Big Detour - Himba Village and Anker

Ojtwarongo is a nice town, split down the middle racially. Whites live in nice houses in the center of town, blacks in small houses on the edge or in “the location,” which is communal property that the government allows anyone to claim and build whatever they want on. Most just put up tin or mud walls with tin roofs and share the house with many others.

I stayed in the white part of town in the Hadassa Guest House. Hadassa was built maybe 10 years ago but has been run by a French family for the last year. The owner was a terrific man with whom I dined and talked long into the night. There were only one other couple staying there the night I passed through, and as such there was no organized dinner. It had taken me all day to drive up from Windhoek and I was too tired to sort out dinner in a restaurant in town. Luckily I had a cooked chicken that I had bought at a supermarket on the way and had that. It was a bit salty but went down well with a beer supplied by the Guest House.

The owner was in love with Namibia, in the way that new lovers often are. He gushed about the places he visited with no sign of being jaded and he was really happy to have a willing audience as I was eager to hear about the places he visited. I still had as yet no firm plans past Ojtwarongo, and he gave me some good ideas. He told me about a Himba Village on the road between Otjo and Kamanjab that was not on any map and was worth my while to find. It was not a “marketing village,” as he termed the others in Namibia. This was a real Himba village and you had to know where it was to find it. He drew me a map on a square note and I put it in my wallet. He also told me about Purros, a campsite in Koakaland that was totally wild. There were no fences, and lots of dessert elephants. I made a note of that location too. We shared a beer and talked until 11pm.

The next morning, I had a good English breakfast and drove into town to go grocery shopping at the Super Spar, which is an amazing market. Americans might be surprised to learn that all the markets I've visited in Namibia have most western goods and bar code scanning checkouts. In the towns, Namibia is 1^st world. Beyond the towns it gets less developed. After picking up three bags of apples, lots of water, and some more cooked chickens, I headed to the checkout line.

As I was paying the girl next to me asked if I was American and of course I said I was. She was from Alabama! What are the odds that two Americans meet on the checkout line in a supermarket in Ojtwarongo, Namibia? Her name is Sarah and she is a Peace Corp volunteer. There were two others with her and they were looking for a ride back to their villages. Did I have room? Of course, I said, thinking its the least I can do to help fellow Americans, especially peace corp volunteers. So we waited for Sarah's friend Nicole (from Oklahoma), and I drove them out to Otjo, where Nicole works in a hospital.

I had first agreed to just drive them as far as Otjo and then head North to Etosha, but along the way Sarah told me about the remote village where she taught school. It was 75km West of Kamanjab in Damaraland. I had planned to visit Damaraland after five days in Etosha, but I thought about the opportunity to visit a real Namibian Village and spontaneously agreed to drive her all the way to her village. She was so excited. Normally she hitch hiked from Ojtwarongo to Kamnajab and then took a taxi to her village. Often the trip would take 8 hours.

But then I remembered the Himba Village that the Frenchmen had told me about and asked Sarah if she would mind stopping to visit it on the way. Sarah had been in Namibia for 2 years and had never visited a Himba Village and agreed to see it instantly.  Just as we entered the village we found the orphanage school where this Herero woman was a teacher.  I caught her looking long outside against the wall in her traditional dress.

It was great to have a travel companion. We talked about the Peace Corp and my Namibia Trip. It was easy finding the Himba Village based on the directions I had written on the note.  The village itself is an orphanage.  We got a great tour.  The Himba women coat their bodies and hair with a mixture of cow fat, red sand, and an herbal perfume.  They never bathe, and use smoke to "clean" themselves, as this woman demonstrated.

 

 The children were fascinated with the photos we took of them and posed naturally.  

The women adorn themselves with a mixture of red earth, cow fat, and an herb that smells like perfume.  The smear it on their bodies to guard them from the sun's rays, and they decorate their hair with it as well.

It was very hot and we toured the village for an hour before taking back to the road to finish the trip to Anker.  Sarah phoned ahead to tell her friends in Anker that she was bringing another American.  The trip from Kamanjab to Anker took about an hour.  The first road was good gravel, but the last stretch was pretty bumpy.  Outside the game parks, there are no wild animals on the road.  You see cattle, goats, and sheep, but nothing else.

In Anker, I pitched my tent in front of her row house and walked into the school compound to meet the kids.  Everyone was super friendly and the kids loved posing for photos.  They showed me where the food was cooked every day, where they ate their meals, and where the girls and boys slept in separate rooms.

I had bought some cooked chickens in Otjwarongo and shared them with Sarah for dinner.  She made cole slaw with carrots and it was a nice meal.  

That evening, a storm came in and I spent my first tented night amidst distant thunder, wind, and rain.  The tent handled it marvellously and I was awoken the next morning by donkey's, chickens, and the sound of the cooks preparing the outdoor fires.

At 7am, I downed a Red Bull and walked to School.  Sarah had asked me to teach two classes that day and I was excited to see the school and meet the kids.  

By teaching, all I really did was show photos I had with me of some of the places I had visited over the last three years - South Africa, Cambodia, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the USA.  The kids were really intersted in photos of my wife Helle and sons Ben and David.  They asked lots of questions and I really enjoyed both classes.  At about 11am I said goodbye to the classes and Sarah and packed up my car and drove back to Otjo to start the trip to Etosha.

Best thing about travelling without an agenda is the chance to take advantage of spontaneous opportunities like this.  You can travel Africa in a safari car and observe lots of wild animals.  But you won't learn much about the ways of life unless you get out of your car, walk into remote villages, and participate in the lives of the people.  Namibians are warm and friendly, and I am so grateful to have met Sarah and Nicole.