Himba village - burial grounds Himba graves are often marked with cattle horns - if the tips face upwards, it's a man's grave, if they face downwards, it's a woman's grave.
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Himba village - o tjize paste We visited one of the Himba vil la ges in Kunene, and had the opportunity to learn a lit t le bit about their culture. Himba women use a red paste calle d otjize to protect their skin from the harsh sun. They also use the paste on their hair and jewelry. They make the paste from ochre powde r and fat (or vaseline ). The ground ochre was very, very soft and smelled very nice ! The fat, and sometimes resins, are mixed with the ocre powder in a horn ja r , and the paste is then ready to use . The leftover paste is stored in the horn jars.
Northern Namibia - Kunene Region The Kunene Region is well worth a visit. The absolutely stunning Epupa Falls and the extremely interesting Himba we re only two of the many reasons we visited the area. I have to admit, I'm not that enthusiastic about waterfalls, but I hadn't seen anything like Epupa Falls before. It's possibly the most serene waterfall I've seen (we visited during the winter sea son, so it was quite calm ). And the most beautiful, especially when admiring the view from the nearby hill.
Lessons learned in a Caprivi Village We visited one of the local villages in the Caprivi region, and it was very interesting to learn about how the houses and huts were built. It was also interesting to see how locals used wood when cooking, and I then realized that we had actually been using wood at campsites the Finnish way. We didn't burn just a bit of a log, we burned the whole log, whereas the locals only burned a small part when cooking food. We were used to wood burning quicker, but the wood used here burned much slower. And although we used wood sparingly, we still could have used it even more sparingly. It was also nice to watch the children play football (soccer) and hear what they wanted to do when they grew up. T here ' ll be more doctors and pro football players in Namibia in the future :)!
Caprivi and Bwabwata National Park From the Okavango Delta we drove up to the Caprivi region and stayed near the Bwabwata National Park in Namibia. We took a game drive in a smaller area of the park (not Mahangu) , and it was surprisingly quiet, almost eerily so. But then a 4x4 carrying a recently shot elephant drove quickly by. And that explained the eer ie silence. The larger animals had fled, and the smaller ones were keeping quiet. Trophy hunting is allowed in that specific area of the Bwabwata National Park. We didn't know that and were quite shocked.
Okavango Delta animals Remember when I told you that one of the reasons we decided to travel to the Okavango Delta was to see the area before it's too late? Well, we did see beautiful scenery and animals, but the animals are moving more and more towards the center of the delta. There has been more net fishing, one of the factors driving animals further inland. Poaching is another problem, for example the number of African vultures is declining rapidly because of poisoning by poachers. Vultures attract unwanted attention when they start circling in large numbers above a dead animal, so poisoned carcasses are left out for the vultures (and other scavengers). Scavengers clean carcasses and help prevent the spread of disease, and it doesn't take a genius to guess what will happen in the near future if the population of scavengers drops alltogether. But the Okavango Delta is still truly magical, and I would love to visit again as soon as possible!
Fishing Guma Lagoon in Botswana seems to be a popular fishing destination, but we didn't fish, and we were there before the 'Barbel Runs', so it was fairly quiet. It did seem like a nice place to just cast the line into the water, though. (Although I would hope that nothing would bite as I don't really like catching fish, I like the water and the silence. I don't know what you'd call fishing without the fish?) The tiger fish seemed to be a target for many, and further up north from Guma the locals were preparing this one for dinner.
Botswana The mokoro is a su per way to glide across the waters of the Okavango Delta. We used a fibre glass mokoro, which was a bit lighter than the traditional wooden one, but we had to be careful not to make any sudden moves (like turning around when glancing backwards), as it would've capsized the mokoro very easily. I have to admit I was happy not to encounter hippos as they probably would've capsized the mokoro simply by staring at it! I was happy just enjoying the lovely papyrus scenery...
Botswana From Ghanzi we headed towards Guma Lagoon. The roads were mostly paved, and the last stretch was first dirt then sand roads. The roads from the village to the campsite had fairly deep sand, and with a few signs missing, driving required a bit more concentration than usual . We arrived at the lovely Guma Lagoon campsite, and set up our tent.
Botswana After entering Botswana, we headed towards Ghanzi. Our next stop, the Dqae Qar Sun c ampsite , was just after Ghanzi, and we had ample time to get there. The road was paved and there wasn't a lot of traffic, which was nice , especially since we experienced our first (and only) flat tire before Ghanzi. We heard a clang sound from the back of our 4X4, and I thought it was the tea kettle tumbling aroun d at t he back (which was weird be cause the kettle was inside a trunk) . But the fla ba - da b a - dab sound told us that it was actually our rear ti re losing air pres sure fairly quickly . I t was possibl y the best time and the best place to get a flat ; the shoulder of the road was wide, the grass had been cut (curious animals couldn't hide too near ), w e were on a straight stretch o f road (we could see other traffic , and they cou ld see us ) and it was still hours before sunset ( gets pitch black at night). I t took only a bout 15 mins to ch...