#03 A farm in Namibia’s stony desert?
A farm in Namibia’s stony desert?
A stony desert lies between the Namib, which is a sandy desert, and the bush land. Actually, the whole western Kunene region consists of this stony desert. On the edge, where the stony desert gradually changes into bush land, the groundwater level isn’t too deep for trees to catch some water. Sometimes you can even see small patches of green grass. The whole composition looks like a surrealistic Salvador Dali like picture with green trees on red rocks. Despite its romantic and artistic presentation it’s still an arid area and I started to wonder why people have chosen to live here.
Sometimes you see water pumps driven by windmills – but they seem to be rather old. For example – These “Climax” Windmill pumps were produced by Thomas and Son Worcester Ltd. in England during the 30ths. I received an invitation from a game guard who works for Torra Conservancy. He told me that he came with his parents from South Africa in 1974 to this area. Many people have goats here – the Himbas further north as well.
The younger folks speak English very well. The older generation speaks mainly Africans, in addition to Damara – or another African language. This is, because many people came from South Africa to this area – during a time frame, where Africans was the official language in South Africa.
