Please Visit: www.theportraitpainter.com and www.facesoftheworld.net My second African sojourn began on December 12, 2002 in Nairobi, Kenya. My objective was to learn as much as possible about the Namibian culture, and especially to meet as many of the Namibian indigenous people as possible. We flew from Nairobi to Windhoek the capital of Namibia, located in the heart of the country.Namibia is a Sub- Saharan arid country on the west coast of Africa between South Africa and Angola. It is so dry that when clouds come into the sky people stop and take notice. From Windhoek we set out to the northeast to the border of Botswana, to the towns of Tsumkwe and Gam. There we met up with the San Bushmen or Kung people and Herrero people. The San are a hunter and gatherer society, one of the oldest continuous cultures indigenous to Africa. Their language is unique for its phonetic clicking sounds. Now they make their home on the edges of the Kalahari and Namibian deserts. Like many westerners, I was first introduced to the San people through the cult-classic movie, "The Gods Must Be Crazy" and while visiting the San, I had the good fortune to meet and paint Gag'o #Oma, the San bushman star of that movie. He is indeed a special person, and meeting him was one of the major highlights of my trip. His portrait is entitled, of course, The Gods Must Be Crazy. The Hererro people are a group whose women can be identified by the large wrapped fabric hammerhead shark looking headpieces or turbans that are inspired by the habits of the catholic nuns that taught them as missionaries. I did a portrait of a particularly feisty Hererro woman who jokingly mocked me while I photographed her. Her painting is called "Hererro Wisecracker". We then traveled westward through Etosha National Park, famous for its diversity of wildlife. We were charged by enormous desert elephants, and had a close call with a white rhino. We stumbled across the white rhino along the road as he ran in front of us Turning northwest we passed through Opuwo on our way to Epupa Falls, which is right on the border with Angola. Here we met the Himba people. They are a nomadic pastoral group that has the most unique and fantastic way of dressing and decorating themselves. They are animists, which means that they worship their cattle and the women mimic the horns of cows by wearing cowhide horns on theor heads. Their bodies are smeared with a mixture of red oxide ochre pigment and pungent cow fat. Being around them smells like a constant barbeque. The Himba people still maintain their traditional ways and dress despite the constant march of modernization around them. The paintings, "Himba Super-Model", "Himba Braids", and "Ochre And Fat" are portraits of Himba women. Heading south through Damaraland we found the Damara people. Coca Cola Kid is a portrait of a Damara child we met with her family. They can be identified by their use of colorful beads and plastic ornaments woven into their braided hair and worn all over their bodies. Coca Cola Kid caught my eye because of all the coca cola tabs she had woven into her hair. Then it was through the Namib Desert and on to the Skeleton Coast. From Walvis Bay and Swakupund on the Skeleton Coast, we headed due east back to Windhoek, inland through the great sand dunes. From Windhoek, we flew south to Keetmanshoop and then drove further south to Fish River Canyon, the Namibian equivalent to the Grand Canyon. Finally we had to depart Namibia. We returned to Arusha, Tanzania where we spent the next five months living under the shadow of Mount Meru. During this period, I painted portraits of the Namibian people from the studies I had made while traveling and visiting among them. Once I had completed a series of portraits, we then resumed our travel and headed for the Maldives via the United Arab Emirates (UAE). I spent a few days in the UAE photographing the people of Dubai. Then we flew on to the Maldives and visited the islands of Male and Gam where I made my photographic studies of the people of the Maldives. Then back to Arusha, Tanzania and the final segment of my trip, which was to culminate in a local exhibition of the portraits I had painted. The exhibition of my Tanzanian and Namibian portraits was held at the Cultural Heritage Center in Arusha. It opened in June of 2002 and ran for three months until September. After the exhibit, I returned to New York to plan my trip to Australia.

• published: 26 Oct 2012
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