April 16

Namibia is a country on the west coast of Africa. When I saw in the itinerary that we were going to walk to a Namibian village I didn’t feel up to walking 1000 miles since Botswana is in south central Africa. But if you look at a map you will see that there is a narrow isthmus of Namibia that extends far inland to the north border of Botswana.

We took a boat up the Chobe River, stopped at the Botswana immigration to have our passports stamped, stopped at the Namibian border to have our temperature checked and passports stamped (They don’t allow anyone with a fever into the country).

We walked to a small village about 20 minutes away and were allowed to visit someone’s house and walk around the entire village.

The village is located along the Chobe River and has 340 residents. They have no electricity and no solar panels that I saw. Here are some photos of one of the resident’s homes.

Kitchen

Cooking area

Dining room

Vegetable garden

Video panorama of compound showing that most activities take place outside. The sleeping takes place inside the mud house.

The houses are built with sticks and covered with mud. The final layer of mud is made from the fine textured soil from the termite mounds.

The laundry is done outside the family compound at a water hole that has the only modern convenience, a water faucet.
The water comes unfiltered from the Chobe River.

The main landmark of the village is this Baobab tree which is over 1000 years old.

The fruit of the Baobab tree is edible and the white powder around the seeds is high in vitamin C.

Clothes line

Corn field

We noticed that there are locks on the doors and storage sheds and we asked the guide if there was crime problems in the village. He said no crime problems, just monkeys that steal. The people in the village know everyone and no one gets away with anything.

Next: Chobe River Cruise