At the Crocodile Farm, in a Herero Village and on the Hilton Rooftop

On Wednesday morning we pack our things and begin driving from Okutala back toward the capital, Windhoek. On the way, we stop for food in the town of Otjiwarongo and, on a spontaneous impulse, decide to visit a nearby crocodile farm. There is also a restaurant offering various crocodile dishes and a shop selling crocodile leather products. We avoid the crocodile-based products but don’t miss the opportunity to learn more about these animals.

The local guide explains everything in a very engaging way, throws in plenty of jokes, and at the end even makes a video of us each holding a young crocodile while he quizzes us on what we’ve learned.

For example, we learn that Nile crocodiles lay 50–100 eggs, of which about 60% hatch. The ratio of males to females is determined by incubation temperature. At 31–33°C, mostly males are born; at lower and higher temperatures, mainly females. In captivity, incubators are used, but in the wild, the temperature depends on the chosen nesting site.

After petting the crocodiles, we drive 60 km to Ombu Village in the private nature reserve of Okinjima, where visitors can learn about Herero culture. There are about 180,000 Herero in Namibia, and they speak a Bantu language like the Himba, from whom they separated in the 19th century when they decided to modernize their culture following the example of the colonizers. For instance, women began sewing beautiful colorful dresses after learning to sew while working for colonists and receiving fabric from them.

In 1903, the Herero were informed by German colonizers that they would be placed into reserves. In 1904, they began an uprising against the Germans, joined by the Nama in 1905. When the uprising ended in 1907, the Herero population in the German colony had fallen from 80,000 to 15,000. This was the first time the Germans carried out genocide — for example, by driving people into the desert and preventing them from accessing oases. German General Lothar von Trotha, sent to suppress the uprising, described the conflict as a “race war” and referred to the Herero as “non-humans.” One hundred years later, a German minister formally apologized to the Herero and Nama for the genocide, but their requests for financial reparations were rejected.

Herero customs are quite similar to those of the Himba — for example, they also practice smoke cleansing. However, they do not traditionally take multiple wives, and as we observe, they do not reject modern technology either — at least one woman has a smartphone, which she uses to pass the time while waiting for tourists. We also watch as the village’s enormous herd of goats is brought back from pasture into the enclosure — livestock farming is the Herero’s main livelihood.

At the end of the tour, our guide gathers us and the entire village into a circle, where we are offered a traditional Herero drink — sour milk with chunks in it. It tastes exactly as one might expect. We are offered the chance to stay overnight in the village. We politely decline, as we have an early flight the next morning and accommodation already booked in Windhoek. Our guide, who also lives in the village, then suggests keeping in touch via Facebook, which I agree to.

We say goodbye to the villagers and continue toward Windhoek. Heavy rain pours down on the way, and we arrive only after dark. We have dinner at Leo’s Garden restaurant and, to mark our final evening, enjoy the view from the rooftop terrace of the nearby Hilton hotel. Apart from us, there are only a few other guests.