The article was, as you would expect, well written, with lots of great pictures, describing a people who still follow their ancient ways.
The Hadza, the article explained, are a society of hunters who live off what they can kill with their bows and arrows - they do not farm or grow crops.
They live in small, 2m-wide domed huts made from sticks leaning together, with wide leaves - or perhaps a plastic sheet - to offer protection from the rain.
To most readers, it would seem amazing - here is an exotic tribe living a life of extreme hardship in a remote area that would surely take at least three days of different kinds of travel to get to.
It sounded as if they'd probably never seen a European before - or only rarely.
How could there still be people like this in the world?As we discovered, however, the reality is slightly different.
We had been working on an assignment with VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad) in Arusha, Tanzania, for about 18 months when we decided to go camping for the weekend with some other volunteers.
We chose Lake Eyasi in the middle of northern Tanzania, about four hours drive from Arusha.
For those that have not been there, Arusha is a reasonably modern, mid-sized African town.
It has plenty of shops and services, some nice restaurants, and many tourist facilities for excursions to the game parks in northern Tanzania.
The road to Lake Eyasi is sealed, with the exception of the last 40km.
At the end of this rough dirt road you find the lake, and a nice - but fairly basic - camping ground.
You can buy basic items like drinks and snacks at the camp entrance; there is also a bar.
A few kilometres down the road is a typical dusty Tanzanian rural village, with people going about their daily lives, farming animals, growing crops, and running basic shops.
The kids go to school, while teenagers play pool in the shade.
We hired a guide and drove for just 30 minutes or so out into the dry bush, where we found a Hadza (plural Hadzabe) village.
Just as the writer of the National Geographic article had described, its inhabitants were scantily clad, and they were living a very basic existence on the sand in crude lean-tos.
The men let us try their bows and arrows to shoot at targets.
They smirked when we tried to draw the bows back - we found it hard to pull them back even halfway, yet the Hadza men seem to do it effortlessly.
They even hold the bow fully drawn for a few moments while they wait for their prey to get into the right position.
Meanwhile, the women, who were sitting in another group, offered to sell us colourful little bracelets.
We took some of them for a ride in our Land Rover further into the bush to a sacred rock, where a plant grows from which the Hadza people extract poison for their hunting arrows.
The people we met were very friendly and welcoming.
They were also keen to sell us anything they could.
They use the money to buy steel arrow-heads from another local tribe, the Datoga, who are farmers and blacksmiths, rather than hunters.
Sometimes they take the money to the local village to buy a Coke, or a new pair of shorts - you get the picture.
In other words, stories about remote people living a lifestyle untainted by modern civilisation can, for a volunteer in the field, be just another interesting side trip not too far from home.
And their lifestyle is probably not much different from that of the people you are working with - and of the friends you have made.
The National Geographic will always be a great magazine, but next time you read about an exotic culture or a remote location, remember that they may not seem that way to a volunteer.
Volunteering - it will change your perspective.
• Ross Headifen, of Dannevirke, is an engineer on a two-year assignment for VSA in Tanzania, working as a water systems technical support officer.
• This week is Volunteer Awareness Week.
About VSA
- Volunteer Service Abroad is a home-grown Kiwi volunteering organisation which has placed more than 3000 volunteers in countries throughout the Pacific, Asia and Africa.
- Its volunteers have been in demand for almost 50 years, adding their skills and energy to help strengthen communities striving for change.
- VSA works with partner organisations to make sure its assignments are locally identified, locally relevant, and locally delivered.
- VSA has about 100 volunteers working in the field at any one time.
- Its volunteers come from a wide range of backgrounds, from accountants and lawyers to sports trainers and eco-tourism operators.
- Most VSA assignments last two years.
- VSA works in 12 countries in the Pacific, Asia and Africa.
- VSA volunteers have their airfares paid and get a modest income while overseas.
- For more information, visit www.vsa.org.nz
