some traditional cuisine- included on the menu: caterpillars (photo under the namibian animals post) and some kind of homemade beer!
she is the leader for her tribe in the city. the first woman to do so.
a scientist working for sustainable food production methods. here he was talking about growing mushrooms.
himba dance circle
so heres a quick rundown. the himbas are spread around a lot of namibia. this tribe was maybe a 3 hour walk from a small town. the men go out with the grazing livestock during the day and nap. the women do absolutely everything else (and when you are practically self sufficient living in africa, that entails quite a lot). the men go to town much more often than the women and there is not much school for the kids (i've seen pictures of places set up for himba kids but this tribe had none).
status for a man depends on how many wives and children he has. the chiefs have the most, this tribe leader had 8 wives and 40 or so children.
due to old traditions, all the kids have their two bottom front teeth knocked out with a stick as soon as the adult teeth set in. so if you see someone in a city with missing bottom front teeth it means they came from a himba tribe - some chiefs say this is because there used to be an issue with disease in this part of the mouth, some also say in slave trade days it tricked captives from taking them since it would be an indicator of poor health.
all of their jewelry represents something. mostly to due with marriage or kids
so. at some young age, the women put on the red paste and start with the scented herb smoke baths twice a day. after that they never shower for the rest of their lives! they they do smell pretty umm strong, but that's due in great amount to the untreated goat skin they wear. it's a very pungent leather.
we spend some time volunteering in an orphanage with some chores and playtime.
just noticed the kid catching the tennis ball with his head in the beginning
from a nature reserve. getting rid of mites.
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