Desert Survival Food · Wild Watermelon
Tsamma Melon
Photo: Bernard DUPONT / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Tsamma melons are about 90% water, and in dry spells people and animals alike, from antelope to hyenas, eat them for moisture.
This wild, bitter-fleshed relative of the watermelon grows scattered across the sand around Ghanzi and ripens deepest into the dry season, exactly when surface water disappears. Its flesh is eaten raw or cooked down into a side dish, its leaves used as a vegetable, and its seeds roasted or pressed for oil.
Why it's made this way: For San communities the tsamma melon was as much a water source as a food, letting hunting parties range deep into the Kalahari far from wells.
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