The scent of the Himba in Namibia

By Roxanne Reid
If you’re travelling to the far north-western Kunene region (Kaokoveld) of Namibia, you’re most likely looking for an off-the-beaten-track adventure and an encounter with the Himba nomadic pastoralists. What you might not know is that there’s an underlying story here that connects the scent of the Himba in Namibia with a Fair Trade manufacturer in the Western Cape of South Africa.

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Rain Africa makes a wide range of natural bath and body products at its factory in the Swellendam township of Railton in the Overberg. The products use African oils of that are harvested sustainably, thus helping to provide jobs for local people across southern Africa. 

Rain Africa uses African essential oils in body and bath products that are hand-made in Swellendam, South Africa

Although you’ll quickly fall under the spell of these lovely products, which appeal to the eyes, nose and touch, the most intriguing product hasn’t even hit the shelves yet.

It will be an artisanal perfume range and it's hoped to introduce it time for Mother’s Day in 2015. [It was introduced in September 2015, see comments below.] The project was delayed because of hiccups in the design of the perfume bottle. ‘It’s unique and very special,’ says Rain owner Bev Missing. ‘It’s made of porcelain and it has been a nightmare to get the lid and base to seal properly because clay shrinks when it’s fired.’

Himba women use omumbiri resin mixed with butterfat and clay as a beauty treatment

Some scents will come from Moroccan rose, Egyptian jasmine and East African sandalwood. Rain is also working with the Himba people in Namibia, where women harvest a potent perfumed tree resin called omumbiri (Commiphora wildii) to mix with red ochre as a beauty treatment. The sticky resin, produced in the dry months of October and November, is also known as Namibian myrrh. 

Himba women harvest the resin and sell it to the processing plant in Opuwo

The women hand-process the resin and mix it with butterfat to protect them from the sun and keep them clean and sweet-smelling in a dry area where there’s little or no access to water. Now some 600 harvesters are also selling some of it to Scents of Namibia’s processing facility in Opuwo where it is steam distilled into fragrant oil.

‘Around 70 kilograms of raw material produces 5 litres of essential oil,’ says Scents of Namibia’s Jeckey Kasaona. The facility can produce up to 1 000 litres a year, and sells both the omumbiri oil and mopane oil to Rain and other manufacturers in southern Africa, the EU and the Americas.

Accurate records must be kept to ensure everyone gets paid fairly for what she has harvested

If you’re in Kunene (Kaokoveld), Namibia, take an hour off in Opuwo and visit the processing plant. There’s a one-hour tour every weekday at 14:30 at the visitor centre. Scents of Namibia is part of Open Africa’s Arid Eden Route. The non profit organisation Open Africa establishes tourism routes that offer travellers authentic experiences at the same time as generating income for local businesses in rural Africa. 

Open Africa and Scents of Namibia work together to create an income for Namibia's Himba women

Like it? Pin this image!Their routes are in keeping with their promise to ‘Do travel differently’. You’ll get to meet people in out-of-the-way places, learn about their culture and way of life, and have the satisfaction of knowing that your participation in these tourism projects helps to create jobs for the locals.

Need to know
Find a Rain Africa store near you in South Africa or New York. You can also shop online.
For travel inspiration, browse Open Africa's 64 routes in 6 countries in southern/central Africa.

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