Township Tour

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I signed up for a Township Tour. I am so glad I decided to do this. We were fortunate to spend 4 hours touring a local Namibian Township. We got to meet locals, learn about the culture and try the local food.

We met Thalia, a local lady who let us try on her handmade traditional dresses. This dress is to symbolize the cow. The hat is to symbolize the horns of the cow. When you were this dress, you are not allowed to speak to any man, except your uncle. He then may translate what you're saying to other men. Also, when you were this, you are to move slowly like a cow as well.

Next, we met a medicine woman. She showed us natural medicines. We saw some interesting stuff. To cure colic in a baby, you take the anus of a hyena and the shell of an ostrich egg and burn and mix together. That was the strangest combo.

We then met a local Chief of the town. She was 84 years old and is the town's judge type of person. People come to her with problems and she regulates them.

The language spoken in this township has the clicking sound within the language. We got a clicking lesson, it's tough! I loved to listen to the people speaking and hearing a click here and there. Very interesting.

Then we were taken to a local pub where we ran into the chief’s three grandchildren. they were all around 30-40 years old. They were very friendly. We sat with them and visited.

Next was a taste of the local food. We ate with our right hand only. No forks or spoons. The meal was comprised of wild spinach, bread, a maize type of breading, beans (all sounds tame), and to spice things up, we got a bowl of caterpillars! These caterpillars were huge. As big as a pinky finger. They were sautéed in butter and spices. I had to try one. Just one though. They didn't taste that bad, but I couldn't get past the popping of it in your mouth. ugh. Cheryl, who is from Scotland, had a few. I have a video of her eating one of the big daddys. While she was chewing, she shrieked that she felt the head pop off! Surprisingly, she took some home with her in a bag. Good protein I guess.

After dinner, about 12 kids sang and danced for us. They were so cute. One girl was drumming, while the rest sang songs and took turns freestyle dancing. They were a crack up. One boy was so intelligent. He was 10years old. After the singing, he asked us "can you please introduce yourselves and where you are from?" I said my name and that I'm from America. He replies "and what is your profession?" I started laughing, he was so mature and well spoken for his age!

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Photos

Parade of kids!
They are so full of energy and just want to be held.

So cute
She kept wanting us to swing her by her arms. She would count "one, two, five, six!"

Bowl of caterpillars
Slimy yet satisfying. Actually, they were poppy.

Before I ate the caterpillar.
I took the smallest one I could find. I wonder it if was the head or the butt of one caterpillar.

Kids that sang and danced for us.
The boy in the black and white shirt is the well spoken one.