Traveling through Southern Africa (Part12) – Swakopmund and the Namib Desert

Swakopmund is Namibia's second biggest town and its summer capital.  It was founded in 1892 as the main harbor for German South-West Africa, and many of its buildings stand as examples of German colonial architecture.  Since the climate on the coast is cooler than the interior of the country, government traditionally moves from the country’s official capital, Windhoek, to Swakopmund for the hotter months.

Today, Swakopmund is a seaside resort.  It is known to travelers for its adventure sports such as quad-biking, parachuting and sand surfing, as well as for the beauty of the surrounding desert.  If you’ve been traveling for a while, Swakopmund is the place to rejuvenate.  However, the town is not all tourism.  Like every Southern African town of any size, it has its poor.  Along with all the other activities, I highly recommend a guided tour of the Swakopmund townships.  It is a rare opportunity to meet and spend time with some of the people who live there.

On our tour, a tribal elder invited us into his home for a chat and later we spent much of the evening watching children and families going about their evening.  It was a pleasure to watch children dancing in the alleys and to hear singing coming from all over the township.

The next day we drove out into the desert to admire the arid landscape. On a dusty hillside rests the Martin Luther, a stream engine left there to rust since 1896 as a testament to the unforgiving terrain.
 Nearby, there are welwitschia; ancient plants that can live for 2000 years and proof that life can exist even in the harshest climate.

Later, we returned to the hotel.  We washed our clothes at a nearby Laundromat, ate dinner in a nice restaurant, and took one last shower.  Tomorrow we would head back into the desert for our next adventure in traveling.

Traveling through Southern Africa (Part11) – Twyfelfontein

Twyfelfontein is a rocky sandstone outcrop seated in the Kunene Region of Namibia. The area has one of the largest and most important concentrations of rock art in Africa with some 2000 petroglyphs created over the course of two thousand years (ending around 1000 AD).  Archeologists believe hunter-gathers carved the figures into the boulders of Twyfelfontein as part of their ritualistic activity. The carvings represent rhinoceroses, elephants, ostriches and giraffes, as well as depicting human and animal footprints.

We drove from the small town of Khorixas along some very dusty dirt roads for 90 kilometers to Twyfelfontein.  The desert scenery in the region known as Damaraland is spectacular, and in itself, is worth the drive.  Unexpectedly, we came across an elephant standing in the middle of the road and had a short break while we waited for him to give way.   For me, these little inconveniencies are what make travel in Africa an adventure.

Once at Twyfelfontein, we met a local guide who took us along the well-tended trails through the petroglyphs.  He pointed out the highlights, but he was hard to understand.  All I really got out of his talk was that Twyfelfontein is Afrikaans for doubtful fountain and that a farmer who once homesteaded the area had named it.

Happily, after- wards we were free to roam the area.

The day was bright and hot as most days in the region are.  For the next few hours, we explored the many rock faces and shaded overhangs to discover for ourselves the artworks hidden from plain site.  It was a great insight into how the ecology of the area had changed from bush to desert over the millennia and into the minds of the ancient people that once lived in the area.  

 

Traveling through Southern Africa (Part10) – The Himba People of the Kunene, Namibia

Partially due to its inaccessible mountainous geography and partially due to its harsh arid climate, Kunene is a relatively underdeveloped region in northern Namibia.  Perhaps for these very reasons, the Himba People that call this region home still live with little (but nonetheless growing) influence from the outside world and have managed to maintain much of their traditional lifestyle.

The Himba are a mostly nomadic pastoral people, breeding cattle and goats.  They are an offshoot of the Herero people and speak a dialect of the Herero language.

Traditionally, women tend to handle more labor-intensive work than the men do.  They carry water to the village, build the huts and care for the children. Men are responsible for maintaining relationships between clans and for tribal politics.  Both men and women go topless and wear skirts or loincloths made of animal skins, but most famously, the women are known for covering themselves with otjize, a mixture of butterfat and ochre that gives their skins a reddish-orange tinge.

Our Adventure started with a drive north to the town of Opuwo, Namibia.  Once there, and after several hours of searching, we meet the guide who would make our introductions to a Himba clan.   At his request, we bought a large sack of rice to give the clan as a gift, then left town in our overland truck in the direction of the Angolan border.

It was a hot dusty drive along some very rough roads, but eventually we approached a collection of huts and shelters sitting unprotected in the afternoon sun.  We had to wait in the truck while the driver and guide made their introductions and presented the sack of rice, but once they concluded the formalities, the clan allowed us to move freely around the village.

An impromptu Himba market

During the day, the adult men are with their animals, so only women and children were in the village.  They gathered under one of the few trees in the area and began laying out handmade trinkets in hopes of making a sale.  I made friends with a few of the boys by photographing them with my video camera and playing it back for them to watch.  In the meantime, Denise was making friends by allowing the children to fix her hair.  She ended up with ochre handprints all over the back of her shirt.

We remained with the clan for a few hours, but eventually returned to the truck, parched and in need of water.  Luckily, our overland truck carries a few hundred liters, but when the women saw us filling bottles from the water tap, they decided they could save themselves the daily walk to the river.  They came with their buckets and only said goodbye when they had drained the last of the water in the tank.  It was another great experience and a true adventure in traveling.

Traveling through Southern Africa (Part9) - Otjitotongwe Cheetah Farm

Estimates put the worldwide cheetah population at less than 7,500 cheetahs of which 6,000 are in Southern Africa.  Nearly half of those cheetahs are in Namibia, mostly on private game or cattle farms.  Unfortunately, some farmers continue to hunt cheetah because of their tendency to kill livestock. The Otjitotongwe cheetah farm gives sanctuary to those cheetahs that farmers might otherwise kill.

On the 7,000-hectare farm, there are both wild and tame cheetahs.  At present, there are around 13 wild cheetahs that live in a 40 hectare fenced enclosure and 3 tame cheetahs that live at the farmhouse.  The tame cheetah’s role is to educate the public, and visitors to the farm will have the chance to interact with them.

We arrived at Otjitotongwe Cheetah Farm in the early afternoon and drove directly to the farmhouse to meet the Nel family.  Outside, in the fenced backyard, they told us about their struggles with farming in Namibia and their now peaceful coexistence with the cheetahs.  All the while, one of the tame cheetahs weaved between the legs of her owner, looking for affection and purring just like a house cat.  Later, Nel gave us the opportunity to approach and run our hands through her thick soft fur.

After making camp on the farm, we returned to the Nels to join them for the evening feeding of the wild cheetah.  He explained to us that a 40-hectare enclosure could not possibly support the 13 cheetah now taking refuge there, so feeding was a necessity.  We drove into the enclosure in two open trailers with a trashcan full of donkey meat.  The cheetahs heard the truck’s engine and began approaching even before we stopped.  At one point, one of the cats jumped into the back of a trailer.  He seemed more upset by what he had done than the people surrounding him, and immediately jumped back out- no harm done.

Soon, Nel was throwing chunks of meat into the gathering of waiting cheetah.  With each toss, a small fight broke out and abruptly ended with one of the cheetah running into the bush with his prize.  It was an interesting experience, a good photo opportunity, and it did make one realize that the place for wild cheetahs was not on a farm.