Himba Lady | Namibia | Digital Download Photo Bundle

When I arrived in Namibia in May 2017 I knew I was about to embark on an adventure like no other. In fact this month from late May 2017 to late June 2017 turned out to be one of the best months of character building I have ever experienced. I had managed to establish contact with an old South African Army mechanic, turned luxury adventure photography tour provider. His name is Stephan. Stephan was looking for two guys to accompany him on his scouting trip through the most remote parts of the Namib Desert, all the way up the Angolan Border and back. This meant we would have to go 16 days without any contact to the outside world. It would be Stephan, an American guy called Aric and Me all to ourselves in a Land Rover driving through the Namib Desert.

Stephan briefed us on the first day, in classic army fashion he didn't sugarcoat anything, he made us assure that something was going to go wrong on the trip and that now was the last chance to change our minds. I just nodded and said "I'm in" and so did Eric, and off we went.

About 10 days into the trip the bad luck struck. We found ourselves stranded at the bottom of small but steep hill, the place was fittingly named Heartbreak Pass, maybe we weren’t the first people to have been stuck here?

Our shaft was broken, sticking right out of the rear left wheel. We were left with only 2 wheel drive and steep gravel hill to climb, our car probably weighed near two tonnes and the sun was coming down in about 3 hours.

Our only chance was to climb the hill and see what was on the other side. Luckily for us there was a little Himba tribe village in the valley on the other side of the hill. We decided this was our best shot, so we started walking through the scorching heat of the Namib Desert. When we reached the village I was anxious, on one hand because I didn't want to get stuck here, on the hand I was in awe! This village was like something I had only ever seen on Discovery Channel. The women and kids were naked besides for a small cloth covering their genitals. They were covered in a thin layer of mud giving them this red glow. They explained to us that this helps them to stay protected from the sun and the mosquitos out here in the Namib Desert. The women even put this mud in their hair! It was unlike anything I had ever imagined myself experiencing. It was exactly what I had dreamed of when I had researched my trip to Namibia. I also knew the chances of actually getting to see the Himba tribes with my own eyes, were slim at best. The Himba people are hunter gathers living in the remote parts of the Namib Desert, not the sort of place you just swing by for cup of tea, yet here I was standing between mud huts, talking to these incredible people living such a different life from my own. I had completely forgotten about our car issue at this point. It did how ever turn out that the men of the village had a generator that we would be able to borrow. We had the welding machine with us in the car, so the next day at sunrise we set off back towards the village to mend our broken shaft.

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