|
NAMIBIA
I travelled to Namibia in 2013 to videotape the lives of the Himba and the San people. |
|
|
The Himba are a semi-pastoral people who continue to live in Namibia much as they have for generations.*
On YouTube, Search "Himba Doug Spencer".
|
Once the San roamed over most of the African continent. Certainly they were living in the Kalahari and Tsodilo Hills as far back as 30,000 years ago, as archaeological finds in the Kalahari have demonstrated. Some linguists even credit them with the invention of language.*
|
|
Central Namibia is defined by the Namib Desert, a barren and desolate landscape of undulating apricot-coloured dunes interspersed with dry pans. Nowhere is this truer than at Sossusvlei, Namibia's most famous strip of sand, were gargantuan dunes tower more than 300m above the underlying strata.*
Every time I photograph people, I'm reminded that not only animals are in danger of extinction, but people are as well.
The Government of Botswana decided to relocate all San people living within the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Harassment of residents, dismantling of infrastructure, and bans on hunting appear to have been used to induce residents to leave. This relocation may have been intended to facilitate diamond mining within the reserve. Queen Elizabeth is a Himba woman who works as an independent tour guide.
She talks about the Himba hut and how its constructed.
She talks about traditional healers.
Eric talks about the challenges faced by the San people.
|
Women women use a mixture of ochre, butter and bush herbs to cover their braided-hair, which has an effect similar to dreadlocks. They tend to shum Western clothes, preferring to walk around bare-breasted, with no more than a pleated animal skin covering their unmentionables.*
The living museum of the Ju/'Hoansi gives visitors the opportunity of learn how the San traditionally light fire, make tools and weapons, etc.
On YouTube, Search "Living Museum Doug Spencer".
She talks about her guiding business.
She describes the wooden structure used for drying things in the sun.
The San people (or Saan), also known as Bushmen or Basarwa, are member of various indigenous hunter-gatherers of Southern Africa, whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
|
Himba women are famous for smear-ing themselves with a fragrant mixture of ochre, butter, and bush herbs which serves as a natural sun block and insect
repellent.* The Vanishing Himba
With the death of a culture, no matter how small, one more perspective on "the different ways of seeing the world" is lost forever.
Having survived genocide by German troops in the early 1900s, Namibia's Himba are now facing the biggest threat to their way of life. They face an ongoing struggle to protect their land rights. There have been reports of mining undertaken on Himba land without community consent. Government plans to build a dam that overflows much Himba grazing area have alarmed the Himba and their supporters. She talks about how food is stored to preserve it.
Less cat than greyhound, the cheetah is a world-class sprinter.*
The Himba is the famous tribe of "red people" in northern Namibia. Women paint themselves twice a day with red clay mixed with butter. They wear short skirts made of goat skins and long red clay covered plaits of hair ending with tassels.
|
*These captions are from Botswana and Namibia and Southern Africa -- Lonely Planet's travel guides.