Kamanjab

Saturday morning, the girls and I left the brothel, I mean hostel, and walked back over to the guest house where the men slept. We were told to be there by 6:30 so that we could get a good head start on to the bush. Well, we knocked on their door and heard a lot of shuffling and a groan to "come back in 30 minutes". Not morning people apparently!

Two hours later, we were off to the big store in Windhoek and then towards Himba Land. 

We only made it as far as Kamanjab by the time night fell so we pit stopped there for the night. Safe to say, it was one of the most memorable nights of my life We laid a tarp on the floor of a gas station, circled our cars around us, and slept under the African night sky. It was so hot, I felt I didn't even need a blanket. It was off and on sleeping; I think I only got 4 hours max. Between jet lag, loud 24-hour shift gas station attendants, and a crazy drunk guy doing donuts in the street, it was a rough but hilarious night. When I have more time, the full story is a hoot. 

The next morning, we woke up with the sun, the roosters, the donkeys, and the rest of Africa, and headed to Opuwo, the nearest city to our Himba tree (aka home for the next 5-6 weeks). We picked up one translator in Opuwo named Precious and then landed in the bush. We set up two ridiculously hard tents and then David and three others left back for Windhoek to return 2 of the trucks. It was kind of a funny situaton we were in. 9 American students left in the bush with no way to communicate with the people that would come and watch us for hours and basically jumping in to full Survivor mode. We make all of our meals over a fire and have no showers. We became very resourceful when we realized we had no pots for cooking and no can opener to open the giant can of baked beans. It was quite an adventurous 2 1/2 days. Thankfully on the third day, the rest of the crew arrived again and we felt at ease.

That is when the research started.