Rhino, Street Hawkers and Himba Saliva
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2008
1
2
71
Trip End
Sep 03, 2009
Etosha National Park,
Namibia
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The next day was much easier, with us game driving to the next campsite, also by the etosha salt pan. The waterhole by this campsite is visited by rhinos on a regular basis, and we weren't disappointed
Elephant at Etosha telling us to bugger off
. After dark everyone from the campsite, guest houses and rooms gathered round the waterhole, there was well over 100 of us there. There were 3 black rhinos, 1 huge bull elephant and 2 lions by the waterhole. It all started to kick off when one of the rhinos got too close and was chased away by the elephant trumpeting at him. The 2 remaining rhinos then chased away the 2 lions, who complained loudly for the rest of the night. The elephant, who wasn't going to be outdone, then decided to chase away a jackal, who was about the size of his foot. As the animals started to wonder of, I headed to bed which was thankfully in the other direction. I tried not to worry about how sharp the jackals teeth were, who were wondering round the campsite like stray cats.On the game drive to our next campsite, we struck it lucky again, this time seeing a huge herd of zebra drinking, with many kudu, impala, wildebeest and a random warthog thrown in for good measure. We stopped off at Outjo, which is a town that has got itself into the guide book for its cake shop, and therefore has turned into a bit of a tourist spot (as far as they go in Namibia anyway!). Before the engine had even been turned off, we were surrounded by locals trying to do dodgy money exchange with us, sell us stuff and ask our names etc. A few of us managed to give them the slip, whilst the rest of the group chatted with them.
Etosha
Why did they want to know how to spell our names I wondered. We carried on shopping, I bought a hat that made me look even more like a tourist, but that was needed for the next few days walks and at least it only cost a couple of quid. (I'm telling you this now, with the understanding that when you see the photos you don't think I actually thought it was a good look!, anyway...). We found the bus at the petrol station and sure enough, our local friends from earlier were back. They had carved some of the groups names into malakani nuts, along with designs of animals without being asked and were now trying to sell them to them. Luckily our guide managed to get rid of them, as they stank of booze and were trying to sell the things for far more than they were worth.
When we got to the next campsite and put our tents up, we were all forced to take a siesta as it really was too hot to move. It was to hot not to move. It was just really hot. You really live your life by the sun here, you get up just before it rises (6am every morning), lunch and rest as it reaches its hottest 12-4 and have dinner after it sets. You can even tell what direction you're driving in. See, you don't need a watch. Once it started to cool off a bit, a guide came to pick us up to take us round the Himba settlement
Just another day at the waterhole
. The settlement is really a kind of outpost, that only continues to exist as a tourist attraction, although it was originally set up for farming purposes. The rest of the Himba tribes live right in the North of the country. The settlement had an abundance of children, many of whom were orphans from other himba villages that had been adopted. As we walked into the village, we were quickly surrounded by the children. I looked down and saw that one of them had the mouthpiece of my platypus (my one and only water bottle!) in her mouth. It seems nothing was safe!I could write an essay on the cleaning and beautification rituals of the himba women themselves now, it's a large and fascinating topic. I won't tell you all the details now, but they're not allowed to wash with water, so instead the spend an hour each morning smoking themselves with various herbs sitting over a fire, and then coat themselves with various concoctions of stuff, including red ochre. Their various hairstyles and necklaces all have meaning, for instance, a thick necklace means that a girl/woman hasn't yet had children. They also knock the bottom front 4 teeth out at about age 12 for beauty, uniqueness and also to allow the Himba to speak their language with the correct pronunciation.
We left wondering how strictly the Himba in that camp follow their traditions
More Elephants
. After seeing a couple of women running away in the background with spar shopping bags and others shoving mobile phones down their backs when they thought we weren't looking, along with the fact the chief and his wife had left the camp to go back to their home village, it was clear the camp wasn't really as traditional as they would have us otherwise believe! The fact that all the women wore a key round their neck left some speculating that they all went home to houses at the end of the day, however, I think that was maybe taking it a bit too far. We finished the day climbing up a big pile of boulders that were randomly placed in the otherwise flat landscape. The view was amazing and we were joined by most of the group to watch the sun go down. We were then joined by many flies at which point we decided it was time to go down and have some dinner.
