Erik's last day of school....

Last week Erik attended his last day of African school (at least for this time). It was the last day of this term, and the kids are now on holiday. It was a bit emotional for all of us, but we brought cake and shared with his class. Erik attended grade 1, class c, with 37 students. The kids sang songs for him, and gave him a book they had worked on together, where they had drawn pictures of things that will remind him of Opuwo and Namibia. The last song they sang for Erik, was the national anthem, which Erik also knows by heart as it is sung every morning and afternoon, with a salute to the flag.

Indiginous tribes of northern Namibia

Namibia's people consist of 11 major ethnic groups scattered around the country. Within each ethnic groups, there can be as many as 12 different tribes. In the town we live in, there are two very visible tribes, wich is Herero and Himba.

The Himba are semi-nomadics. Unlike many indigenous groups in Africa, the Himba have managed to maintain much of their traditional lifestyle, perhaps owing to the fact that the land they occupy is so harsh and unyielding that it has been rarely coveted by the colonialists and commercial farmers that have affected so many other regions of the continent.

Himba women have a particularly distinctive appearance. Each morning, they cover themselves with a mixture of butter fat, red ocher and local herbs that both gives their body the smooth, reddish appearance the Himba find attractive, plus offers some protection against the desert sun. Married women wear a small headpiece made of soft skin on top of their braided and ochered hair. In addition, they often wear a heavy ornament around their necks that includes a conch shell that hangs between their breasts in the front and a metal-studded leather plate that hangs down the center of their back. They also wear heavy metal rings around their ankles as well as other jewelry made of copper, ostrich shells or woven reeds.

The Herero are proud cattle farmers who measure their wealth in cattle, the importance of cattle to these people is even evident in the Herero womens' dresses. The traditional dress is derived from a Victorian woman's dress, and consists of an enormous crinoline worn over a several petticoats, a horn shaped hat (said to represent the horns of a cow) made from rolled cloth is also worn.

Like the Himba they also have a holy, ritual fire which symbolises life, fertility and prosperity. When visiting a village or a compound, it's important to walk around the holy fire, even if it's not burning (!).

Victoria Falls

We are back home safe and sound, after an amazing 3000 km roundtrip to Zambia. Victoria Falls was absolutely worth seeing, and it was stunning to see the forces of the falls up close. Mist from the waterfalls can be seen more than 20 km away, and the thundering roar can be heard long before the falls can be seen.

Victoria Falls was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1989 for being one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world, and it is right on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia - and occurs where the powerful Zambezi River plunges down a series of basalt gorges in a breathtaking display of several waterfalls. Between 20 000 and 500 000 cubic metres of water a minute crash into the Batoka Gorge. The spray from the thundering water is partly responsible for sustaining the "rainforest" opposite the falls.

Victoria Falls has also become known as the adrenaline capital of the world because of the exciting activities on offer: from white water rafting on the Zambezi to the world-famous bungi jump into the breathtaking gorge (Sammy just had to try to bungi of course!). Until recently, the 111m plunge into the Zambezi river was considered the highest jump in the world.

The city Livingstone

The town is 10 km from the falls, and has been relatively unknown until recently, however the political problems in Zimbabwe have led to a lot of tourism on the Zambian side of the falls. People we talked to in Livingstone told us that the town Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwian side is more or less a ghost town now, all the hotels are closed, and there is no tourism anymore. Very sad thinking about all those jobs and the income the locals have lost because of politics.

Relatively compact, with around 140 000 local inhabitants, Livingstone is easy enough to walk around. The main street of this colonial town is the Mosi-oa-Tunya Road, sections of which are lined with classic colonial buildings. Very beautiful. In Livingstone, our first day, we ran into a norwegian-danish family whom we actually met in Mozambique for christmas, and Erik, Victor (5) and Maja (soon 7) were extatic! We ended up walking over to Zimbawe with them (a crazy moment, crossing the border at foot, besides huge trucks waiting to cross, with no passport), viewing the falls from the other side, whilst watching Sammy bungji jump into the gorge!

The Royal Livingstone hotel

We have heard a lot about this hotel, and decided to take the kids there for breakfast. It was like entering into a different time and different world.....Architecturally, the buildings take their cue from African resonances. The Royal Livingstone Hotel, stretches luxuriously along the banks of the Zambezi River. The main hotel is a sequence of thatch-roofed buildings, most African in their influence, and incorporates the lounge, restaurant and bar, and a sweeping timber deck is planted in the swirling water of the Zambezi. While we were eating, a dazzle of zebra's walked accross the lawn, and the kids got very excited! The lawn between the hotel and the Zambezi was big, green and with swings and, chandeleirs hanging from the enourmous trees-and Erik met a boy whom he played qrocket with, and we had a very nice time there.

Driving home from Livingstone, we drove through Okavango delta where there are crocodiles and hippos all over the place. The camp we stayed at, Ngepi, (which we also stayed at last year), frequently have hippos in the campsite, and they have a "pool" in the river where you can swim safely (a cage in the river, to make sure crocs and hippos cant get in). Erik discovered someone speaking Norwegian, and was happy to meet Andreas, a boy his age, also living in Africa (Gabon), and they became instant friends! The Okavango river is breathtaking, and you can see a lot of wildlife from a mokoro, the local wooden canoe.

Pictures

I have posted new pictures from this trip on our Family photoalbum for those who are interested! Also, I will try to upload the video of Sammy bungji jumping!