Serra Cafema—Day Seven
We got up early today so that we could watch the sun rise over the mountains. It sounded very romantic when the plan was announced after dinner, but at 5:30 am I’m wondering what we were thinking. We head out and are soon making discoveries. Because the mountains are so high here, there is light well before we see the sun coming up. Clemet finds a legless skink, a snake and a white lady dancer spider. We walk up to a high ridge where we can get a good view of the sunrise. The sun lights up the tops of the peaks behind us before we see it pop up.
After the sun rises, we walk back down and find a good place for breakfast. A nice grassy patch with a clearing makes the perfect outdoor dining room for our sunriser (that was the first one of those – I don’t see them being as popular as the sundowner for some reason)! Before the wind and breezes pick up, you can see that the desert is not empty. There are little tracks all over the place. After breakfast we head over to visit a local Himba family.
I want to meet the Himba, but I’m a little nervous about going into their space as if it were a museum. Their culture is very different from ours, and they are allowing us to take photos and look into their home. It is obvious that the guides have a good relationship with this family. The Himba measure wealth in cows and goats. This family is a wealthy family group. The women also make jewelry that was very nice, and our group came away well decorated. That money goes for buying more cows. Their diet is pretty limited; they just eat meat and milk.
The women make a paste from fat, ocher and a nice-smelling gum. They use this to cover their whole body. It protects their skin from the sun, keeps it moist and smells good. They even roll it in their hair to attach hair extensions. As we were starting our tour, the cows came home. They seemed to know where they were supposed to be. There are no fences in this area. The women went over and milked some of the cows. When they were done the cows started to head out of camp.
Chris pointed out that the path from the front door of the house and the gate to the animal pen are lined up. This path between the two are sacred when crossing the grounds we shouldn’t step across this space, but walk around the house or the pen to get to the other side.
Some of the men have picked up some western clothes, but the women and headman all wear the traditional clothes. Spending a few hours with the Himba makes you think about how little you need to live. They move around so the land doesn’t get overgrazed in one place.
After lunch we went for a guided walk outside of camp. We walked along a path between the dunes and the river. We saw a cute little agama (like a lizard), a toad that blended right in with the sand, and some incredible views. While we were up on top of a small ridge, we saw a herd of cattle on the Angola side some down to the river for water. We expected that they might come down and stay a while, but they ran down, drank and then ran right back to where they came from.