Day 6: Opuwo to Kunene

We started at around 10 am towards the northern boundary of Namibia. Our plan was to drive to Epupa falls in the Kunene river which also acts as a natural border to Namibia. We stopped at Opuwo to fill up stocks, change USD to N$, and also to buy a new tyre. It was expensive, around 2200 N$, but we had no other option as the reserve tyre is not good enough for our adventurous plans ahaead. Opuwo had a lot of garages, shops, supermarkets and also the Himbas. Himbas are indigenous people living in the northern regions of Kunene/Kaokoland region. They wear traditional clothing that is in tune with their surrounding environment, and in most occurrences this consists simply of skirt-like clothing made from calfskins. They are immediately recognizable from their skin and hair colour, having a distinctive orange or red-tinge characteristic. For these nomadic pastoralist tribes, Opuwo is the closest big town where they can do their shopping and also make quick money from the tourists by posing for photographs. They were a bit annoying as they crowded around us to sell crafts. It was interesting to watch them, due to their unique way of dressing, but also felt very sad to see their poverty.

We drove to Epupa from there, about 180 kms north of Opuwo. But on the way there, we decided to take a diversion and drive to Kunene river lodge, north east of Epupa. The spontaneous plan was to drive along the Kunene river separating Namibia and Angola. As it is a 4wd track from Epupa to Kunene camp we thought it will be wise to stay at Kunene river lodge and check about the track conditions with them before proceeding further. The lodge/camp was really beautiful, green and full of trees offering a lot of shade, overlooking the river. The river was bigger than I expected, about 75 m wide and with decent amount of water. The camp had a bar/restaurant with a deck overlooking the river. We saw a number of monitor lizards and monkeys around our camp. The lizards minded their own business but the monkeys as usual were looking for a chance to steal. We decided to stay there one more night there as the lodge also offered river rafting in Kunene river for interested people. Of course, we were interested!