Day 11

We left Swakopmund and drover further north along Skeleton Coast, which judging from the cars with huge fishing rods, is popular for fishing. We stopped briefly at a place with a shipwreck off the coast, which was the first place where there were street vendors with knick knacks. I was not looking forward to being pushed into buying stuff I did not have any need for, but the three people sitting there did get up to hold some of their merchandise up for us to see, but that was about it. Throughout the entire trip, I have to say there were hardly any persuasive tactics used on us, sometimes even all interest in potential buyers seemed to be lacking.
The next stop was Cape Cross, the spot where Diego Cáo was the first European to set foot on Namibian soil and put up a cross, although my travel guide mentions that nobody really knows where this happened exactly and that the cross is a replica. Probably, similarly to the Cape we visited the week before, they picked this spot out of convenience and for touristic purposes, as it also happens to be a place where a large seal colony resides. When we arrived we saw an intense fight between a hungry jackal and a feisty mother seal over her baby. What was also intense was the incredible noise that this colony collectively produced, with the interesting thing being that most of the wails did not sound like seals at all, it was more like hearing various farm animals such as cows, pigs, and goats. Even more intense was the smell that was everywhere, making it unlikely for me that someone would pick this spot to set foot on Africa for the first time. I think that Willem at some point during the trip even put the sweater that he was wearing during this visit in a plastic bag as he swore he was still smelling it.
North of Swakopmund, there were less fences lining the roads, at parts the quality of the roads was quite poor, but there was more evidence of human presence. Small houses, domesticated animals and cattle, and at least few cars crossing us every hour. We crossed through the area of the Himba and Herero tribes and stopped at a small settlement of each tribe. In both cases, we met only women and young children, as the men were off with their cattle. In the Himba village, Willem and I quickly walked past the market with souvenirs, into the town where we were met by enthusiastic children. One wanted to share what seemed like wood chips that he was chewing on with me, but I kindly declined. I heard before going on this trip that people wanting to share their biltong with you was a sign of them liking you, I wondered if this principle transferred to wood chips as well. Here too the children were very interested in being in pictures and looking on the screen of my camera, but it seemed like only one of the older boys fully realized what was going on, after he looked at the screen and realized that what was showing there was an image of Willem that I had just taken and you could tell from his reaction that he deduced from that that the next image was of himself.
In the Herero village, both adults and children seemed quite uninterested in our presence. Although they had a lot of merchandise available, they did not even get up, unless we made it really clear that we wanted to buy something from them. While the Himba women still looked very traditional, the dresses of the Herero women were very large, inspired by imperialistic Victorianism, but with much more colors and strange-looking headwear that supposedly resembles cow-horns. The headwear in combination with the removal of the lower 4 incisors, makes the women look like cows, which over there is a good thing! I failed to appreciate this to its full extent and it made me wonder what those men are doing when they are away for weeks with their cattle.
Upon our arrival near Twijfelfontein, we had one more cultural outing; rock carvings from the ‘bosjesmannen’ (I am still unsure whether this is or is not the politically correct way of referring to them, I’ve heard it used multiple times by different people, so I assume it is okay). The rock carvings showed various animals in relation to waterholes and since at Twijfelfontein there was a permanent waterhole, people from the surroundings would come there throughout the year and leave instructions for others regarding the presence or migration of animals. Giraffes were thought to be of particular importance as it was believed that they were responsible of getting water from the clouds with their long necks.