Epupa Falls

The day after our visit with the Himba, we took off on a long drive to the north to visit Epupa Falls on the Namibian-Angolan border. Eschewing the tour-group drive offered from Opuwo, we went on our own and at our own pace--and were we ever glad we did! It turned out to be one of the most stunning drives either of us has ever taken, our first chance to really push our highly questionable rented 4x4 over rocks and washouts, and, unlike the group who took the guided tour from Opuwo, we didn't get stuck on the rocks or blow a tire at the falls.

One of the more striking aspects of this 300-kilometer trip along gravel roads and worse is that despite the wide-open spaces, mountains, and rugged terrain, these backcountry highways are not empty of pedestrians as they would be in the somewhat similar landscapes of the American West. All along the way we encountered people and their domestic livestock. Traditional and nontraditional garb were equally common, and along with people of Himba and Herrero heritage, we also met the occasional Dimba, who do not speak the same language as the Herrero/Himba and do not use ochre, going about their daily business, as this woman was whom we paused to talk to briefly.

When we reached the falls themselves, a dramatic riverscape of broad torrents and stepped ledges of rock, that divides Angola and Nambia, we began wandering around the area near the top of the falls when we met these Himba girls out collecting firewood after school, in the shade of a massive baobab tree conveniently looming over one of the more scenic lookouts. The oldest girl had better than usual English and Sarah, her camera, and her straw hat quickly made friends.

While we were chatting with the girls in the shade, a young man named Dixon meandered over to our little group and, once he discovered that Sarah wanted to hike to the foot of the falls, offered to guide her, which he did ably and charmingly.

Mark stayed with the Himba girls in the shade while Dixon and Sarah hiked down to the bottom (where Dixon pointed out that, tempting though the water looked on a hot day, Sarah might not want to jump in among the crocodiles). Just a month after the end of a massive rainy season, the falls looked like they might just wash away the whole forest they chewed on their path over the rocks.

We wish we could even begin to convey what the afternoon/evening drive back to Opuwo was like. Clouds slowly massed over the mountains as we crawled along. A sweet sage scent was replaced by the smell of approaching rain. Watched the trailing veils of virga approaching from the distance and then the rain spattered over us. The whole way, from mid-afternoon until right at dusk, a fragment of rainbow floated in the sky directly ahead of us. Sometimes it was no more than a prismatic window in the clouds; sometimes it grew to a massive arch. But it never vanished until the sun set and moon came out.

We drove the final hour through gathering dark, after the brief rains, with lightning moving off in the distance and a moon hanging its lantern ahead of us, right where the rainbow had been.