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We started the day with a camp breakfast of note, everyones favourite, bacon, eggs, toast, fried banana and a decent cup of java. After breakfast we started washing our laundry, it felt like all day.
Early afternoon we picked up Stephen our Himba guide. He went to school in Sesfontein, speaks and writes English very well, and is knowledgeable. He very quickly navigated us across the now relatively fast flowing Hoarusib River. Yesterday it was a dry river bed.
He took us to a local Himba tribe. Here we met a few women who showed us how they mix the fat of milk and the powder form of a stone with which they smear their bodies. This not only gives them a red colour but also protects them from the sun. They also mix herbs with the same fat and smear that on thier bodies to keep odours at bay.
Walking through the Himba village you realise how far removed they are from reality or is it possibly us? Here we are with our fully rigged 4×4’s, drawer systems, roofracks, fridges and freezers, water tanks, food and drinks for weeks and we still complain…. These people sit in mud houses, no beds, chairs, furniture of any kind and definatley no clothes. No fridges, no freezers, no pantry, no fully stocked kitchen or built in cupboards. They hardly drink water and their diet consits of mielie pap and mea,t once maybe twice a day. Nothing more! No fruit and no vegetables. Nothing grows here, and if it does the elephants eat it.
The little children have the most beautiful white teeth, very possibly due to no sweets and a herb they clean their teeth with. They have no tissues, that was clear. The poor little kids all sat with number eleven noses. I was surprised to see a baby with a bottle, although I would not have touched it without protective clothing. That bottle has never seen Miltons before!
The women sit for two weeks to soften the hide of an animal before it is ready to be made into a loin cloth of sorts. They don’t have to worry about washing or laundry all they do is burn herbs and “smoke” their clothes and blankets. No water or detergent needed. Strangely this seems to work as you do not smell anything or anyone…
At the end of our tour we were taken to their “shop” where all the women sell beads, wood carvings, makalani palms etc. We bought a wooden giraffe, zebra and elephant.
Stephen then took us to a view-point overlooking the Hoarusib River. What a view, what an incredible privilege.
This evening the hot topic of discussion was what routes possibilities we had seeing as the rivers were all in full flow. The verdict was depressing. Our only option was to travel back to Sesfontein on the notoriously bad road the following morning.