Himba Bath Time
Location: Epupa, Namibia
Photographer: Ben McRae
The Himba live in the arid parts for northern Namibia and southern Angola, they are semi nomadic people who usually don't have access to water, but when they do have it is a precious commodity. Due to this the Himba women never actually bathe themselves, they know how precious every drop of water is so rather than wash themselves each day they go about smoking themselves clean. A small fire is usually started, to which aromatic herbs are added. Once the fire starts to smoke the women place a conical shaped basket over the fire to direct the smoke towards the part of their anatomy they wish to clean. They then wrap themselves up tightly in a large blanket and sit back to relax whilst the aromatic smoke does its job. This is usually quiet a private process, so I was privileged to be invited in one morning by Tjimawemo to photograph her daily ritual.