Himba

Well, I'm back from the Himba tribe and it's shaping up to be the talking point of the trip, to date. Very interesting, for many, many reasons. At around 4pm, a couple of guys arrived at our camp. They were dressed in scruffy 'Western' clothes (shorts and t-shirts, though, rather than stetsons and chaps). I know this is unfair, but they kinda looked like they should be holding AK-47s. They lead us back up the track and through a gate on the side. We stopped, and he explained a couple of things about the Himba tribe we were about to meet. It was part of a community project, and there were eighteen children, many of whom were orphans. There were something like ten women, but very few men – only six between several tribes, or something like that. He told us they would say something, and we should reply 'morrow' (which means 'hello'), then they would ask us how we were and we'd reply, 'narra'. With that, he led us towards the camp.

As we approached the village – a loose collection or huts and a corrale full of cattle, surrounded by a sparse wattle fence – I must admit I was nervous. The first thing we saw was a group of four children, all under the age of eight, ochre in colour, and naked save for loincloths, necklaces and ankle bracelets. These came running up to us to say hello. Without going into too much detail, the children were my favourite part of this experience. We were greeted by a woman in full Himba dress (that is to say, very little), and she went from person to person repeating the exchange we'd been taught and smiling. She didn't make much eye contact, though, and this smacked distinctly of 'gimmick'. We made our way clockwise around the village, stopping at various 'stations' where women were carrying out different tasks. I didn't see much of this, because I was playing with the children. Yes I know, I know, but they seemed to love being photographed simply because they were so keen to see themselves in a picture. I took a little video of one girl dancing and showed it to her and she was absolutely delighted, I swear.

It was at this point I managed to morally square the whole thing in my head. I chose to look upon the whole thing as a show. We were not visiting a fully-working Himba tribe so much as a theme park, entitled 'The Himba Experience'. The tour company (and thus, us) pays money to allow us to do this, so the whole thing becomes a show we've paid to see. Leaving aside thoughts that it might be 'altering' their culture, it meant I felt a lot more comfortable and, indeed, there may or may not be a couple of photos of me swinging small Himba children round in the air. The only slight jarring moment was when, sat in a small hut being told about various Himba traditions, we heard noises outside and realised it was another tour group waiting to enter. So much for us as intrepid explorers.

Back at camp, I tried to draw Bjorn's opinion on the whole thing, but he was proving ellusive. He felt that something 'didn't smell right' about it. I think he felt that it was more contrived, perhaps, than I suspected. At one point, when Heidi asked him something about the families and said one of the guides had said such and such, he muttered, 'Yeah, well, they talk a lot of sh1t'. Interesting. He finally said that he felt something wasn't right, but he had absolutely no evidence of that, so couldn't really say anything. Very diplomatic. For myself, I'm not sure I'm too stressed about their culture being eroded. If they're moving with the times, good for them. I mean, if there's a source of income that doesn't involve them being on the starvation line for months at a time because of poor rainfall, the all the better. I kept coming back, though, to the children. 'The children seemed to genuinely enjoy us playing with them. We were like fairground rides for them', was all I could say.

As we sat round the camp fire, we heard clapping, chanting and laughter coming from the direction of the Himba village, so it sounds like they're not just putting on a show for the tourists. My suspicions that Bjorn was playing a 'Best of Himba' CD on a stereo in his tent were quickly dismissed.