After the last post we realized we are in a bit of a crisis. As I mentioned, I didn't really know what to say, and that is in part because the trip did not turn into a complete experience, but rather remained a scattered collection of experiences. We realized that up to that point, we mostly encountered an experience of tourism, western style and expensive. Yes, the landscapes were beautiful at times, but the drives were very long, and we realized that to really enjoy Namibia from that aspect, you need to focus more and spend more money - eating at good restaurants and sleeping in super classy lodges. Once we realized this however, we shifted our trip a little - we remembered that what we mainly came to Africa for is the cultural experience, and Amit's research seemed almost out of place. But then things started to change...
So we gave up on a few touristy sites and headed north west - to the land of the Himba. They are an ancient tribe of cattle growers, and they have kept most of their traditional life style. The women cover their skin and hair in red ochre, and they have many beautiful jewelry they make and ware. We feared it will be mostly for tourists, not authentic, but we found the contrary - they live their life the way they want to, they do not speak English at all (we had a translator) and it is difficult for them since they take out the front teeth for their own language. They are warm, happy people and we had a wonderful time meeting them. We got all the way up to Opuwo, and there we finally found something else. It is a small colorful town, we came on a Friday afternoon and the streets were crowded - the markets were full of people, buying and selling on the dirt roads between the small unordered buildings. There were people dressed in a western style, red, semi-naked Himba and the Herero, which their cultural dress is this! Crazy no? It was "brought" to them by the European who were horrified by their nakedness, and is now their cultural dress...
We then went to Etosha, and saw some amazing animals including elephants (huge!), giraffes, rhinos, hyenas and many others.
Finally, last night we stopped at a village of Bushman people who used to live in Etosha. They were hunters-gatherers, but now they can no longer hunt. They are forced into settled life, and unlike the Himba, who were able to keep their ways due to the fact that cattle growers can more easily fit into modern life style, they have lost their way. There is little place in our world for nomads who have no concept of possession. We visited a village, and met some people. They are very gentle, quite people. It was sad and moving - they miss their old life style, they do not fit in the new world and their amazing culture is vanishing. Despite their gentle smiles, you see sadness and despair. It is a sad thing for us, I believe, that in our grand concept of progress, we are loosing so much - languages, cultures, diversity. We found ourselves "missing a culture we never knew" (see the motorcycle diaries).
To hear more on Amit's research you should ask him :)
So we gave up on a few touristy sites and headed north west - to the land of the Himba. They are an ancient tribe of cattle growers, and they have kept most of their traditional life style. The women cover their skin and hair in red ochre, and they have many beautiful jewelry they make and ware. We feared it will be mostly for tourists, not authentic, but we found the contrary - they live their life the way they want to, they do not speak English at all (we had a translator) and it is difficult for them since they take out the front teeth for their own language. They are warm, happy people and we had a wonderful time meeting them. We got all the way up to Opuwo, and there we finally found something else. It is a small colorful town, we came on a Friday afternoon and the streets were crowded - the markets were full of people, buying and selling on the dirt roads between the small unordered buildings. There were people dressed in a western style, red, semi-naked Himba and the Herero, which their cultural dress is this! Crazy no? It was "brought" to them by the European who were horrified by their nakedness, and is now their cultural dress...
We then went to Etosha, and saw some amazing animals including elephants (huge!), giraffes, rhinos, hyenas and many others.
Finally, last night we stopped at a village of Bushman people who used to live in Etosha. They were hunters-gatherers, but now they can no longer hunt. They are forced into settled life, and unlike the Himba, who were able to keep their ways due to the fact that cattle growers can more easily fit into modern life style, they have lost their way. There is little place in our world for nomads who have no concept of possession. We visited a village, and met some people. They are very gentle, quite people. It was sad and moving - they miss their old life style, they do not fit in the new world and their amazing culture is vanishing. Despite their gentle smiles, you see sadness and despair. It is a sad thing for us, I believe, that in our grand concept of progress, we are loosing so much - languages, cultures, diversity. We found ourselves "missing a culture we never knew" (see the motorcycle diaries).
To hear more on Amit's research you should ask him :)
No comments:
Post a Comment