DAY 3 - A HIT WITH THE HIMBA
We departed Mowani Mountain Camp after breakfast and headed north. I only wish we could have stayed longer but it was another long drive to our next destination Opuwo in Kaokoland and home to the Himba people.
As we travelled, the warm hues of the mountains gave way to greys. We passed many local farms and villages where the locals primarily herd goats and a few cattle. After many hours of gravel roads, we reached Kaokoland at Palmwag. We stopped briefly at this agricultural checkpoint and it was here I had my first Himba experience. A small group of women with their children had set up shop outside one of the buildings. I soon had children tumbling over me wanting to touch my skin and clap their hands with mine. A small toddler made himself at home on my lap whilst I entertained them by taking photos and showing them their images. I left with a woven Himba necklace covered in the traditional red butterfat.
Many more Himba images greeted me as we finally reached Opuwo, the capital of the region. We lobbed briefly at our hotel and after a short rest headed out again to visit a traditional Himba community that our guide Rambo knows well.
It was such a treat to see them go about their daily lives rounding up and watering the goats and to be invited into their homes. I was honoured to meet the village matriarch and sit beside her clasping hands whilst uttering a couple of words in Himba that Rambo had taught us. A striking young Himba
woman then proceeded to show us her wedding wardrobe and how they produce the red colour that covers their bodies both protecting them from the sun and moisturising their skin. The pigment is created by grinding red stone that they then mixed with butterfat. I, too was soon daubed in red. Next she showed us how they perfume their bodies and clothes. The Himba don’t wash/bathe but they don’t smell. Each woman collects her bespoke fragrance from the bush. It is then dried and burned and the smoke is infused into their garments, under their arms and in their ‘nether regions’. I was then asked to partake - awkward to say the least!
John will now recount the finale to our visit.....
We spent two hours there watching the women doing their hair, tending their livestock, showing us the way they live and work. We were so welcomed that they danced for us before we left. Our guide is from a Himba tribe and we all
put in for some rice and other grocery items to give to the group. We had to make up for the ghastly attempt at dancing by Julie with something. They did offer to teach her but they had to admit that the rainy season was upon them and they would only be able to devote a couple of months of daily tuition which was obviously not enough.
Strangely enough the children weren’t frightened!!
I quite literally left ‘red faced’ and we returned to our lodgings just as the skies opened up and down came the rain. Does my dancing have some mystical effect on the weather?