Traditional cultures in Namibia
September 2016
Tricky national park bookings in Namibia
As we were travelling with visitors we wanted to be on the safe side and thus pre-booked the popular and often booked out campsite Okaukuejo in the Etosha National Park. We booked from the 09/09/2016 to 13/09/2016. Until someone actually picks up the phone at the reservations office of the national park is already an ordeal.
Brigitte finally managed to speak to someone and wanted to book the 4 nights. She received a rather negative answer – only the 09/09 was available. She booked that night and received a reservation number.
The next day she phone again this time asking for the 10/09 to the 13/09 The lady informed her that only the 10/09 and 11/09 were available. Brigitte wanted to book these two nights and was asked for her name. When answering the somewhat strange lady realised that she had lied to Brigitte the day before. Like it or not she had to add the two nights to the existing reservation number.
Now we had three nights safely booked. Two days later we were at another national park campsite and we asked the receptionist to book our favourite site onto our reservation number at Okaukuejo. We knew this campsite was well located and she confirmed that she had booked it for us.
On our arrival on the 09/09 the specific campsite was however still occupied and we had to choose another one. With a bit of razzmatazz we got our preferred campsite the next day and for all the inconvenience we were even granted the forth night. It’s Africa, everything is a bit arduous, but it normally works out.
At an earlier meeting with a South African business man he told me proudly that he had booked chalet 34 directly at the waterhole one year in advance.
As his dates corresponded with ours he had invited us for a drink on his first floor terrace overlooking the waterhole. Extremely frustrated he arrived at our campsite. His chalet had been booked out and he had to stay in second row now. The manager managed to get rid of him with lots of excuses and a bottle of wine.
Interesting insights into traditional cultures
- The Himbas; they are presumed to be the original inhabitants of Namibia:
Pastoral people with a half nomadic lifestyle who mainly rear cattle and goats.
The smoke bath of the Himba women who never use water to wash themselves but rather use a reddish lotion made from ochre pigments and animal fats.
The meaning of the different hair styles.
- Mbunza, this tribe lives at the Okavango River:
with simple tools and skilled manual work they demonstrated the production of jewellery, bow and arrow and the forging of weapons to us.
Photos
Namibia: September 2016
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2016 09 Namibia traditional culture 001
traditional culture
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2016 09 Namibia we are guests of Mbunza tribe in the north of Nambia 002
We are guests at Mbunza tribe in Northern Namibia.
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2016 09 Namibia 003
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2016 09 Namibia producing jewellery 004
producing jewellery
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2016 09 Namibia production of meshes and ropes 005
Production of meshes and ropes.
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2016 09 Namibia 006
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2016 09 Namibia weave mats 007
mats weave
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2016 09 Namibia roof construction 008
roof construction
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2016 09 Namibia 010
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2016 09 Namibia manually flour sifting 009
manually flour sifting
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2016 09 Namibia 011
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2016 09 Namibia 012
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2016 09 Namibia 013
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2016 09 Namibia 014
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2016 09 Namibia 015
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2016 09 Namibia handicraft 016
handicraft
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2016 09 Namibia 017
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2016 09 Namibia Fishing with spear 018
fishing with spear
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2016 09 Namibia Fishing the traditional way 019
fishing the traditional way
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2016 09 Namibia 020
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2016 09 Namibia 021
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2016 09 Namibia Mbunza dance 022
Mbunza dance
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2016 09 Namibia 023
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2016 09 Namibia 024
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2016 09 Namibia 025
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2016 09 Namibia Lioness on the track 026
Lioness on the track.
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2016 09 Namibia 027
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2016 09 Namibia Waterhole Etosha Nationalpark 028
Etosha National Park
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2016 09 Namibia Cheetah in Namibia 029
Cheetahs in Namibia
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2016 09 Namibia thirsty Springboks 030
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2016 09 Namibia Elephant baby with mother 031
Elephant baby with mother.
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2016 09 Namibia Ellephant trunk 032
Elephant trunk
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2016 09 Namibia Elephants are taking their bath 033
Elephants are taking a bath.
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2016 09 Namibia Elephant bath034
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2016 09 Namibia 035
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2016 09 Namibia Rhino at Okaukuejo waterhole 036
Rhino at Okaukuejo waterhole
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2016 09 Namibia spotted hyena 037
Spotted Hyena
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2016 09 Namibia spotted hyena 038
Spotted Hyena
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2016 09 Namibia 039
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2016 09 Namibia Namib Valley of a Thousand Hills Camp 040
Namib Valley of a Thousand Hills
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2016 09 Namibia Leopard Etosha Nationalpark 041
Leopard Etosha National Park
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2016 09 Namibia Himba village 042
Himba village
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2016 09 Namibia Himba Teenager 043
Himba child
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2016 09 Namibia Himbas playing 044
playing Himbas
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2016 09 Namibia Himbas preparing food 045
Himbas preparing food
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2016 09 Namibia Himba women in their kitchen 046
Himba women in their kitchen
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2016 09 Namibia Himbas doent use cutlery 047
Himbas are not using cutlery.
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2016 09 Namibia young Himba 048
young Himba
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2016 09 Namibia Himba woman takes smoke bath 049
Himba woman is taking smoke bath.
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2016 09 Namibia Himba beauty 050
Himba beauty
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2016 09 Namibia 051
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2016 09 Namibia 052
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2016 09 Namibia 053
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2016 09 Namibia on the track to Brandberg 054
on the track to Brandberg
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2016 09 Namibia Tsauchab Camp 055
Tsauchab Camp
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2016 09 Namibia African children056
African children
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2016 09 Namibia on the way to Messum Crater 057
on the way to Messum Crater
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2016 09 Namibia Welwitschia over thousand years old 058
Weltwitschia over thousand years old.
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2016 09 Namibia 059
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2016 09 Namibia Sundowner at Dune 45 060
Sundowner at Dune 45
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2016 09 Namibia 062
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2016 09 Namibia Flamingos Walvis Bay 063
Flamingos Walvis Bay
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2016 09 Namibia Jetty Swakopmund 064
Jetty Swakopmund
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2016 09 Namibia seals at Cape Cross 065
Seals Cape Cross
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2016 09 Namibia Cape Cross 066
Cape Cross
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2016 09 Namibia on the way to Sossusvlei069
on the way to Sossusvlei
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2016 09 Namibia Dead Vlei 070
Dead Vlei
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2016 09 Namibia Sossusvlei 072
Sossusvlei
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2016 09 Namibia our visitors Andrea and Richard 073
our visitors Andrea and Richard
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2016 09 Namibia Elephants with sunset light 074
Elephants with sunset light
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2016 09 Namibia Sundowner Okaukuejo 075
Sundowner Okaukuejo