Wilderness Safaris’ will be rebuilding their Serra Cafema camp, in the North-West of Namibia, in Hartmann’s Valley, overlooking Kunene River.
“We are thrilled to be rebuilding this iconic camp in the first half of 2018, where we’ll be maintaining the same footprint on its current island location nestled amongst shady albida trees,” said Mike Wassung, Wilderness Safaris’ Namibia MD.
The camp will be closed from January 15 to June 15 2018, with a proposed opening date of June 16, 2018.
The new Serra Cafema camp will be completely solar powered and shall be built with a light eco-footprint ensuring minimal impact on the desert location.
The camp will comprise of eight riverside villas, all elevated on decks.
Wassung said: “Inspiration for the new camp will be drawn from the exceptional desert location and the local Himba culture; we look forward to sharing further information and details about our architectural and decor plans in the coming months.”
Activities include meeting member of the nomadic Himba people, exploring the Namib Desert on nature drives or quad-bike excursions, boating on the Kunene River and birdwatching.
Meanwhile, Wild Horizons’ white-water rafting closed on April 3, as well as Livingstone Island, which closed on April 14, due to the rise in water levels of the Zambezi River.
“Rafting usually resumes between May and June. This depends on how much water is still coming down from the flood plains,” says Wilma Griffith, Sales and Marketing, Wild Horizons.
The reopening of Livingstone Island will depend on the level of the water. There will be no bookings made during this period. Bookings already made will be cancelled.
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Showing posts with label Himba people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Himba people. Show all posts
Monday, 5 June 2017
Saturday, 27 May 2017
AFRICA: Some Of Africa's Complex Traditions
Bride Price
Lobola is an ancient and controversial Southern African tradition in which the families of a bride and groom negotiate how much the groom must pay for the bride.
All negotiations must be done in writing, never by phone or in person. The two families will not speak until negotiations are complete.
Spitting On Children For Blessings
Members of the Maasai tribe in Kenya and Tanzania spit as a way of blessing. Men spit on newborns and say they are bad in the belief that if they praise a baby, it will be cursed.
Maasai warriors will also spit in their hands before shaking the hand of an elder.
Jumping On Bulls
In order to prove their manhood in the Ethiopian Hamer tribe, young boys must run, jump and land on the back of a bull before then attempting to run across the backs of several bulls. They do this multiple times, and usually when naked.
Veils For Men
The Ahaggaren Tuaregs of Algeria are part of a larger group of Berber-speaking Tuaregs. In their culture, the men wear veils almost all the time.
However, they can take their veils off when inside family camps or while traveling.
Women Stay In Their Own Houses
In the Gio tribe in Ivory Coast, each wife has her own small house that she lives in with her children until they are old enough to move out.
The children never live with their fathers.
Women Don't Mourn Elders
In the Southwestern Congo, the Suku tribe honors ancestors and elders, when they die, with a ceremony held in the clearing of a forest.
Here, gifts and offerings are brought, but outsiders and all women are forbidden to attend.
Boy Children Grow Up With Their Marternal Uncles
When male children reach age 5 or 6 in the Northern Angolan Songo tribe, they are sent to live with their uncles on their mother’s side.
This is because chiefs inherit their position through matrilineal lines.
Wealth Determined By Number Of Cows
In the Pokot tribe in Kenya, wealth is measured by how many cows a family has. Most Pokot people are either “corn people” or “cow people” meaning that’s what they cultivate on their land, but all Pokot people measure their wealth by cows.
The number of women a man can marry is determined by how many cows he has.
Khweta Ceremony
This Southern African ceremony is practiced by several tribes and is how a young boy proves his manhood.
When they are of age, boys are sent to spend several days or weeks in a circumcision lodge during winter, where they’re put through rigorous and often dangerous tests and rituals such as continuous dancing until exhaustion, and circumcision.
Clans Named After Animals
The Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania have strict policies against killing wild animals. They keep cattle and livestock, but leave wild animals untouched.
In fact, each clan is associated with a specific wild species, which they often keep close to them and treat as a clan member.
Himba Smear With Butter Fat And Ochre
The Himba people of Northern Namibia cover their skin with a mixture of butter fat and ochre — a natural earth pigment containing iron oxide to protect themselves from the sun.
For that reason, the Himba people often appear to have a red skin tone.
San People of Botswana
The San People of Botswana, also called Bushmen, are hunter gatherers who were evicted from their ancestral land in the 1950s.
They were forbidden to hunt and forced to apply for permits to enter reserves.
The San switched to farming but they continued to gather herbs for medication and plants for food. Deprived of the ability to hunt, San numbers dwindled.
Sudanese Latuka People
In the Sudanese Latuka tribe, when a man wants to marry a woman, he kidnaps her. Elderly members of his family go and ask the girl’s father for her hand in marriage, and if dad agrees, he beats the suitor as a sign of his acceptance of the union.
If the father disagrees, however, the man might forcefully marry the woman anyway.
Bride Grooms Fight
The Fulani tribe live in many countries in West Africa and follow a tradition called Sharo. Sharo happens when two young men want to marry the same woman.
To compete for her hand, they beat one another up.
The men must suppress signs of pain and the one who takes the beating without showing signs of pain can take the wife.
Traditional Cleansing
The Chewa people are one of the largest indigenous groups of Malawi but live throughout Central and Southern Africa.
When a person dies, one family tradition involves taking the body into the woods, slitting the throat, and forcing water through the body to cleanse it.
They do this by squeezing the corpse’s stomach until what comes out the rear end runs clear.
Lip Widening
When a girl becomes a teenager in the Surma tribe of Southern Sudan, she begins the process of lip stretching. The girl has her bottom teeth removed to make space for a lip plate, which is increased in size annually.
Lobola is an ancient and controversial Southern African tradition in which the families of a bride and groom negotiate how much the groom must pay for the bride.
All negotiations must be done in writing, never by phone or in person. The two families will not speak until negotiations are complete.
Spitting On Children For Blessings
Members of the Maasai tribe in Kenya and Tanzania spit as a way of blessing. Men spit on newborns and say they are bad in the belief that if they praise a baby, it will be cursed.
Maasai warriors will also spit in their hands before shaking the hand of an elder.
Jumping On Bulls
In order to prove their manhood in the Ethiopian Hamer tribe, young boys must run, jump and land on the back of a bull before then attempting to run across the backs of several bulls. They do this multiple times, and usually when naked.
Veils For Men
The Ahaggaren Tuaregs of Algeria are part of a larger group of Berber-speaking Tuaregs. In their culture, the men wear veils almost all the time.
However, they can take their veils off when inside family camps or while traveling.
Women Stay In Their Own Houses
In the Gio tribe in Ivory Coast, each wife has her own small house that she lives in with her children until they are old enough to move out.
The children never live with their fathers.
Women Don't Mourn Elders
In the Southwestern Congo, the Suku tribe honors ancestors and elders, when they die, with a ceremony held in the clearing of a forest.
Here, gifts and offerings are brought, but outsiders and all women are forbidden to attend.
Boy Children Grow Up With Their Marternal Uncles
When male children reach age 5 or 6 in the Northern Angolan Songo tribe, they are sent to live with their uncles on their mother’s side.
This is because chiefs inherit their position through matrilineal lines.
Wealth Determined By Number Of Cows
In the Pokot tribe in Kenya, wealth is measured by how many cows a family has. Most Pokot people are either “corn people” or “cow people” meaning that’s what they cultivate on their land, but all Pokot people measure their wealth by cows.
The number of women a man can marry is determined by how many cows he has.
Khweta Ceremony
This Southern African ceremony is practiced by several tribes and is how a young boy proves his manhood.
When they are of age, boys are sent to spend several days or weeks in a circumcision lodge during winter, where they’re put through rigorous and often dangerous tests and rituals such as continuous dancing until exhaustion, and circumcision.
Clans Named After Animals
The Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania have strict policies against killing wild animals. They keep cattle and livestock, but leave wild animals untouched.
In fact, each clan is associated with a specific wild species, which they often keep close to them and treat as a clan member.
Himba Smear With Butter Fat And Ochre
The Himba people of Northern Namibia cover their skin with a mixture of butter fat and ochre — a natural earth pigment containing iron oxide to protect themselves from the sun.
For that reason, the Himba people often appear to have a red skin tone.
San People of Botswana
The San People of Botswana, also called Bushmen, are hunter gatherers who were evicted from their ancestral land in the 1950s.
They were forbidden to hunt and forced to apply for permits to enter reserves.
The San switched to farming but they continued to gather herbs for medication and plants for food. Deprived of the ability to hunt, San numbers dwindled.
Sudanese Latuka People
In the Sudanese Latuka tribe, when a man wants to marry a woman, he kidnaps her. Elderly members of his family go and ask the girl’s father for her hand in marriage, and if dad agrees, he beats the suitor as a sign of his acceptance of the union.
If the father disagrees, however, the man might forcefully marry the woman anyway.
Bride Grooms Fight
The Fulani tribe live in many countries in West Africa and follow a tradition called Sharo. Sharo happens when two young men want to marry the same woman.
To compete for her hand, they beat one another up.
The men must suppress signs of pain and the one who takes the beating without showing signs of pain can take the wife.
Traditional Cleansing
The Chewa people are one of the largest indigenous groups of Malawi but live throughout Central and Southern Africa.
When a person dies, one family tradition involves taking the body into the woods, slitting the throat, and forcing water through the body to cleanse it.
They do this by squeezing the corpse’s stomach until what comes out the rear end runs clear.
Lip Widening
When a girl becomes a teenager in the Surma tribe of Southern Sudan, she begins the process of lip stretching. The girl has her bottom teeth removed to make space for a lip plate, which is increased in size annually.
Thursday, 12 November 2015
NAMIBIA: Namibia's Skeleton Coast Is Most Pristine Place In Africa
Namibia's Bushmen speak of the land God made in anger.
From the air, the bleak shoreline of the Skeleton Coast looks wonderful -- a deep green sea, fringed with surf, breaks over a shore receding into infinite dunes.
From land, it's a different story.
The Benguela Current rushes in, urgent and strong, hurtling the chilling Atlantic into the fierce heat of the Namib.
Whale and seal skeletons from the former whaling industry still litter the coastline -- the source of the region's frightening name.
Humans have suffered, too -- the remains of ships wrecked on the hidden rocks offshore rust and crumble beside the animal bones.
Survivors didn't last long in this harsh environment.
Why, then, visit this brutal-sounding place?
Because its forbidding nature has left Namibia's Skeleton Coast one of the most pristine shorelines in the world.
It may be bleak, but it's beautiful.
The territory extends from just north of the city of Swakopmund to the Angolan border in northwest Namibia, taking in 500 kilometers of shoreline and 2 million hectares of dunes and gravel plains.
It forms a national park, divided by rivers.
The southern section runs between the Ugab and Hoanib Rivers, the north between the Hoanib and Kunene.
Independent travelers can apply for permits for day trips but only to the south -- and it's the northern extremes, the Skeleton Coast Wilderness, that most people want to see.
Visitors to the latter part of the park are restricted to around 800 a year to preserve the fragile environment.
Exclusive and expensive
The only way to reach the north is to join a fly-in safari -- an exclusive, if expensive, experience.
A typical four-day trip costs around $6,000 per person.
After flying to an inland camp, my guide, Bariar, and I reach the sea following a 200-kilometer drive through dune country.
We climb out of the Land Rover into a huge animal graveyard: seal skulls jumbled with turtles' rib cages and the colossal, bleached vertebrae of whales.
The wind shunts me from one set of remains to the next.
One ghoulish question suggests itself: "Are there human skeletons, too?"
"Of course!" Bariar shouts, his voice almost lost in the wind.
"It's the shore of a thousand shipwrecks."
One of the coast's best-known wrecks is a British liner, the Dunedin Star, beached by her master after hitting a reef (some say a U-boat) in the 1940s.
A tug, the Sir Charles Elliott, went to her aid but it sank, too.
An arch of whale bones marks the grave of the two crewmen who led the rescue attempt, trying in vain to secure a line from the ship to the shore.
Every now and then the wreck of their tug can be seen above the waves.
At Cape Frio, thousands of seals provide light relief. Their noise is deafening, their smell overwhelming, but their antics draw you in.
The surf is full of writhing bodies.
At the water's edge, the occasional rock twitches, rolls over and throws itself into the sea.
We follow the coastline for miles.
Ours are the only tire marks, soon to be erased by the sand.
Ghost crabs scuttle into the waves; terns swoop over the surf; a jackal flops, seemingly exhausted, onto the shore.
Little game
When it comes to watching wildlife, the Skeleton Coast isn't about big game.
Guides focus on small mammals, birds and insects and the stories of how they survive.
With ocean fogs the only moisture supply, creatures conserve what they can.
Black-backed jackals lick humidity from stones.
Desert beetles channel droplets along their backs and into their mouths.
Tok-tokkie beetles pair up, then climb on top of one another, taking it in turns to provide shade.
Without compass or Sat Nav, Bariar drives us on a convoluted route back into the desert.
He suggests I look out the window for "unexpected stones" -- indicators to turn left or right or double back a touch.
They're meant to keep vehicles on course and not flatten tracts of this delicate ecosystem.
We arrive at the legendary "roaring" dunes, climb to the top and slide down on our butts.
I know the fearsome rumble comes from air trapped between grains of sand, but I still glance up convinced there are low-flying jets overhead.
The next couple of days are spent hiking through gorges, tracking desert-adapted elephants and exploring a wilderness that never seems to end.
What looks like wasteland to me is, to the Himba people, home.
They're the last of Namibia's nomadic pastoralists: they grow nothing and eat only meat.
The women braid their hair and scrub their bodies with ocher to keep clean. Their skin gleams like polished copper in the sun.
One morning, we visit their camp.
The trip is laid on for tourists, but when it's over we head to the home of one of the guides on the tour.
His mother offers me a necklace of porcupine quills as young girls sit and smile.
Eventually they overcome their shyness and get up to sing.
As I leave, I notice a small boy, eyeing me from the top of a dune.
Keen to impress, he somersaults over the top and falls flat on his face in the sand.
He gets up, shakes himself down and laughs.
Even in this tough environment, the survivors find plenty of reasons to smile.
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