, legend has it that the Kalahari Bushmen know of a secret oasis, hidden among the burning dunes of the Kalahari desert, warded by the great kings of the jungle, mighty lions! What is in this hidden oasis? Diamonds! They say that diamonds lie on the ground in huge quantities.

As the story goes only one white man, a soldier, whose name is now lost to time, has ever seen the fabulous haven and this poor fellow was lost himself. He had been separated from his patrol in the desert. The poor, weak, nearly dehydrated trooper had been walking aimlessly in the Kalahari Desert for some 15 hours. Near the limits of his strength and just when the hot sun began to set, as the cool night began to settle around him he suddenly had the feeling that he was not alone. He was right. Suddenly as if from out of thin air he was surrounded by the primitive natives who inhabit the Kalahari and was taken prisoner. The Bushmen bound him and took him to the secret oasis in the desert.

Astonished by the sight of all the wealth just scattered about the ground the soldier was determined to escape and tell the world of what he had seen. He somehow did escape and rather than tell the world of his find he raised money for an expedition to make his fortune.

He was found dead weeks later with a Bushman’s arrow broken off in the center of his heart. In his pockets, according to the story, were found several rough diamonds and a map showing the route to the Bushman’s paradise. The soldier’s body was found by two white missionaries who apparently buried his body and then determined to follow the map and find the diamonds. They left a note behind identifying the body and a rough diamond behind to prove the find was real.

One of the missionaries fell ill and turned back, he later returned to England where he related the story to the press. The second missionary was never seen again, his mother and sister were distraught and put together a search party that they sent to the Kalahari Desert but all they ever found was his bible, torn and bloody.

No one knows what became of the map, but many believe the diamond oasis still awaits discovery, any body interested? I love stories like this, I do not know if it is true or not but it is just one of the many reasons why I invite you to keep an open mind and to keep walking in this big weird world of ours!

I’m Average Joe

email: OurWeirdWorld@gmail.com