Namibia 2008
(Stran je samo v angleškem jeziku. Vseeno lahko uživate v fotografijah.)
End of June and beginning of July 2008 were reserved for Namibia, southern Africa. I went there with a larger group (30 persons). Our trip was three weeks long. We made round trip around the country. First we went to the south and after few day we turned to the north all the way to border with Angola. Last few days we spent with San people.
End of June and beginning of July 2008 were reserved for Namibia, southern Africa. I went there with a larger group (30 persons). Our trip was three weeks long. We made round trip around the country. First we went to the south and after few day we turned to the north all the way to border with Angola. Last few days we spent with San people.
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Nature
There are plenty of species living in Namibia. For us most interesting were larger animals. Most of them we met in national park Etosha where were enough water in dry season.
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Himba tribe
The Himba are an ethnic group of about 20,000 to 50,000 people living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene region (formerly Kaokoland) Recently they have also built two villages in Kamanjab which have become a tourist destination. They are mostly a nomadic, pastoral people, closely related to the Herero, and speak Otjihimba, a dialect of the Herero language.
The Himba breed cattle and goats. The responsibility of milking the cows lies with the women. Women take care of the children, and one woman will take care of another woman's children. Women tend to perform more labor-intensive work than men do, such as carrying water to the village and building homes. Men handle the political tasks and legal trials. Members of an extended family typically dwell in a homestead, "a small, circular hamlet of huts and work shelters" that surrounds "an okuruwo (ancestral fire) and a central livestock enclosure." Both the fire and the livestock are closely tied to their belief in ancestor worship, the fire representing ancestral protection and the livestock allowing "proper relations between human and ancestor." |
The Himba wear little clothing, but the women are famous for covering themselves with otjize, a mixture of butter fat and ochre, possibly to protect themselves from the sun. The mixture gives their skins a reddish tinge. This symbolizes earth's rich red color and the blood that symbolizes life, and is consistent with the Himba ideal of beauty. Women braid each other's hair and cover it in their ochre mixture. Modern clothes are scarce, but generally go to the men when available. Traditionally both men and women go topless and wear skirts or loincloths made of animal skins in various colors. Adult women wear beaded anklets to protect their legs from venomous animal bites.
San people
The terms San, Khwe, Sho, Bushmen and Basarwa have all been used to refer to the hunter-gatherer peoples of southern Africa. Each of these terms has a problematic history, as they have been used by outsiders to refer to them, often with pejorative connotations. The individual groups identify by names such as Ju/'hoansi and !Kung (the punctuation characters representing different click consonants), and most call themselves by the term Bushmen when referring to themselves collectively.
These people were traditionally hunter-gatherers, part of the Khoisan group and are related to the traditionally pastoral Khoikhoi. Starting in the 1950s, and lasting through the 1990s, they switched to farming as a result of government-mandated modernization programs as well as the increased risks of a hunting and gathering lifestyle in the face of technological development. |
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There is a significant linguistic difference between the northern Bushmen living between Okavango (Botswana) and Etosha (Namibia), extending into southern Angola on the one hand and the southern group in the central Kalahari towards the Molopo, who are the last remnant of the extensive autochthonous San of South Africa.
Roads
The condition of Namibian roads is generally good and well maintained. You can travel the country on 5 500 kms of tarred road and 37 000 kms on gravel roads. The sand, salt and gravel roads are well maintained and easy to navigate, unless it is pouring with rain.
In the whole of southern Africa one has to drive on the left side of the road. Special adventure is driving in the "Namibian riviera" at border by Kunene river in the north. With our 6 cars we had only 3 flat tires (I heard it was really well done). I guess you'll find pictures presenting that part of Namibia. |
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Towns
We were camping most of the trip.Only two nights in bungalows were in Swakopmund (ex-German colonial town) - "A frame" bungalows.
Most important city is Windhoek - the capital. Some of other important towns/cities we have visited are Walvis Bay and Tsumeb. |
Text source: Wikipedia - Free Encyclopedia