Himba – the beautiful people.
June 10, 2008 by Luka Esenko
I’ve returned from two week tour to Namibia. It was a great trip, Namibia is definitely one of the top countries I’ve visited until now. Its wildlife, countryside, its people! I visited also the Himba village near Opuwo. I spent about two hours with them and i can only wish it would be longer. At least a day or two.
Their village is situated in the pleasant surroundings of grassland and Mopane trees. It is ideal for their cattle as they have plenty of food and a shadow in hot summer days.
Young Himba women are stunningly beautiful. This girl looked at me with some kind of curiosity and pride at the same time.
Adolescent girl. She does not use the ochre colour yet but she already started to cultivate her hair.
This is how Himba women grind the red sandstone to produce ochre colour. They mix the red dust with butter and then rub it in the skin two times daily.
Small girl. She is even younger than the previous one. You can tell that because she has only one braid. The patches of red colour are from her mother.
The chief of the Himba village. He had six wives, only four are still alive. He is obviously exhausted from tough life, but still he is firmly leading his family. This chair is his throne I would say.
A profile of Himba woman. The leather decoration on her head means she is married. She is not young anymore but still elegantly “dressed”.
Cooking maize porridge. This is the main food for Himbas, they eat meat rarely and there is no vegetables and fruit in their diet. This young lady is going to school. Girls that go to school do not dress traditionally any more. She even speaks some basic English, so I talked to her for a while.
Himba mother and a child. Breastfeeding.
Is she in love?
Himba girls dancing. They performed a dance for us but they continued with vigorous dancing long after we left. They had a great fun and it was a delight to watch them whirling around with their braids flying.
Visiting Himba people is unforgettable experience and next time i go to Namibia I will definitely visit them again. And spend some more time with them.
This blog is about my two greatest passions; photography and travelling. I want to share my experiences with as many people as possible. If you like this place, leave me a comment and show it to your friends as well! Enjoy! 
Luka, krasne fotke! In vse te si naredil v dveh urah. Zares super! Afrika je resni?no prav posebno doživetje. Mene je navdušila in to predvsem zato, ker so ljudje še vedno tako zelo druga?ni in zanimivi, preprosti, a fascinantni. Verjamem, da si se imel odli?no. Tudi jaz se še kdaj vrnem na afriško celino!
?arobna dežela, enako velja za fotografije. Upam, da tudi sam kdaj obi?šem ta del afriške celine. Res fajn fotografije.
WOW
?estitke!
V filmu RRRrrr (igrata Marina Foïs in Gérard Depardieu) je bilo eno pleme tocno takšno, rdece
.
Cudovite slike!
hi! i wonder if you have some more information about the Himbas food? do they eat many times a day? what else do they eat then porridge and some meat?
-Marianne from Norway
Marianne hi,
as I talked to them their main diet is maize porridge. But they do eat meat once a week or sometimes two times.. But they really do not eat any vegetables or fruit, esecially fruit no. I’ve visited the school also and their lunc was – porridge.
They usually eat two times a day, breakfast and supper.
Hope it helps.
This is a superb story, thank you Luka! Enlightening and beautiful, I just hope that they will preserve their culture with the increasing afflux of visitors to Namibia.
sploh ne vem kaj naj napišem, ker sem ostala brez besed… resni?no!
fotke so FENOMENALNE!
Thank you for the beautiful photos and information. I truely enjoyed it.
?udovite slike, ?udoviti ljudje, ?udovita ?rna Afrika! Tista prava in tradicionalna…da še je na svetu koš?ek neokrnjene narave in tistih pravih ljudi…pozdrav?ek, Katja- saj veš katera
Eni pa na tropsko Kubo v kratkem… 
Zivjo Luka – Izi tuki, nore fotke kot smo ze navajeni od tebe, povej a bos imel kako predstavitev potovanja in ce kje in kdaj! Kako si potoval sam, ali si bil zopet vodic?! En afriski JUMBO – Izi&Vida
ps zvrcn kej
Krasne fotke! Ja, imas prav, Namibija je tudi zame ena od najljubsih držav, kar sem jih obiskala doslej. Oblezla sem kar veliko, v Himbaland pa nisem sla – vem pa, da bom ob naslednjem potovanju tja sla prav gotovo! Se enkrat – super si pofotkal!
Pre?udovite fotografije! Tudi sama si zelo želim obiskati Namibijo.
Agreed. Sensational. Now you must visit the Trobriand Islands!
http://monolith.com.au/papua-new-guinea/vactrav.html
Thanks for the photo which is very rare, i am a costume photo collector. i need to save your photo for my own enjoyment. i will not pose or share your photo.
Hello,
It was great to have seen your photographs. They are excellent by the way. We are considering to visit Namibia an will certainly want to meet the Himba ourselves. Your site has certainly made it easier to come to a decision.
Frank
nice boobs on the chicks
Hi
Congratulations for your work.
Can we link this page of yours dedicated to the Himba people of Namibia on http://www.africanews.it/english ? We’d like to publish a couple of pics and a few lines describing your work and your comments on the Himba people of Namibia.
Hi!
I hope this finds you…
I was so glad to find your beautiful work!
I am an Emmy award winning cinematographer and going to be directing a film which includes the Himba people. I don’t know if you would be open to my using 5 or so of your images in a proposal that will be used to raise funds for the documentary. If so I also wondered if you had any images of pregnant women, as that is the heart of the subject?
Thanks for your consideration, and congratulations on a beautiful body of work!
what was the porridge made from? thanks for the info.
nice work.
iam a photojournalist based in kenya.
Beautiful photos!
wonderful!!!
Thank you very much for your beautiful photos.
Lovely photos. I hope the Himba can find a way to preserve their culture while finding a place in today’s world. Thanks for the opportunity to see them!