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Spreading out like a sea of sand in reddish-gold, the Namib is the only desert that borders directly on the sea. It covers a large part of Namibia. The Namib seems inhospitable, yet appearances are deceptive: this is the habitat of the fastest snake in the world, of the clever
red mist-bugs and of the desert elephants. It is also the home of the Himba, one of the last native tribes that has remained faithful to its culture for centuries. Where water is so scarce humans and animals have to be inventive. The mist-bug makes use of the swathes of mist rising from the sea. It waits on the crest of a dune until the humidity condenses on its body. In this way it becomes a “water-bomb” which makes it very attractive to its enemies. The desert elephants not only have larger ears that other elephants, they also have broader feet to give them a better grip in the soft sand. The matriarch or female leader of the herd uses these large feet to find water: as with a stethoscope,
she “listens” with them to find out whether water is concealed anywhere in the ground – a unique adaptation without which the elephants could not survive here. The Himba women never wash themselves – and yet they are very clean: every morning they smoke their bodies with burning
herbs and thus disinfect themselves. They drink almost exclusively the milk of their cows and goats. Since their animals are their most precious possession, the nomads always build their huts where the herds have enough fertile grazing land. The film lures the viewer into the beauty of the windswept Namib, into the valley of the desert elephants and to a Himba tribe that reveals the essence of its culture in a wedding
ceremony.