veld

veld: wide open rural spaces

17 may    this morning we leave mowani and head north for grootberg and the mountainous area of the etendeka plateau

we passed donkeys and sheep

at a checkpoint near palmwag, i saw some children

while chuck was occupied i waved at the children. and then gave them pockets.  :)

hee hee, happy curious children

namibia has the best signs

i didn't take photos driving up the grootberg pass. most of the time i was covering my eyes. we'd heard some horror stories about the road but truly, it was not as bad as we'd imagined. but. it was sketchy. it's fairly steep  and not as well graded as most of the dirt roads we'd been driving so far. even slow speeds would cause the tires to jump and slide and the road was not very wide. and the drop off was long. eeps. but it was spectacular...

the grootberg lodge

our verandah

our rock and thatch chalet

it is so quiet here the only sounds you hear are birds and at around three pm, the donkey boiler. (that's the fire place outside our door, it'll provide hot water for an evening shower.)

it's dizzingly beautiful up here. when we reached the lodge gate we had to park our truck and wait for someone to come collect us. the road up is so steep the guide book and car hire recommend (and forbid) you to drive it yourself. fine by me. double eeps. chuck must have found a lizard to photograph.

morning view

the following day, we are on the way to kaokoland, and the ova himba. here is our translator, erenst. the drive took us even further north, and into serious 4 x 4 country. along the way we stopped at a herero town to pick up supplies for the himba. we learned that the herero and the himba were from the same tribe, the herero long ago separating and adopting the dress they have now, an old victorian style, long heavy dresses and hats.

here is our driver and guide, mesag. mesag is showing us the makalani nut, which grows in the makalani palm that lives here. and so exciting! this is the same nut that the buttons are carved from and the art by tsudi! and guess who loves to eat these? the cheeky little rosy-faced love bird! there were hundreds up in the palms.

we drove through many water crossings, mesag was careful to look for turtles (excuse us please)

after two hours, we are here, mesag said 'himba children' oh! erenst had taught us the proper way to greet the himba:  ngora - how are you?  nawa - fine.

and so it began, ngora, nawa. ngora, nawa, to each little one we met

and then the mamas

this is a moment i'd always hoped to have. meeting these fascinating people. this woman and i were able to communicate with the help of erenst and also through hand motion, touch and smiles. she is expecting her fifth child and was very pleased to know i have five children too

  i am inside her hut with curious children, and erenst to provide explanations

the maize bowl

 meal time

 we learned the girls hair is braided and brought to the front.

the ova himba women cover themselves in a mixture of ochre and butterfat which results in a beautiful reddish color on their skin and hair, and also serves a purpose. it helps to keep the skin conditioned and clean as they never bathe with water. it also repels insects and acts as sun protection.

we were led to another hut where we were given a demonstration of the women's skin care

i asked names, but honestly it was not in my head to remember during this time, i was
trying to stay in the moment, i was really thrilled to be here. as soon as this child finished nursing
his mama held him out to me

to hold

on the left is a container of butter fat and on the right the ground up ochre

the two ingredients were mixed together in her palm and then applied all over her skin

while she was doing this baby was eating the butter fat  :)

this is the red ochre, she is grinding it to a powder

and now i am getting the treatment

next she brought out some kind of flowers or herbs

and called to one of the children to bring an ember from the outside fire

more ingredients were added and the ember was placed in the middle. she nurtured this potion for a while until it was ready

for the next step, to perfume herself. the smells were earthy, strong

these bands on her leg signify she has two or more children. they are also used for protection from snake bites, they never come off

i thanked her for sharing this with me. she called her older son inside and motioned for me to take his photo too. she smiled

there was singing

and dancing

even the babies

and then it was time to give pockets. mesag had told me how this should be done

everyone was curious

there was much discussion over colors (i imagined)

the boys (and men) decided to wear them over the shoulder   :)

pens are always popular too

oh my

saying thank you: oku heba

we'd been here almost two hours and it was time to leave.

on our return we hardly spoke. thinking about this experience had filled the silence. it felt like a dream. mesag had given me a lesson in damara, his language. i told him gangans (thank you) very much. i gave him and erenst pockets to take home to their own children and wives. and later that evening when i took a shower and saw the ochre on my arm, i knew today had really happened

that evening, our last at grootberg, we took a game drive on the plateau, hoping to see the mountain zebra

we found many

and we saw springbok and a black-backed jackel

oryx

the plateau was stunning, it looked very much like the serengeti, an endless veld

until we came close to the edge again, and were reminded where we were. baby mountain zebra, sigh.

returning from the evening game drive

~

i bought the bracelets (pictured a few photos up) from this himba family

still smiling over this experience. thank you for coming along and letting me share with you  (apologies for this extra long post). etosha and big cats are next.