There is a fire just after dawn in the bush. One thing for the Hadza tribe is that the sun is starting to rise over the Yaeda Valley. It's time to start looking for the food that will keep them going until the next sunrise.
For the women, this means going out with long wooden sticks and digging for food. The men like to hunt. They will cover up to 40 km on foot.
A group of ultra-marathon runners will arrive on Hadza land in the summer of 2023 for an 80 km race. Hadza survival skills will be used by competitors.
Feed zones and energy gels will not be available. Runners will not be able to bring supplies. The trees' fruit will be an energy source as well as a source of water.
The Hadza tribe have been living in this area for a long time. They are a hunter-gatherer tribe. They live day to day off their native land in the Yaeda Valley and have no history of famine.
Their population has fallen because of encroaching pastoral tribes. Since the 1960s, they've lost most of their land.
There were no other tribes in the area up to 80 km from here when Maroba was a child.
Everything from elephant, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest were plentiful for hunting here. People began to move in as that changed.
The race will be held during the dry season. If you know where to look, there is a lot of food. Apooa shows us a branch that looks like it's made of food. She says that the food will keep them going until this evening.
We're going to get a first-hand look at some of the course with two tribe members.
The Hadza are an equal society for genders and ages. There is a hierarchy in our running group.
With a bow and arrow in one hand and the other in his pocket, Moshi is moving fast over rocky terrain, alert to any hunting opportunities. To keep up, you have to run.
Earlier that morning, the route of next year's race was explained to Moshi by Mika Peterson, our guide and translator from the Dorobo Fund, a conservation arm of Dorobo Safaris that works with the Hadza to retain land rights. He will work with ultra-marathon expert Josue Stephens and his company Barefoot Adventures to organise the race, which doesn't have a name yet.
The Hadza don't use a lot of mileage. Mika uses well-known Hadza landmarks to explain the route.
Mika's father, Daudi, says that it is common for Hadza to go off hunting and do 30 or 40 km in the morning.
Born to Run is the best-selling book of all time, and is the subject of a long running relationship with the Tarahuma tribe. He wanted to organize a race with the Hadza due to their endurance.
A Hadza tribe member completes the UK's recommended weekly guidance for exercise every day, according to studies. The Hadza have good heart health, with low blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Mika from the Hadza group told us that they would like to do the race and that they would like to stay near the back to help anyone who is struggling.
It will be difficult for the 50 to 100 racers.
It will be difficult to travel 80 kilometres in temperatures over 30C at 1,300m altitude. The racers will look for wild berries, dig for tuber, harvest honey, and climb the trees for water and fruit.
"For the racers, those challenges are going to take a long time, but I am going to be able to do them quickly," he said.
The baobab trees are abundant in the valley. They have thick trunks that make them look like water hydrants.
The tree of life in Africa is called the boabab. During the rainy season, it can hold more than 100,000 liters of water. It has a fruit that is six times more powerful than an orange.
The main source of sustenance for the race will be the bab. Racers won't be able to bring their own food and will have to get food and drink from other people.
We stopped to practice our baobab harvesting skills midway through the morning hunt on our last day in the valley. The traditional Hadza hello is being taught by Moshi as he smiles and laughs.
'Are you alive?' is translated as 'are you dead?'
The bees were being smoked out for honey. He used a hand drill and dried grass to start a small fire. For roasting at night, racers will need to master this.
There is a piece of wood painted white and green, just to the right of us. A boundary marker is about a meter high.
The lines of Hadza territory are drawn by the paint on the ground.
The race proceeds will go to the Hadza to use their land and share their survival skills. Money is spent on healthcare, education and land disputes. They have lived in this area for tens of thousands of years, but only since 2003 have their traditional territory been officially assigned to them.
On our last day with the Hadza, we sat on a huge rock overlooking the Yaeda Valley. Maroba began a long story with his arms pointing in different directions as he explained the different areas on the horizon which used to be Hadza land.
We wanted to know how he felt about the rival tribes.
He smiled and said it was harder to live off the land than it was when he was a child.
The increase of people and pressure make it difficult to hunt. The way it is going is not pretty but those people need to make a living.
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