Inside the polygamous desert tribe where women sleep with visitors to welcome them…but their way of life is under threat
TRIBESWOMEN in southwest Africa spend their days milking cows, looking after their children, and having sex with strangers.
These are the Himba people, a semi-nomadic tribe in northern Namibia, that view having sex with visitors as the ultimate act of kindness.
The group has a population of around 50,000 and live a very traditional, hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
The men tend to the livestock farm, herd the animals, and hunt.
While women and girls tend to perform the majority of the labour-intensive work carrying water to the village, collecting firewood, and milking cows.
But they are also tasked with one very X-rated job when visitors drop by to mingle with the tribe.
Male members will offer up their wives to guests for a night of pleasure and it’s considered nothing more than a warm welcome.
The tribeswomen consider their husbands their masters and they are expected to bend to his beck and call – so if he asks her to sleep with a guest she must comply.
She does have the option of refusing to have sex with him, but she still has to sleep in the same room as him if she does so.
Wode Maya, a popular YouTuber from Ghana, visited the tribe and revealed exactly how these traditions work.
He said: “When a visitor comes knocking, a man shows his approval and pleasure of seeing his guest by giving him the Okujepisa Omukazendu treatment.
“The wife is given to his guest to spend the night while the husband sleeps in another room.
“In a case where there is no available room, her husband will sleep outside.”
Wode asked a tribe member why they offered their wives up for sex and received the response “Himba culture is so different”.
The man went on to say: “This is not to make the lady start cheating.
“When you come here as a visitor and you have no place to sleep and I have more than a wife, I can tell my wife that my cousin has arrived and we will prepare her for him.
“They will have a full room to themselves. We give our wives to our visitors and that’s our culture.
“That’s how good we treat our visitors.”
This tradition has been handed down over centuries as it has been claimed to “benefit” the community.
The tribesmen believe that it reduces jealousy and fosters healthy, happy, nurturing relationships.
Despite the fact that the women have little to no say in the decision-making process.
They are a polygamous tribe, and men within the community are allowed to marry as many women as they can provide for.
The average Himba man tends to have at least two wives and is allowed to marry girls as young as 10 years old.
Women within the tribe are required to be wholly submissive to their husband’s demands.
Another unusual tradition means women are also expected to “give” their friends to their husbands if they come to visit, although this is a less common practice.
“WORLD HAS CHANGED”
As Western influences have begun spreading through Namibia, Himba children have said that they feel ashamed of their “backward” ways.
Himba man, Owen Kataparo, told the BBC that life has started to change within the tribe.
He revealed that more young men have been leaving, changing their clothing to be taken more seriously, and getting jobs in towns.
Some, like Owen, have even been sending their children to school.
He revealed: “When these children get into school, most of the children feel shame. They think most of the children are talking about them, that they are not looking so beautiful.”
Even the village chiefs agree that the Himba children should be preparing for another way of life.
Chief Nongaba said: “I want them to become doctors, teachers, work in government.
“I want them to live a different life to me, I want them to look like you.
“The world has changed.”
Many tribes across the world have have been shaken by Westernisation in recent years.
One uncontacted tribe, Hongana Manyawa, in Indonesia is facing extinction as “green” companies have begun nickel mining on their land.
Nickel is a necessary material in the lithium batteries that are commonly used for electric cars.
Reportedly, the major electric car company Tesla has invested over $4 billion into the mining project.
As mining companies strip the forest, resources have become scarce, and the self-sufficient warrior tribe indigenous to the area has been struggling to sustain themselves.