Slovenia Vintage

Namibia 5 Himba - red ochre stains

A young child, only one year old, runs to me and lies down across my leg, ready to sleep. My khaki pants and shirt now covered in bright red paint, drool and other treats, the mom picks him up and cuts his hair. Restraining him forcefully across her lap, she takes a dry razor blade and drags it across the child's head amidst wails of protest. Finished, the boy is bald except for a tiny mohawk of black hair down the centre.

Asking the women about details of their life, we are constantly reminded of their different perspective. While some elements of their lives might seem very much in common with our own (weddings, funerals), all it takes is the simple question of their age to bring our differences to light. While one girl knew that she was 30, the others had no idea.

Although many Himba have significant material wealth (200 cattle could fetch N$400,000), they live in simplicity. Owning little beside the clothing they wear and the cattle they drive, they are happy -- surviving in the past despite the world advancing around them.Turning to see the cause of the noise behind me, a young boy is dragging a goat for slaughter, the goat digging his hoofs into the ground, seemingly aware of his fate. The rest of the goats are held in a small square enclosure made from thick branches driven into the earth. Running across the dusty dry ground is a hen, five hatchlings in tow, hopping over the pebbles.

All of the tradition aside, the Himba people are slowly adapting to the life in more developed regions. Some Himba people make the occasional journey to towns like Opuwo, some live within the town while others have never ventured outside their own settlement. Driving along the lengthy gravel roads between the villages and the town, one is constantly encountering a Himba in traditional garb motioning with their hand for you to stop. The young children are typically asking for sweets, while most others will ask to hitch a ride in your car. Even if your car is full of gear, no seats remaining, they will often peer through your window and point out space on top of your luggage at the back, or on the roof. Accepting, you should be prepared for the tough red ochre stains that will remind you long in the future of your generosity.
While every girl and woman wears only a leather loin cloth and a variety of handmade accessories, the men are often seen in printed fabric "lap" (printed cloth worn around their waist), while others also wear T-shirts typically depicting some outdated logo or slogan.
Calvin & Sharon 
photo: Janin Klemenčič
(to be continued)

Namibia 4 Himba fighting

Himba men are known for their fierce fighting; their wooden sticks or machetes carried everywhere. Even in the dusty town of Opuwo, men carry their weapons daily in preparation for fight. Confrontation often breaks out over theft of cattle, division of cattle between siblings and rape; but even small verbal disagreements can trigger these life or death matches. If you kill someone in a fight you must give the deceased's family 37 cattle, only 8 if you maim or injure. It is hard to understand what little value is placed on one's life.

The chief shows me his arm which has a large weeping wound, caused when he fell from his cattle earlier in the day. Putting on some latex gloves I applied ointment, gauze and a tensor bandage for him and did my best to explain how to redress the wound. Unfortunately I must have put on the bandage a little tight as he returned later with a bluish arm and motioned for me to fix it. Oops!

Calvin & Sharon
photo: Janin Klemenčič

(to be continued) 

Namibia 3 Himba's attire

They are incredibly efficient with water, able to feed a family for several days on a litre of water.

The morning ritual for the women starts with a cleansing and the application of the bright red ochre powder (derived of rocks from Ruacana) with butter. Acting as a natural moisturizer, the coating lasts for days and gives the bare-chested Himba their striking appearance.

 Hair and jewellery play an important part of the Himba's attire, indicating one's marital status and puberty. Males wear a thick necklace made from loops of shell and a black tarry mixture of manure and ochre. These necklaces, over an inch thick, are donned as a young child, worn for life and must never be removed. Similarly, women wear tall anklets made from metal beads and fabric, again never to be removed. Young girls have hair matted down with ochre and butterfat into long braids hanging down in front of their faces or wound into two horn-like bumps with animal hide.

A nearby pile of ten cattle skulls, surrounded by stones, marks the grave of a once prominent member of their group. Flies constantly settle on my face, and I grow tired of waving them away.

Calvin & Sharon
photo: Janin Klemenčič

(to be continued) 

Namibia 2 Himba settlement

We approach a settlement with three small homes and a larger one for the holy fire. The homes are usually built from mopane branches stacked like a tent, which are pasted with cattle manure, creating a solid orange-red home, dry even during the rainy season.

Greeting a young Himba girl in the native tongue, we ask her for the chief. She points off into the distance and calls out. Sometime later, a young man approaches, wearing a blue mesh shirt, red print cloth and shoes cleverly fashioned from a discarded tire. After the traditional exchange of greetings, we ask him if we could enter their settlement and visit. Agreeing, we make an offer of a 10kg bag of mealie maize, the staple of their diet. One must never enter a Himba settlement without first talking to the chief or the chief of the holy fire (if one exists).

Life is simple in the settlement, though entails hard work. Their worth is dictated wholly by the size of their cattle herd, some amounting to as many as 200. Walking great distances (up to 50km a day), they must walk far to gather water or round up their herd.

Calvin & Sharon
photo: Janin Klemenčič

(to be continued)

Namibia - The Himba

This last week has been incredible. One of those moments that open up your eyes to life outside one's own.

Making our journey north as far as the border with Angola, we found ourselves in the land of the indigenous Himba people. With hundreds of kilometres of rough dirt roads seeing very few people ever passing, one must come prepared: a week's worth of water and food. Getting punctures is easy; getting stuck without help for days could be disastrous. With the isolation comes the preservation of local culture.

As we see three young Himba girls at the side of a nearby settlement their striking appearance gives an immediate sense of timeless existence.

The Himba are one of the last remaining hunter gatherer groups in Africa. Until 20 years ago, many of them still hunted with stone implements. Without any real land entitlement, they are nomadic, settling in temporary homes for a few months before moving on. When the earth is no longer ripe for cattle and crops, they pack up their few possessions and walk as far as necessary to find fresh land.

Calvin & Sharon
photo: Janin Klemenčič

(to be continued)

Etosha National Park - high-beams 2

Often, a driver will turn back on their high-beams just before they pass by, blinding you at the wheel. Boy, did this ever get under Nelson's skin. With as fast a reaction as possible, Nelson would mash the lever for his beams, hoping to have the last word with the oncoming driver. Frustration and swearing sets in if he didn't get to the lever in time.

This game of blinding each other just as they pass comes down to pride. Unfortunately, it often seemed that Nelson would be trying to blind oncoming semi-truck drivers, just to teach them a lesson. The last thing you need is a huge truck with a blind driver just about to hit you. But at least we'd get the last laugh.

"You see, these people are so silly," Nelson would respond, driving with his knees. With a wooden matchstick in one hand and a knife in the other, he proceeds to carve himself a toothpick, driving 100 at night.

Calvin & Sharon

(to be continued)