The people who stayed behind and established Opuwo did not meet westerners until much later. The area is very rugged and remote and the early explorers did not penetrate that far into interior of Namibia, thus leaving the original Himba culture undisturbed. Today it is possible to visit Opuwo, the Kunene River and the northern tribes that still live there. The lifestyle is still very basic and the old traditions are still largely intact. The Himba are now pastoralists and herdsmen with large herds of long horned cattle and goats and with gardens nearby their villages or Kraals.
Traditional dress is still widely used.
The women are most striking, covered in red ocher and wearing only a short leather skirt, traditional head-dress and various designs of local jewelry. Hairstyles are unusual, with the women wearing a style of dreadlocks and the mature men bald except for a long ponytail or que. The children all have different hairstyles according to their sex and age and it is possible to tell when adolescents have reached a marriageable age by looking at their hair. Crazy Kudu operates two itineraries that visit Kaokoland, the private, twenty day Complete Namibia Safari and the scheduled five day Kaokoland Express Safari. We have learned the diplomacy of cultural exchange and on our trips we promote this as much as possible.