Namibia 09

Two highpoints in Namibia were our 3 days with the San Bushmen and our 2 days in the Namib-Naukluft Desert. We agree with prior travelers
to Namibia to whom we had spoken--the diverse landscape and the cultures were some of our most unique experience so far.

MARCH 1 - 4, 2009: NHOMA CAMP IN BUSHMEN LAND, NORTHEAST NAMIBIA IN THE KALAHARI DESERT.
While we were in Nhoma, the San Bushmen did nothing different from what they normally do every day. They played games, attended
a healing dance, let us tag along on hunts, and demonstrated making tools and traps. So in a sense they acted as if we weren't there!
These hunter-gatherers have moved from the Stone Age into the Iron Age but still do things as they've done for many millenia!

Go to Namibia 2 to see naked women and desert-adapted elephants,
Namibia 3 for Sossusvlei and Namib-Naukluft Desert,
and Namibia 4 for the Skeleton Coast and strange road signs.



(Above Far L) Our co-pilots-cum-baggage handlers helped Carolyn, Rick and Wendy with our 60 kilos' total luggage allowed for 2 weeks. (Above L) We flew for 2 hours over jungle-looking landscape that will have become dry brown scrub once the rains stopped in April. Near Tsumkwe, the administrative center of Namibia's Bushmen land, we landed at Nhoma Camp airstrip. Our host Arno, from South Africa who had lived in Namibia for many years, whisked us off to our tents (Above C). After lunch we met our guide Albertus (Above R) who was born and raised in the village (Above Far R) about 2 minutes' walk from our tents, where we'd spend time over the next 3 days,


As we approach the village, we are surprised in several ways: San Bushmen's huts (Above Far L) are merely fronds over a branch structure which sometimes need a little extra help from a plastic tarp during the heavy rains. Other than sheltering from rain in their 15 family huts, all 110 villagers sit, cook, (Above L to R) eat, play, chat, smoke tobacco, and care for children, elders, etc., outside in the compound. Another surprise was how slim the men are, especially emphasized by beaded loin coverings. Children wear western-style clothes if they aren't being carried for breast feeding.


Time, goals, fun and happiness have totally different meanings in this culture. The good news: everything is lived in the moment. The bad news: no planning for the future, no dealing with change. Both women and men spend part of their afternoons playing community games AND tending to children. (Above L to R) Women playing ball toss with a round fruit are interrupted by some men. Men play the Porcupine Game using hands and arms to gesture and thump the ground. Women and men dance the Circle Game. Kids and women carrying babies jump rope.


(Above L & R) Babies are carried everywhere in slings for mom's cuddling, easy snacks, and early participation in community.	(Above L & R) School-age boys and girls walk a few kilometers from the village to a primary school built by our lodge owner and run by the government.		(Above L & R) On our 1st night at Nhoma, we were privileged to observe the Elephant Dance where 4 healers dance themselves into a trance to heal a sick person.


(Above L to R) We came across some interesting fauna and flora on our "hunting" trips: a 2" beetle, 8" millipede, 3" spider, a 6" plant looks like a spider, 3" flower amid scrub and grasses, AND a 60 ft. Baobab tree (note that 2 tiny blobs near the bottom are Carolyn & Wendy).


(Above L to R) Hunters show how they dig a root with a stick, shave off some flesh, then use it to wash their hands AND		(Above L & R) Carolyn learns then helps the San start a fire with sticks on grass.		(Above) An arrow is made from a reed, flattened fence wire & steinbok sinew.


(Above Far L & R) We pose with the 4 hunters with whom we spent part of 3 days. (Above center L to R) Starting with a plant leaf, a San man strips fibers out and rolls them on his leg into a cord. Then his friend connects the cord to a bent branch set with berries which springs easily when a bird sticks in its head to eat.


(Above Far L to R) Each day at Nhoma, our host Arno drove us in his truck 10 to 30 kilometers down "roads" like this. 4 San hunters with their spears, bows and arrows and village women with their gathering sacks, stand in the back of the pick up then jump down once we stop at the right location. The women gather manzetti nuts or other ripe fruits then wait while we follow the hunters as they track different animals over the 3 days: steinbok (small antelope), springhare (large rabbit with huge back feet), and porcupine.



Our most exciting hunt was for porcupine. We walked with the hunters for over 1 hour until they found burrows they suspected hid the porcupine den. (Above L to R) To confirm the number of porcupine and location of their den required 2 hunters to enter the burrows from different ends. Each man crawled fully into the tunnel with their hands out in front while his friend waited to pull him out if needed! Arno lent them flashlights rather than their depending on matches. Once they located the 2 porcupines' den, Arno also lent them a shovel to dig down into it (rather than using hands and sticks). It was 3 hours into the hunt by the time the San dug the 8 ft. wide and 5 ft. deep hole to break through the den ceiling. (Below Far L) Rick is assigned a hole to guard with a spear in case the animals escape. Unfortunately one did from another unguarded hole so 1 hunter and Arno took off after the quick critter crashing through the bush. (Below L) Arno and hunter return 15 minutes later with one porcupine slung over a spear. Then as the 2nd escaped the den, Rick tried to stab it as it ran inside our "circle". It left 2 quills in Arno's friend's leg before jumping back into its den (Below C) where it was trapped, its quillsemitting a death rattle of . (Below C to R) The animals were 20 to 30 kilograms each with some quills 2 ft. long. As guests, Carolyn and I were invited to pluck as many souvenir quills as we wanted under the careful watch of a San hunter.


Our experience with the San Bushmen was like being in a real-time National Geographic documentary. Please go next to Namibia2