38 FOCUS - MARCH 2019 One of the most wonderful aspects of travelling is meeting new people and experiencing new cultures. No matter where I travel, it is always the people that make the involvement amazingly wonderful. Naturally, some locales offer different perspectives from others, but one of the more inter- esting humanities I have experienced, are the Himba people of West Africa. The entire population numbers about 50,000, and speaks a dialect of the Bantu language, totally unfa- miliar to me. In fact, I found it virtually impossible to communicate verbally with anyone in the village; however, hand gestures and facial expressions seemed to work, as we did understand each other… somewhat. I travelled through the desert of Northern Namibia for quite a while, when finally I saw a lengthy fence, made from sticks, in the distance. I have trekked to several villages in East Africa, and know the fences, made of branches and thorny shrub- bery, are not meant for privacy or bor- ders, but merely to fend off unwanted advances from lions, jackals, hyenas and the like. I entered the village and was immediately surrounded by children. Cute, innocent faces, covered with remnants of food and dirt, smiled up at me as I made my way to the nearest and largest hut. The only man I saw greeted me, and after we smiled at each other, he stood and left. The Himba people are predomi- nately livestock farmers who breed fat-tailed sheep and goats, but count their wealth in the number of their cattle. Their diet of goat milk is supple- mented by cornmeal, chicken eggs, wild herbs and honey, all of which are mixed together in bowls and then savoured. I remembered visiting a Kikuyu tribe, a number of years ago, where the staple diet consisted of milk from a cow mixed with the ani- mal’s fresh blood. The Himba’s food was more enjoyable. JONATHAN VAN BILSEN JONATHAN VAN BILSEN Life among the Himba