Damaraland, Namibia

I went to an ethnographic living museum to be shown how the locals traditionally live in the desert. First stop with my guide Somol was to visit the pharmacy. They make use of al the local plants and everything that nature provides.  An ostrich egg can be blown and provides scrambled egg which soothes an upset stomach. The shell can be used as a drinking vessel. Red ochre is used as a cosmetic and to protect against ,mosquitos. The stinky poo tree soothes upset stomachs and drunk as a tea gets rid of wind. Another tree is used as a police to cover and heal cuts and other plants are used for all sorts of purposes.

 A chiefs hut. The men can have as many wives as he can afford but each wife has a separate hut which he has to make. The branches are tied together with the bark of a desert tree.

 One of the wives hut.

 The brewery. Grass seeds are gathered after the rainy season and added to water and honey and left to ferment to create beer.

 A traditional game which is played all over Africa although the rules differ depending on the tribal area.

 One of the locals using a sharp tool to remove hair from a hide. The hair is used to weave into a blanket.

 Seeds and shells are shaped and worked into beads for decoration and for selling.

 A demonstration of the blacksmiths art. Iron stone is gathered from the desert and smelted and worked into scrapers, spears, knives and other tools.. They still make their own tools but now buh iron rods from the hardware store to make into tools.

 We were shown how to make fire using two sticks, some donkey dung, elephant poo and grass.

 Every seven year old boy learns to lit a fire. It is an essential skill to master as he can not marry until he can prove that he can light a fire.

Later I visited an octagonal columnar basalt outcrop. After seeing the Giants Causeway and massive columnar basalt lava flows in Iceland, I was rather underwhelmed with this tiny outcrop. But if it is your first time it is interesting. 

 Along the road we came across a troupe of baboons foraging along side the road.

 Some baboons playing in a tree.

 We had bought both the sticks and some donkey dung from the Damara village. We stopped for a bush camp and got out the fire making kit. Somal had make it look so easy with just four or five twists of the stick to get the donkey dung smoking and then transferring it onto the coarser elephant poo and blowing on it to create fire. However hard we tried, it just didn't work for else. Most people had a go and tried different techniques. Eventually we reverted to matches otherwise we would still be there now!