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We had a great breakfast of bacon, egg and home-made
bread. And cooffffffeeeeeee!
At the trikes we had some washing done by some of the local girls.
Later we arranged for 4 Himba girls to pose around
the trikes so that we could take some photographs. The Himba tribe is fascinating - they live in the northern border region of Namibia. Both the men and the women dress in a completely traditional manner, although
the men are now tending to wear some western type apparel. The women, however, are fascinating to see, as everything they wear is really different to anything I have seen before. They smear a reddish coloured greasy
mixture over their entire bodies – including their hair. The mixture is made up from ground up iron oxide rocks and animal fat. And it stinks. When the girls got out of my trike, they left big red smears on the
seats. Also, as you can see from the photographs they do not wear anything to cover up their breasts – one of the women walking around there would've put Dolly Parton and Candice Boesems to shame! The men seem to
spend a good deal of their time playing a complicated game with stones and lots of little holes dug into the sand in the form of a large playing board. Also, now that a bottle store has opened at Epupa Falls, they
spend a lot of time drinking alcohol. Pity that modern man in his never ending quest to make money, will slowly destroy the unique and gentle culture of the Himba tribe.
The crocodiles in the Cunene River are reputed to be
the most aggressive in the world, so it was with great care that I swam in a fast flowing part of the river near to the falls, where the crocs apparently never venture. So far!
At about 4pm we took off for a one-hour flight to
Ruacana, a small town near to the Ruacana hydroelectric power scheme (as usual in Africa only part of it works). Looking for the fuel station we found it on the edge of town and decided to land nearby. We looked at
an open field near to the station but opted for the main road as it was quite free of traffic and smoother than the field. I landed first, staying on the left-hand side of the road to avoid the power lines on the
right. I taxied over a cattle grid and parked in the BP station as close to the pump as I could. "Fill her up, please – oh, and check the oil and water!" The locals were delighted with the whole affair. Olivier
rushed into the BP shop while I filled the trikes and bought a whole lot of goodies. The police drove past and waved to us.
Back on the main road Olivier took off first and as I
was lining up a car came around the bend up ahead at speed and headed straight towards me with his lights on bright. I gunned the engine and we raced towards each other. I lifted off about 150 metres in front of the
car – a good enough margin. Still, it was kind of scary to be rushing straight at a car head-on like that.
At the large deserted airport nearby we opened a few
beers and had some bread, meat and salad. After a little while a few local black girls arrived to inspect the strange men and machines. The one who introduced herself as Michael ???? (I think it was female!) started
to beg from us, which annoyed us as we felt he/she was invading our space. (We have come to consider any deserted airport parking area our home, which is kind of private!) When Olivier stood up to seriously ask
her/him to leave us alone, she/he screamed with laughter and mock fright and ran away teasing Olivier in the process. Olivier then chased her/him away for real. Ah, peace …. such a difficult thing in Africa. When
near to a town or village we are never left alone.
Olivier spread out his carpet and rolled one of his
trike back wheels onto a corner to stop it from moving. Over the last week or so, Olivier's carpet has started to get a mind of it's own and once tried to escape (Olivier doesn't think so, but it really looked like
it to me!) My carpet has become such a nuisance, moving every 5 minutes when I am trying to sleep, that I now keep it tied up in a bag. I won't let it out until we get to Cape Town where there are a few more people
to help us hold it down if it decides to go berserk.
We lay on the concrete and drank beer and listened to
music. After the sun had set a few small storms passed by and we moved under the wings to get out of the light rain. The wind picked up for a while and then after an hour the night became very still. I lay on my
back watching the clouds move past and marvelled for the umpteenth time at the stars and the sky and the moon. We chatted about our expedition and remembered some of the incredible times we had had, places we had
been, friends we had met. What an incredible adventure it has been. What an incredible bond of trust, understanding and friendship Olivier and I have formed. We talked about our good fortune at getting on so well.
It's not an easy thing to live with another person for 24 hours a day for so many months, often in difficult and trying circumstances.
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