Himba people

I loved the Himba village and found the fact that the Herero people who are related to them and wear full Victorian dress an unbelievable contrast! The men wash with water and wear western clothes but the women are bare-chested and wear an ochre paste which makes them very orange/ brown but protects them from sunburn and mosquitoes. They wash themselves by having a type of sauna where they burn cinders and herbs and hold it over their body with a cloth and breathe it in. It is a bit like we do when we are taking menthol head bath except they do it all over their body. It takes them two hours to get washed and put on the red clay. The red clay protects them from mosquitoes and is very greasy and gets everywhere. The women have dreadlocks. They used to use animal hair but now buy the hair from the supermarket and put the clay over their hair and the false hair and turn it into dreadlocks. The married women wear anklets and a band round their waist. I had the feeling they were being kept in the middle ages whereas the husbands took the tourist money and lived better lives. The four men shared about twenty women between them. The saving grace of this village was that they also looked after orphans.The kids were lovely and loved the balloons I had brought.

The Herera women in town wore full missionary dress of long dresses and high necklines and long sleeves in vibrant colours. This is due to being converted by missionaries in the 1800’s and being told that the native costume of bare chests and animal skin mini skirts are not suitable.

We also visited Damaraland and the Brandenburg Mountain to see Rock art made by the Bushmen in ancient times. While there we saw large mice the size of a small dog (Rock Dassies) which are related to the Elephant and are the only known Elephant to climb trees!

The Capital of Namibia Windhoek is made up of a variety of Colonial and Germanic style houses and buildings.