Thursday, May 07, 2009

ooh la la

I've just returned from my northern Namibian tour. It was a small group, with the guide and camp assistant we made a cozy group of five. There was an adorable British guy who would say adorable British accented things like "I've got sompthin in me eye."
There was an adorable french girl who would say adorable french accented things like "When is zi love season for zi an-i-mals?" and I swear exclaimed "ooh la la" at least once. Then there was adorable me who said adorable American accented things like "Golly that sure is purrtty." It was totally relaxed and fun. Our guide was a very likable young Namibian. our camp sites were great. It was a really great way to leave Africa I think - eating around a campfire, taking outdoor showers which you know I love- all very similar to the village only posher - with running water, flush toilets, and even electricity sometimes, plus someone else did most of the cooking and washing up. We saw all the exciting African animals. We saw 7 black rhinos at the watering hole one night. We visited a Himba village where I got kind of filthy playing with the kids. We went hiking to see ancient rock carvings and cave paintings - through a shaded valley of white stoned streams and ethereal fluff of bush grass. The most famous painting is called the 'white lady' because the figure is painted in white - the first anthropologist to study it hypothesized that it was an early white visitor from the Mediterranean. This has long since been disproved - and it is now widely accepted as a male shaman figure with "an obvious male groin adornment" ...still it keeps the name white lady. oh white people.
More on the Himba tomorrow.