Category: Africa

Namibia is one of Africa’s most celebrated nations for its political, economic and social stability. And thanks to the arid Namib Desert stretching along its Atlantic coast, it is also one of the least densely populated countries in the world. What this means for Discovery Tours travelers is clear: In your small group, you’ll experience diverse and vibrant cultures that embrace their past and look eagerly toward the future, and you’ll witness some of the most dramatic and serene desert landscapes on earth. Yet Namibia’s peace, tranquility and prosperity did not come easily.

Ancient Tribes Speak a Curious Tongue

The story of how Namibia evolved into one of the continent’s most captivating nations begins millennia ago. San Bushmen and the Damara and Namaqua people were the region’s original inhabitants. Anthropologists and linguists are enthralled by many tribes in southern Africa, but these are particularly fascinating as they all speak some variation of the Khoekhoe language. The curious clicking sounds typical of their language comprise what is believed to be the oldest language in human history. And even though all three tribes spoke a similar language, they seem to have come from different lineages. Descendents of all three tribes remain today, many of them eking out a living in the same way their ancestors did.

Strangers Arrive by Land and by Sea

In the 14^th century, the Bantu arrived as part of the historic Bantu expansion into southern Africa. The following century, other strangers arrived not by land, but by sea, when in the 1480s Portuguese navigators arrived along what today is known as the Skeleton Coast, named for the many ships and sailors who met their demise in these thrashing seas. Even for those explorers who did make landfall, the coastal desert was far from inviting, so they only used Namibia as a pit stop during their long search for a trade route to India.

When the Orlam tribes moved in during the late 18^th century, tensions rose between them and the Herero people of Windhoek. By 1880, they were fighting the Nama-Herero War, a conflict that was only quelled when an opportunistic Imperial Germany stepped in and normalized tribal relations. Later, more German colonists and traders who had settled in South Africa (historically known as the Boers) passed through Namibia on their way to Angola, seeking to escape British rule and put down roots. Many stayed and, wittingly or not, set the stage for German rule.

The Roots of Apartheid

Chancellor Otto von Bismarck of Germany kept his eyes on the British and, in a successful effort to thwart expansion of the Crown into his growing colony, moved troops into Namibia and created his own German South-West Africa. Only 20 years passed until the Herero and Namaqua people rose up against the ruling foreigners, but the results of their attempted overthrow were horrific. In fact, some scholars believe that the ensuing systematic genocide—in which 80% of the Herero and half the Namaqua were murdered—served as a model for Nazi Germany’s Holocaust yet to come. We can’t know for sure, but history does tell us with certainty that the segregation and forced labor of the Herero and Namaqua survivors laid the foundations for the policy of apartheid that would soon grip the region.

With the end of World War I in 1915, South Africa occupied Namibia and ruled it from its own court made up entirely of a white minority. Throughout the 1950s, the Herero’s Chief Council petitioned the United Nations for independence. And as European countries in the 1960s began pulling out of colonized Africa, pressure mounted on South Africa to give sovereignty to Namibia. Still, even after an International Court called South Africa’s presence “illegal,” it would not budge.

Revolution and Independence

The white South African farmers who settled in the region came to represent just 0.2% of the population, yet 74% of the arable land was theirs. Brutality and repression of Namibians were daily occurrences. Pushed to the brink, the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia took up arms in 1966. An ensuing guerilla war lasted 22 years.

It wasn’t until 1990 that Namibia was free, after much local and international pressure on South Africa. Today, the peaceful nation is a multi-party democracy and promotes human rights protections, compensation for loss of private property, an independent justice system, and national reconciliation around the events of its turbulent past.

At its best, travel broadens our minds and invites us to see the world and its people through a new lens. Visiting Africa, in particular, challenges our preconceptions of culture and of how to be in the world. In Namibia, our small group drops by a modest Himba village to meet tribespeople who uphold traditions that stretch back untold centuries.

It is an incredible privilege for Discovery Tours travelers to meet the Himba, the last semi-nomadic people of Namibia. About 50,000 people comprise the total population, which straddles northern Namibia and southern Angola. Because their culture has evolved in seclusion amidst a harsh desert climate, they have maintained their unique tribal traditions without outside influence from the modern world.

A Typical Himba Village

An extended family lives in a homestead called an onganda, a circular village of huts and other shelters surrounding a sacred ancestral fire (an okuruwo) and a sacred livestock pen (a kraal). The fire and livestock are more than a source of warmth, cooking, and food. The Himba people revere their dead and believe the fire embodies ancestral protection. The fire is kept burning by the fire-keeper of the tribe, who has the additional responsibility of standing before the flames every week or so to communicate directly with their god, Mukuru. The Himba believe that their livestock, as well, connects them to those who have passed before.

Currency and Food

Himba wealth is not measured in money. Instead, their most valuable asset is their cattle. This is not to say that they don’t use money as a means of exchange; it’s common for the Himba to mingle in marketplaces and enjoy the conveniences of 21^st century consumerism. But all in all, cash makes up a tiny portion of a tribe’s typical livelihood.

Rather, theirs is a self-sustaining economy. For generations, they have bred chickens for eggs, sheep and goats for milk and meat, and bees for honey. The men look after the cattle, sometimes herding them away from their villages for many days in order to follow the best grazing land. Killing animals for food and construction of dwellings also fall to the men. Meanwhile, the women keep the home fires burning, often quite literally. In addition to keeping the firewood stocked, women and girls fetch water, plaster homes with a mud-manure mix, cook, and make handicrafts for tribal wear and for selling. Maize, millet and cornmeal make up most of their diet, and it’s typical for them to stop by a favorite berry bush or tree for a snack on the run.

Clothing and Cosmetics

Meeting the Himba for the first time, it is easy to marvel at their clothing and hairstyles. Their traditional dress is heavily influenced by the desert environment in which they live. Sandals, a calfskin skirt and many beads and other jewelry are common among both women and men. But what sets them apart is the otjize paste with which many women and some men cover their skin and hair. This cosmetic mix of butterfat and ochre pigment, sometimes scented with the resin of a local fragrant shrub, cleanses the skin and acts as a sunscreen and mosquito repellent. The resulting red-orange tinge of the skin is considered the height of beauty, representing life-giving blood and the rich, red earth.

Your small group is invited into a Himba village during our Namibia, Naturally itinerary.