Tribes After some early morning exploration we continue north and drive towards Kamanjab. Today we have the chance to experience life within a Himba tribe. The Himba are pastoral people and predominantly breed cattle or goats. They are easily recognisable by their unique style of dress. The Himba have been extremely diligent about upholding the roots of their culture but they are also very curious about visitors to their home.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
2nd of January 2014
It was a less efficient packing up of the tent today for Lisa and me, I'm thinking that I'm now running on empty, but none the less we got it done and made wheels up on time.
The drive to the Himba tribe campsite turned out to be another African Adventure / experience. As we dove down a typical Namibian gravel road the bullbar on Marilyn decided that separation was the best option. The drivers side weld that was holding the bullbar had completely failed so Zenzo and Shingi did try to secure the bullbar with tent fly rope, (that's all we had) as you can imagine it failed and the bulbar was violently jumping up and down as we drove along. So the decision was made to remove it completely now before it fell of whilst Zenzo was driving, which from my estimation would have been really bad.
It was at this point I offered my assistance, I worked out how to best get the bullbar of without causing any further damage to Marilyn. Once it was of we removed the number plate whilst we waited for the Nomad office to call us back with instructions. Their instructions were truely comical, according to Nomads Workshop Manager we had to take the bullbar with us, if we left it behind and it was subsequently stolen Zenzo and Shingi would have to pay for it. So as per their instructions we tried to put the 400kg bullbar in the back of Marilyn where the fridge was and it didn't fit despite the workshops insistence. We tried every other option but none of them worked so the only left was to leave Zenzo and the bullbar behind and when we get to town send someone to collect him and the bullbar!!!
Alas we were saved by the African family travelling in the ute, 3 adults in the front, 1 child and 1 adult in the cage. Zenzo and Shingi made a deal where they would carry the bullbar into the town closest to where we camping, we would then meet up with them and get the bullbar welded back on. The only issue I had was that the little girl was going to be in the back of the ute with the bullbar tied to the cage above her and if it came loose she would be a gonner. None the less the plan went ahead as it was the kids father riding in the back of the ute with her, all up this was going to cost 1000 Rand. (about $100)
We then had to push start the ute because it wouldn't start, after a while we saw the ute driving at about 40Klm's an hour so the boys followed them because they didn't know them and as such didn't really trust them. In the end their vehicle broke down so Zenzo hopped into the ute just in case they were planning to do a shifty, which left Shingi in the cab alone.
Lisa and I were in the front drivers side of Marilyn facing forward, Christoph and Martina were on the same side but facing the passenger side of Marilyn. Johanna was in the same seats as us but on the passenger side with Annabell and Juram sitting in the front seats facing the drivers side. (the seating in the front of Marilyn is basically in a "U" shape) Danny the American most have been feeling lonely as she asked Johanna if she could sit on the spare seat next to her, unfortunately Johanna was to polite and said yes.... from that moment on it was a nightmare, Danny has a really annoying American accent and talks complete bollocks as loud as she can all the time and this was no exception. She kept going on and on and on mainly about TV shows like Lost (the one that never ended) skulling games hinting that we should play them, I could feel evil Andrew wanting to get out and throttle her. That was until I realised the spare seat could be occupied by me, I saw the opening and took it. I dived through the tiny opening between the passenger compartment and the cab leaving Lisa wondering what had just happened. I could see the utter desperation in her face as I looked back, (broke the San peoples first rule) but I was free of the annoyance I also caught a glimpse of Johanna I'm reasonably sure she was regretting saying yes to the initial request now... moral of the story just say No !!!
When we arrived at the Himba campsite we had some lunch and then Lisa and I wandered off to find a spot away from the crowd but mainly Danny... the campsite itself was pretty good as it had a flushing toilet and showers (including a wood heated one). We found our spot and had a nap after jumping in the shower fully clothed, (it was a really hot day) during that time Shingi left to collect Zeno and Marilyn's bullbar.
We were collected by the local school teacher / guide and taken to the Himba camp, I had been looking forward to seeing them and how they lived because everything I had been told was that they try and live a traditional lifestyle. Unfortunately Iris became sick so I stayed with her and missed most of the tour, when the crew got back from the tour most of them said that they found it interesting but felt somewhat uncomfortable about the tour.
My thoughts are this, if they are living a traditional lifestyle as much as possible then its a better tour to do then something like the one we did in Lestho where we were shown the local supermarket and liquor store. In this tour they were shown how the women bath how they do their hair etc, you might be uncomfortable at seeing it first hand but if it was a David Attenbough documentary that's pretty much what they crew would have to see and do.
Later that evening Shingi told us about his culture and one aspect of it, basically the brides parents want money given to them at every opportunity, for example when Shingi wanted to meet the brides parents he had to pay them money, when he wanted to tell them what he was there for (which they already knew) they wanted more money. Then they had to negotiate how many cows he was going to pay for her, it was interesting but it seems that the brides parents are setting up a good retirement fund at the daughters new families expense, because these people are mostly poor and have no way of being able to pay the debt.
Danny decided to tell us about how marriages work in Israel (she's not married nor Israeli but has been studying their for 6 months and is therefore an expert)I couldn't take it so i just went and cleaned my cameras and went to bed...
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