Today saw us travel to a Himba tribal village for a cultural tour. The trip was about 12km on a rocky dirt road – at the bottom of the valley. Looking from our lodge, the valley below seems green and forestry, but once on the valley floor you see that it is actually very dry, dusty & eroded, the trees/ bushes are scraggly, spikey & sparse – not at all what it seemed from above.

Our guide, Ishmael, explained the greeting – a special handshake & greeting of “morrow morrow, peri vi, peri naue” (Hello, How Are You, I am fine) – to every single person we saw – this was a mouthful.

The women of the tribe are still dressed traditionally, bare breasted, with cow hide coverings & dreadlock style of hair, which is coated in a form of the red ochre, with frizzy black extensions on the end and an “eremba” (a piece of cow/ or goat leather made up like a crown) on top of their head. They have special lower leg coverings which indicate how many children she has, they are also adorned with a variety of necklaces and leather jewellery. The men are dressed in a more western clothing these days, but still carry around staffs & machete like knives – for protection against animals etc.

We ask a variety of questions which were interpreted by our guide and one of the chief’s sons, Hans. (Namibia was a German colony before WW2, and has a lot of German influences) He has only just returned to the village, due to a death in the village. He was 24 and had been in Opuwo, looking for work. He was very helpful and spoke English very well. We took a variety of photos before we are shown to the head man’s / chief of the village hut. The village is designed in a circular fashion, with the chief’s hut first and then the other of the family, the chief can have up to 5 wives and they all have huts near his- he visits them all but usually has a favourite- this causes jealousy between the other wives but no violence is allowed. There is a sacred fire in the middle of the village where they have all of the ceremonies & the headman communicates with their ancestors.

There is no electricity in the village & the water has to come from a well. We were shown how they sleep on the floor- which is made from cow dung, water & dirt, with a small firepit which has fresh charcoal for heat. We then watched how one of the women made an ochre butter – this can take up to 1 hour to grind & prepare which they then rub into their skin, 3 times a day, to keep it moist. It also acts as a sunscreen & insect repellent in one! They make the crème/ butter themselves in the rainy season when the cows are milking by putting it into a kaberbash (like a dried gord fruit) hang onto a tree and shake for an hour or so before setting aside. The woman, don’t bathe like us – as in daily with water, as it is forbidden. They use the charcoal & herbs to perfume (steam) themselves & clothing, this acts like deodorant, I found this ritual a bit unusual especially when they started to steam their female parts…

On our way out we said our farewells and thank you’s –” o kee naun” to all the villagers we saw.

Once back at the lodge David & I made the trip back into town to fill the car with fuel for tomorrow… credit card facilities down- try tomorrow, so we then went to see if we could change some money, thankfully this time no problems – if the credit card machine doesn’t work, we can at least pay with cash!

Back at the lodge, a late lunch was called for before a leisurely swim, surprisingly, the pool water is quite cool and then some drinks and sunbaking all afternoon… argh this is the life.

The hamburgers on the lunch menu turned out to be huge, and we all decided to forgo dinner tonight.

Around 9:30pm we had a knock on the door, and David opened the door and was faced with a security guard, armed with a rifle. After a bit of communication difficulties, it turned out that they were concerned that we hadn’t come to dinner and as the kitchen staff were soon leaving, that we would miss out.

After a bit more explaining, that we were fine, and that we would come to breakfast at 7am, they bid us good night. Our experiences, with the Namibian people, has been all good, and they are genuinely happy to have you visit their country, and for you to have a positive experience while here!