Namibia - Himba Tribe

Namibia, which is just north and towards the west of South Africa, had some of the most interesting tribes and spectacular natural sites to see. If you do not mind long car rides and sleeping on the ground inside a tent, then Namibia should be on your list of must see countries.

One particularly notable tribe is the Himba tribe. The members of this tribe live in a homestead that is "gated" by tree branches. All of the mud huts are within the circular gate. The tribe breeds cows and goats. All parts of these animals are used in some shape or form. For example, the walls of the mud huts are actually made of cow manure.

Female members of this tribe are very easy to spot. The women have a very distinct appearance. They cover their bodies, including their hair and clothing, with butterfat and ochre powder. This gives them the reddish appearance from head to toe. This protects their skin from the sun as well as acts as a moisturizer. Instead of using water to bathe, the women stand with their legs apart over burning incense. Their limited clothing of course is made out of cow or goat skin.

The children wear special jewelry and hairstyles. Both of these tell the age of the child. An infant has his/her head completely shaved and he/she wears a beaded necklace. As the infant grows older, the number of hair braids in front and back gives away the child's age. The type and design of the necklace and bracelets tell the age and family of the child. Since cows and goats are very important to the sustainability of the Himba people, the children must from an early age learn to tend to them. Therefore, the children are often given the responsibility of learning to care for the small goats at first. Watching a 5 year old take his kid to graze is a sight to be seen.

On the day that I visited, the entire Himba homestead was having a celebration. The women were dancing. The men were sitting around watching. There was a big slab of meat on a fire. There was also what looked like a skinned animal up high in a tree. The dead animal is placed in the tree so that no other animals will get to it and eat it. This allows them to eat the meat at a slightly later time. Honestly, I could not imagine eating this meat. Without refrigeration it looked rancid. Their stomachs must be used to eating older meat that has been sitting in the sun.

In order to gain entry to this homestead our group of 9 brought a gift. I believe we brought a big sack of rice as well as something else that would be useful for all. These items were given by our tour guide to the Himba tribe leader, who is sitting in the chair on the right. The leader must approve before we can visit. Once the leader approved, we were permitted to enter the gated homestead. After we walked around for a little while, the leader formally met us in front of the entire tribe. What was shocking was that he then asked for money to buy alcohol for the celebration. Our whole group was flabbergasted. We did not know what to do. We were being put on the spot and I was looking for our guide to jump in. If more of a gift was needed, our guide should have known to bring it. Our guide did nothing. Each group member including myself handed over a very small sum of money. This last interaction really tainted our experience.

That night we slept in tents outside of the homestead. The next day our group was invited back into the homestead. We collectively decided to skip our second visit. Our first visit was not exactly the exchange we had in mind.

S. Africa - De Beers Diamonds

One thing that South Africa is known for is its mining of both diamonds and gold. Kimberley is the location of South Africa's first diamond mine, which was the original headquarters of the now world famous De Beers. Diamonds were first discovered in Kimberley in 1867, but it was not until 1870 that Nicolaas de Beers found diamonds on his farm. News of the existence of diamonds caused an absolute frenzy with hundreds of families taking over Kimberley in search of diamonds. Today there are 6 major diamond mines in South Africa. I was fortunate to be able to go down into the Kimberley Mine.

When I say that I went down into the Kimberley Mine, I mean that I went 870 meters (2,854 feet) or a little over half a mile below the surface. Before I could do that I needed to gear up and go through some safety procedures. I also had to sign a paper stating that anything found in the mine is the property of De Beers (Darn!!).

I was told a mine usually takes about 7 years to build and then about 10 years to mine. The diamonds are found in kimberlite rock. Through pressure and dynamite the rocks fall. Large machinery is used to scoop up the large rocks and place them into a barrel. The barrel is pushed down the tracks to a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt moves the large rocks into a crushing machine, where the large rocks become small stones. Another conveyor belt catches the stones and moves them to the top of the mine.

My tour guide was very excited for me to hear the dynamite. He could not wait to see my reaction. Unfortunately or fortunately for me one of the main conveyor belts broke. Production had to stop until the belt was fixed, which would take several hours. Therefore, I did not get to experience a dynamite blast underground only hundreds of feet away from me.

One part of the tour that I found fascinating was the emergency procedures. When dynamite is set off, there is always a potential for catastrophe. There can also be a fire underground, an earthquake, or water seepage that can cause a mudslide. When these things happen, you have to run like a maniac to safety. When you are half a mile underground, you are not likely to make it to the elevator in time to get out. There are many, many tunnels. It is a maze down there. Therefore, there are several rescue rooms. If you can not get to the elevator, you are to try and get to one of the rescue rooms. One of the challenges is that the lights underground may go out. It could be pitch black. You may not be able to see your hand in front of you. With this in mind the mine has hanging poles that are there to basically smack you in the face. When you hit one of these, you know the door to the rescue room is on one of the sides. Once safely inside of the resouce room, you will find food, water, lamps, oxygen, and a radio communication system. You can survive in a rescue room for many days.

Once my tour was over, I went to the museum that explains the diamond mining process in detail. After the stones are brought to the surface, the stones are rinsed. Next the stones are placed on a special machine. This machine has a belt with oil on it. The diamonds stick to the oily belt and all other sediments fall off. This is how the diamonds get separated from the other materials.


Once the diamond is separated from the other sediments, it is sent off to someone to cut it into jewelry. It usually takes about a 12 foot by 12 foot room worth of rock and dirt to mine a single carat of diamond. That's a lot of rock and dirt for just 1 wedding ring.

In addition to the diamond mine tour and the museum, there is an outdoor historic small town that can be walked through in Kimberley. It looks like a town from an old western. It has a bar as well as places that people would go to weigh their diamonds and stake their claim. It was interesting to walk through and try to imagine what it was like back in 1890 or so.

For me Kimberley, South Africa was completely out of my way and was not part of my original plan. I did not have a car and Kimberley was in the opposite direction of Kruger National Park. I definitely think I made the right decision to hop on the bus and take a couple of days to view the diamond mine. It was well worth a visit to see something I would never get to see in the States.

Indonesia - Holding Hands

On the bus ride from Yogyakarta, Indonesia I met a young Muslim woman, who wore a typical veil that covered her hair and around her chin (see picture - women on the right). She was returning from university to her parent's home. This young woman spoke excellent English. We talked a great deal during the bus ride. Eventually she asked me to come meet her family. Wow, this was a special invitation. Most English conversations that I had in Asia were with males, since they were the ones fortunate enough to have a formal education. The invitations I received by most males, I could not accept. My gut often told me that there was more to those invitations than a cup of tea. So this invitation was extra special, since I felt that I could accept it from this highly educated Muslim woman. We got off the bus. I tossed on my big blue North Face backpack and followed her home.

When I got to her home, I was a bit self-conscious. I was not dressed appropriately to meet her family, especially her parents. What was wrong? My legs were showing. Fortunately, I always carried a wrap for just these occasions. I pulled my wrap out from my backpack and wrapped it around my waist. I made sure it touched the top of my sandals, hoping to cover my ankles as well. Now I was ready to enter her home.

I am not sure if this young Muslim woman brought people home often or I was a unique guest. First she announced my presence and then I was asked to come in. When I walked through the door, her parents, brother, and younger sister were all very welcoming. Since this took place in 1996, I can not remember if they all spoke English or not. I do remember being well taken care of. I was served tea and a few cookies in a room with just females. A couple of female friends came by to meet me. After about an hour of tea, cookies, and chatting with her sister and female friends, we all went outside for a walk.

The walk was more like a parade around her neighborhood. Although the sun had already set, I think my young friend wanted to be seen with me. It certainly was a pleasant night so I was fine with this. After walking for a few minutes, my new friend grabbed my hand. We were holding hands! This was extremely awkward for me. I so wanted to pull away. However, I had learned in Asia that holding hands with someone of the same sex is not necessarily a sign of one's sexuality. I first realized this in India. Men hold hands in the street with other men all the time. At first I thought India had a huge gay population. Eventually I came to realize that this was most often a sign of friendship. This young Muslim woman was letting me know that she thought of me as her friend. I did not want to insult her in any way. I held her hand for close to 10 minutes before I could figure out a way to release without being rude. As you can tell, I was uncomfortable but I realized this was just a difference between our cultures.

After spending a couple of hours at her home and around her neighborhood, it was time for me to get to my hotel for the night. Since I had no idea where I was and it was getting late, I accepted a ride from her brother. He had a motorbike and he knew where my hotel was located. I ran into a slight problem here. In this situation women usually sit side saddle. At least that is the appropriate or lady-like way of ridding on the back of a motorbike. I had my big backpack on and there was no way for me to do this. I also had my wrap on. There was no way I could hop on the back of the bike with the wrap. After pretending to be a proper lady for her family, I ripped off my wrap and straddled the back of the motorbike in my shorts behind her brother. Again, another uncomfortable situation. I tried to stay at least an inch away from her brother and hold onto the seat of the motorbike the best that I could. This was a difficult ride to my hotel with my backpack on but fortunately for me her brother did not bring attention to this awkward situation. I am sure he had a fun story to tell the next day.