Tag Archives: Africa It is hot in the northern reaches of Namibia. Very hot. Even in August, in the middle of the dry, winter season, when night temperatures can drop below 10°C (which is pretty cool when you are camping!), the sun rises early and bakes the arid landscape. By mid-morning, the daily highs of 30°C+ have already been reached. I […]  It is dark inside a wattle and daub Himba wattle and daub hut. As well as being dark, the huts are likely to be noisy with chatter, packed with bodies, and smoky from the fireplace, pipe tobacco, and incense. The huts are built from mopane wood – a local termite-resistant hardwood – plastered with a mixture of clay and animal dung. […]  It was a beautiful scene: the red, rocky banks on the Angolan shore of Kunene River contrasting with the rushing green waters and the sandy foreshore on the Namibian side. A young man, recognisable as an unmarried Himba by his hairstyle, sat on a rock, stick in hand. It was, of course, a constructed image, not […]  The Solstice (Yule or Litha – depending which hemisphere you are in) has just passed. Today is Christmas Eve here in Australia. It makes me think of my family – scattered as they are – and of the families I have met in my travels. These families can take very different forms from the “norm” I grew up […]  According to Google Maps, it takes 4 hours and 42 minutes to drive the 309 kilometres through the heart of Stro gateway to Namibia’s northern border regions. Google Maps doesn’t tell you that most of this distance is on what “Maps of Namibia” calls “Main-Gravel Roads”: dusty, corrugated, white-gravel, roads with potholes that leap out without notice and where on-coming or overtaking […] |
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