Cultural and Scenery Tour

6 days—The San (Bushman) People, The Damara People, Bushman Rock Art and Engravings, Human/Wildlife Coexistence, OvaHimba People of Kaokoland.

$2000-4000 USD

pp
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Safari summary

This tour focuses on some of the ethnic cultural groups in Namibia. We will visit cultural living museums but more importantly we will be more or less in their original environment. We will have the opportunity to learn one or two words on the road while interacting with people going about their normal day to day lives. Some areas like Damaraland and Kaokoland, we will get to see or track wildlife and learn how humans and wildlife coexist in these unfenced open ecosystems. With modernization of human era, we will start with a city tour in Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, where every ethnic group is represented. This will be an orientation tour in order for us to understand where will be going for the next days. The San/Bushman people who were the earliest inhabitants of Southern Africa. They represent about 2.9 % of the Namibian population. Today they are confined to the northeastern part of Namibia into Botswana. However, we will be visiting their cultural museum at the Erongo Mountains, with rock paintings that suggests that they once lived there. The Bushman guide will take us through the interpretation of these paintings from their understanding not what literature says. The Damara People around Twyfelfontein are in their natural habitat. The Damara people represent 8.5% of the Namibian population. The Damara Living Museum is an attempt to reconstruct the ‚lost culture’ of the Damara. Around this area it is not uncommon to find a herd of elephants and a man herding livestock next to each other. Here, wildlife and humans compete for scarce resources like water in this rather arid area. Let us learn how they coexist by tracking these desert-adapted elephants. This is not in a designated national park, tracking desert-adapted elephants still involves following tracks along ephemeral rivers and asking the local Damara people their last whereabouts. We will visit the Bushman Rock Engravings around Twyfelfontein, an indication that they once lived in this harsh environment. We will visit the OvaHimba people of the northwestern Namibia, the Kaokoland. Our destination is the start of the Kaokoland area which extends all the way north covering an extensive territory of 50 000 square kilometers. Let us learn about their intriguing way of life in their natural habitat.


About this tour

Tour type Custom, tailor-made, private
Main focus None
Activity level Easy activity
Best months All months
Countries
Parks

Fine details

Safari highlights
  • Cultural visits—orphanages, markets, schools
  • Sightseeing | shopping | markets
  • Bushman | tribal visits
What’s included?
  • Accommodation
  • Airport transfers
  • Meals
  • Park fees
  • Private vehicle and driver
What’s not included?
  • Alcoholic beverages
  • All drinks
  • Hot air balloons
  • Internal flights
  • International flights
  • Laundry
  • Premium alcoholic beverages
  • Spa treatments
  • Tips and gratuities
  • Visas

Itinerary

Windhoek- Arrival and City Tour

Upon arrival, you will be transferred to the capital city of Namibia, Windhoek. You will embark on a city and township tour as an introduction to culture, values and norms in Namibia. You get a detailed insight into the history from the German colonial times that influenced history and culture of the Namibian capital. The highlight of the tour is the visit of the ‘slum’ or ghetto area in Katutura Township.

Hilton, Tenbergen, Avani Hotel

San (Bushman) and Erongo Mountains

After breakfast, your guide will transfer you to the Erongo Mountains. After lunch, we will visit a living museum and learn about the San/Bushman people. We will learn about hunting, snaring, tracking, lighting a fire and collecting bush food. The highlight is some rock paintings over 2000 years old found in this area, that were done by their ancestors and best interpretated by the San (Bushman) local guide. After making some ropes and jewellery, the tour ends with Bushman singing and dancing.

Ai Aiba Lodge

Damara People and Bushman Rock Art

After breakfast, we will make our way to Damaraland. We will visit the Damara Living Museum. Here, we will have the unique opportunity to get to know the fascinating traditional culture of the Damara, thus contributing to the preservation of their culture. We will learn how they foraged and hunted in the past. You have opportunity to see tools, jewellery and handmade crafts, as well as enjoying dancing, singing and traditional games.

Twyfelfontein Lodge, Twyfelfontein Camp

Human/Wildlife Coexistence

Let us spend the day exploring Damaraland, tracking desert-adapted wildlife in this area. How do people share scarce resources with thriving populations of wildlife so far away from a national park? This is one of the true remaining wildernesses of Africa. It is also better explained by visiting the Bushman rock engravings estimated to be over 2000 years old, encrypted as a world heritage site in 2007. We will visit the site in the late afternoon.

Twyfelfontein Lodge, Twyfelfontein Camp

OvaHimba People in the Kaokoland

Our drive today goes past a couple of villages and concessions with chances of encountering wildlife. Because of the harshness of the area, these animals do not occur in huge numbers and not very easily spotted. This afternoon we will learn about the intriguing traditional life of the OvaHimba people, including their dress, food and craft. You will also learn about how the homestead is built, with holy fire at its heart (where all communication with ancestors takes place).

Sesfontein Lodge, Sesfontein Guesthouse

Windhoek

After a relaxed morning, we will make our back to Windhoek. This marks the end to our Namibian Cultural and Scenery Tour.

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YAScore: 82/100
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