Bundu Basher

Photo shows the Bundu Basher Tip at the end of a cane. The tip is long and cylindrical, the same diameter as the cane, and is about 10 inches long. The first 4 inches extend straight from the end of the cane, then it bends about 45 degrees and continues for another 3 inches (this is the part that is horizontal to the ground). It then bends again and the last 3 inches is turned up at a 45-degree angle from the ground (shaped like a wide 'U' or like a hockey stick with its tip bent upward).
The "bundu basher" tip was designed in South Africa
for traveling through the bush ("bundu" in Afrikaans)
and introduced to America by Moira Higgerty.


The tip can be slid along the ground in a snake-like fashion, going from side to side with the end of the tip leading the way, as demonstrated here in a wooded pathway in Maryland.
Two photos show a woman wearing black slacks and short-sleeved shirt walking through a green woods along a path of fallen leaves. She is moving a white cane with a bundu basher tip along the ground in an arc from side to side in front of her. As it reaches the extent of the arc at each side, the tip is turned to face the center again. Two photos show a woman wearing black slacks and short-sleeved shirt walking through a green woods along a path of fallen leaves. She is moving a white cane with a bundu basher tip along the ground in an arc from side to side in front of her. As it reaches the extent of the arc at each side, the tip is turned to face the center again.








Grateful appreciation to Cecilia Warren for being photographed for this illustration.

The following photos were taken in South Africa [photos courtesy of Moira Higgerty]

Photo shows a man wearing white dress shirt and dark slacks, walking through an opening in a barbed-wire fence that is taller than he is. In his right hand is a white support cane that is taller than his waist and has a curved handle, in his left hand is a long white cane with crook and black handle, and a bundu basher tip at the bottom.




The two gentlemen in these 3 photos use a support cane as well as a long cane with a Bundu Basher Tip (see "Support Cane Used with Long Probing Cane"). In the photos below, the man is following the fence to locate the opening to his church in his South African village.
Both photos show a man wearing a white T-shirt with a collar, grey slacks, and an orange baseball cap, walking along a dirt road lined with a barbed-wire fence about a high as his shoulder -- on the other side of the fence are fields of yellow grass about as tall as his chest, and beyond that are a half-dozen one-story buildings and green hills beyond them. He uses a white support cane with his right hand, and with his left hand he reaches a long white cane with a bundu basher tip toward the fence. In this photo, the man with the white support cane and the long white cane with a bundu basher tip has reached an opening in the fence and we can see part of a building or large tent on the other side of the fence.

The Bundu Basher Tip is sometimes also used in urban environments. The gentleman in the photos below requires the Bundu Basher tip to travel in his rural village and, rather than switch tips once or twice a month when he goes to pay bills and do his shopping, he uses the same tip when traveling to his local town.
Photo shows a man wearing grey slacks and a soft-grey-and-green-striped shirt and baseball cap walking along a sidewalk and approaching a curb at a corner with a traffic signal. He is reaching a long white cane with a bundu basher tip over the curb. The same man from the last photo is walking along a sidewalk with his hand centered in front of his waist, and reaching on the ground ahead of him with his long white cane with bundu basher tip.

Where can I get a bundu basher tip?

  • Email Bruce Blasch -- he will send a Bundu Basher Tip within the U.S. for $7.50 including shipping
    (check for shipping costs outside the U.S.).
  • The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind also sells bundu basher tips.

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