CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE “EXOTIC” KIND

WE WERE ABOUT 30 MINUTES from our destination—a campsite near Namibia’s renowned Brandberg Mountain—when we noticed a few cars pulled over to the side of the road. “Cars on the road? Multiple?” I said to my husband, incredulous. By that point, we had been road-tripping around Namibia, one of the least densely populated countries in the world, for 10 days. Driving, we had passed one car per hour, on average. We slowed down, curious to see what was causing the commotion.

Tourists were taking photographs of bare-breasted women who wore beaded necklaces and reddish braids. We had finally found the seminomadic Himba tribe, famous for their intricate hairstyles, bodies covered with red ochre mud, and perceived beauty overall. They are ancestors to the Herero people, who arrived in Namibia in the 16th century as subsistence cattle farmers. Prior to tourism, they had little contact with outsiders.