We almost didn't believe our ears when we were given the briefing for today. Breakfast at 7:20am & only 350km's in the truck, surely Jurumba is lying.
It was nice to have an easy day planned, especially after our shitty day yesterday.
We took down our tent, put away the camping chairs & said goodbye to one of our favourite camping sites of the trip. I have a love hate relationship with our tent that is called Mississippi Baby.
The truck leaves on time & we hit the road. Tom does some budgeting & double checks numbers to make sure our money hasn't been spent in anymore fraudulent purchases. After this he starts reading the green Mile, I can tell he is hooked!
I'm starting to suspect that the wine in Africa has secret ingredients that make you forget the time while also speeding it up.
- Alli
It was nice to have an easy day planned, especially after our shitty day yesterday.
We took down our tent, put away the camping chairs & said goodbye to one of our favourite camping sites of the trip. I have a love hate relationship with our tent that is called Mississippi Baby.
The truck leaves on time & we hit the road. Tom does some budgeting & double checks numbers to make sure our money hasn't been spent in anymore fraudulent purchases. After this he starts reading the green Mile, I can tell he is hooked!
The morning passes by very quickly with a 1 hour stop in a town to replenish groceries & a chance for us tourists to buy bottles of water, bread & sweets for the people of the harero & himba tribes that we will see today.
Time passes by quickly & we are shocked when the truck stops at midday for lunch.
After lunch it's all extremely bumpy dirt roads, Tom doesn't seem too troubled with the constant jittering of the truck & continues reading. I am finishing the last 40 pages of a book by John Grisham called the rooster bar & am having some trouble with the tiny font & my glasses nearly bouncing off my nose.
The landscape has changed dramatically. It's very dry, with lots of hills & mountains.
After lunch it's all extremely bumpy dirt roads, Tom doesn't seem too troubled with the constant jittering of the truck & continues reading. I am finishing the last 40 pages of a book by John Grisham called the rooster bar & am having some trouble with the tiny font & my glasses nearly bouncing off my nose.
The landscape has changed dramatically. It's very dry, with lots of hills & mountains.
At 3pm we stop to buy firewood & give some supplies to the Herero people. The Herero people are the women that are easily distinguished by their long victorian style gowns of bright materials & the cow horn shaped headdresses they wear. I later learned this style of dressing by the Herero women was introduced in the 1800's by missionaries who were appalled by their half naked bodies. They still continue to wear these very large elaborate dresses, some of which have several petticoats & skirts with 12 meters of fabric. They are a very proud people & the women seem very comfortable in these gowns, despite the heat, dusty desert or their cattle raising prestige. They are not very interactive with us & basically ignore us. A lot of them dont want their photos taken & the ones who agree want money in exchange to do so. After buying them supplies & not really feeling a connection with them I am not really that keen on a photo. Before we stopped to see these women, I did snap one from inside the truck.
We spend 15 minutes taking photos & browsing in their shops before it's back on the bus.
At 4pm we arrived at a village where the Himba people live, they are known for using red ochre to stain their faces, putting mud in their hair which is styled in dreadlocks with puffs of hair at the end & they don't wear clothes on their torso's. They do wear a cow skin skirt and lots of jewellery that shows their age, marital status & importance. Their hairstyles also show off what stage of life they are in.
Later when we have internet I am able to do some research on them & learn that they have a population of 50,000 & are one of the last semi nomadic people of Namibia.
They live in the harsh namibian desert & prefer seclusion with minimal influence from the outside world that would affect the traditional way of living.
I also learned that they still practice male & female circumcision at around the age of 14 & girls typically marry between the ages of 14-17. Men are told to stay quiet while it is happening, without any analgesia or proper instruments. It's a very crude process, with a lot of young boys suffering from infections, excessive bleeding or swelling & even death. The girls are encouraged to struggle & scream, a lot of them have the common problems of infection, excessive bleeding/swelling, death & of course nerve damage. We're a little bit disturbed to find this out & reluctant that we have supported this.
They live in the harsh namibian desert & prefer seclusion with minimal influence from the outside world that would affect the traditional way of living.
I also learned that they still practice male & female circumcision at around the age of 14 & girls typically marry between the ages of 14-17. Men are told to stay quiet while it is happening, without any analgesia or proper instruments. It's a very crude process, with a lot of young boys suffering from infections, excessive bleeding or swelling & even death. The girls are encouraged to struggle & scream, a lot of them have the common problems of infection, excessive bleeding/swelling, death & of course nerve damage. We're a little bit disturbed to find this out & reluctant that we have supported this.
We arrive in the small town of Uis, famous for mining tin. Our campsite is basic, the bar & pool were very nice & once again we are camping on sand. There is a lot of locals here celebrating an annual landcruiser festival.
After dinner Tom is drinking at the bar with some of the boys, while I sit around the campfire with Jill & Julian who are siblings from Germany.
We decide to go check out the bar & the L shaped pool table. There is a cool collection of German craft beer bottles & 3 fluffy white cats that keep us occupied.
As we start to leave 2 Namibian men call us over & invite us for a drink, they are in Uis for the landcruiser festival & are curious about where we are from. At first we are very hesitant to sit down with them but after standing & talking for a while, we decide its rude to keep standing & that they are harmless & simply friendly locals. Their names are Rhino & Tinus.
They buy a bottle of red wine before the bar closes & before too long we are all singing & dancing & talking.
They buy a bottle of red wine before the bar closes & before too long we are all singing & dancing & talking.
Tom walks by later & joins us for a few hours before retiring to the tent. We are all having such a good time that it's a shock to realise its 4am..... how has this happened again ?! Jill, Julian & myself quickly say goodnight before rushing back to our tents to squeeze in 1 hour of sleep before we will have to get up.
I'm starting to suspect that the wine in Africa has secret ingredients that make you forget the time while also speeding it up.
- Alli
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