Words Manni Goldbeck & Ron Swilling, Photos Lambert Heil & Ron Swilling
Travelling around Namibia, we always appreciate the opportunity of getting to know Namibia’s beautiful people. We have over the years met members of all the ethnic groups that make up our marvelous Namibian tapestry. This time we headed to the Zambezi Region in the far north-eastern corner of the country.
It was our last day in the Zambezi Region and we joined Gondwana’s Zambezi Mubala Lodge manager, Raulinda Nakanyala Kapapero, to visit the nearby Sifuha primary school. Here, she had identified several children to introduce to the world of tourism as part of her Go4Gold leadership programme. The schoolyard was neatly swept and the classrooms freshly painted with bright yellow sunshiny doorways.
The principal welcomed us when we arrived and gave us a tour of the school, and Raulinda happily introduced us to the learners who were participating in her project. Lambert’s nine-year-old daughter, Marlene, felt right at home among her peers. Afterwards we walked around the grounds. Parents, helping out on a volunteer basis, were cooking porridge for the children’s lunch. We didn’t have long to wait before the bell rang and the children eagerly ran out of the classrooms, lining up with their bowls, and then dispersed in groups to sit and eat with their friends or kick the soccer ball.
After enjoying a meal of porridge, fish and relish, generously offered to us and prepared by the school secretary, we continued on our journey to visit the Sikwekwe Living Culture Traditional Village. We were met by the members who welcomed us with exuberant singing, drumming and dancing. The group guided us around the traditional village, swishing their reed skirts as they danced, and demonstrated various traditions from the pounding of grain to blacksmithing.
Well, we weren’t quite done, the Zambezi still had ample magic to reveal. There was an entire natural world that was begging our attention. We enjoyed the abundance of birdlife on an afternoon river trip at Namushasha River Lodge where egrets flew over the waterways, pied kingfishers hovered over the water lilies beating their wings before diving headlong into the water, bee-eaters perched lightly on the edge of reeds flying off as we drew near, fish eagles sat on the uppermost branches attentively watching the world below and coppery-tailed coucals serenaded the day with their comforting calls. The colours of the Zambezi darted, flew and floated around us with exquisite beauty.
The next day, as we headed eastward driving through Bwabwata National Park towards Divundu, a family of elephants crossed the road in front of us, giving us the final Zambezi blessing and ending our journey in apt Zambezi fashion before we wended our way home.
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