Herero women wear long flowing dresses
with a pointed head-dress; they appear
totally comfortable in these bulky skirts
as they walk along dusty roads
in high temperatures. 

The Himba community has been largely untouched by Western civilisation.
They still move around the Damaraland,
moving their cattle herds to areas
where water and fodder can be found.

One of the main obstacles to the development of Namibia is the tiny tax base; there is  less than 2 million people in the country, with unemployment rife and many people earning an income unregistered for tax purposes, such as the hawkers.  There are therefore comparatively very few businesses and people contributing income tax and with a country so large, with distances to travel so vast, the situation is difficult.  Thankfully, revenue earned from the Diamond fields is helping to bridge the gap between income and expenditure by the Government.  However, HIV/AIDS is beginning to hit their economy hard.

The people of Namibia have shown themselves to be very kind, friendly and helpful.  Most speak at least four languages, English, Afrikaans, German and a local language.  Food in restaurants often has a German flavour and all the Wiener Schnitzels with fried potatoes are beginning to show on the hip line!!

Well, speaking of the friendly local people, owners of Falkenberg Garage, Lars and Juanita, who checked out our Unimog are Mog enthusiats themselves and they invited us to join them on a weekend away traversing river beds and little used tracks in rural Damaraland.  We eagerly accepted their kind invitation!!

And so, three Unimogs set off into the wilderness; there was more than one reason for the trip though...  Juanita is one of those amazingly creative persons who sees things that pass most of us by.  To her, an old tree stump is more than a piece of wood slowly decomposing; to her it is the ideal base for a table in her new home.

What we failed to realise is that Juanita's idea of a small stump, turned out to be a massive tree trunk!  Lots of digging to attach winch straps was needed before bit by bit, the beautiful piece of old wood was loaded onto the recovery vehicle for transport back to Kamanjab.

Alan got the opportunity to use his winch - which worked 100%!!  We also got some valuable experience in driving in deep sand, up steep ridges and down dangerous descents.  We camped for the night in the riverbed, enjoyed dinner cooked over a roaring fire under a sky of brilliant stars, and woke up in the morning to find everything shrouded in fog - fog that rolls in from the sea over 90kms away!

The scenery was spectacular with sandstone cliffs, rugged outcroppings and vast flat areas of "nothing".  There was a close encounter with a herd of desert elephant and Alan glimpsed a caracal in the river bed.

It was an unforgettable weekend in the company of fellow Mog "crazies", and a memory we will cherish forever.  We definitely feel well armed to tackle the rest of Africa!