Himba Women - the Most Beautiful Tribe of Africa

If you go to the north of Namibia, bordering with Angola, there you will find an amazing tribe of Himba, living in the Kunene Region (former province of Kaokoland).

Today, the Himba tribe is widely known thanks to its interesting traditions, as well as the natural beauty of its people. Recently, they have started to let people from the “outside” world visit their land. Very soon, after several reports about them, which appeared in the world's largest journals and on Discovery channel, many people decided to visit their villages.

Really stunning, unreal beauty and special, absolutely strange grace of a Himba woman attracts the guests most of all. Many tourists, photographers, and journalists call the Himba girls the most beautiful representatives of the African continent. ⠀

In fact, in modern Africa you can hardly find very attractive individuals: a completely primitive way of life remained natural for these people – they do not pretend they live the life of their ancestors, they really do it. However, Himba people are really like that: they lead a semi-rigorous, semi-nomadic, tribal existence in areas of an almost wild and completely lifeless desert. They do not have enough water even to drink.  They have chosen this way themselves. Yes, they could use the advantages of the civilization but decided not to use them, because today they prefer to live precisely and do not need almost anything from what they don’t and never have. ⠀

Cattle help Himba to survive. In fact, they have only extremely skinny, but very unpretentious and tenacious special breed cows. Like camels, they can live without water for weeks. Sometimes, very rarely, Himba sell these cows to get some money. Additionally, they have another way to earn: nowadays, their frequent guests buy some plain souvenirs and crafts. When Himba people come to the city, they buy usually cornmeal, sugar,  and some delicacies for their beautiful children. They don’t need clothes. Only convenient and comfortable plastic flip-flops are useful in this rocky desert.

They do not use the dishes - only the vessels made of pumpkins vessels. Sometimes these vessels are replaced by plastic bottles.

Women of this old tribe do care about their beauty.

Himba people do not have enough water: every drop that can be obtained will be carefully preserved. It can seem to us weird, but they never use drinking water to wash their bodies.

For many centuries some magic ointment helps Himba people to survive. This cream gives the skin a red tint. A mixture of butter brought down from the milk of their skinny cows, various plant elixirs, and bright red volcanic okra, crushed into fine powder are the components of this special ointment. Himba women rub this composition into their bodies and hair several times a day. The ointment helps to maintain the necessary level of hygiene and protects against sunburn and insect bites.

Surprisingly, the skin of Himba women is absolutely clean and perfect. They smell nice. Probably you can feel a slight odor of melted butter. The same super creme serves as the basis of traditional hairstyle. Men, for instance, use it to create long “dreadlocks”, which are very thick as they use the hair of their older relatives, usually, fathers

 

Also look at a few more photos of beautiful girls and women of the Himba tribe of Africa.

Young girls of the Himba tribe

Himba girl in profile

Himba women with children

Other portraits of Himba women