The Himba remains one of the few ethnic groups in southern Africa to carry on with its traditional lifestyle largely unhindered. They are broadly nomadic, herding cattle and goats in their wake. The women are distinguished by their clay skin-covering, beads and braids. The eldest male leads the clan. Sons live with their father’s clan and wives live with their husband’s clan. However, inheritance of wealth goes according to system called bilateral descent whereby a son does not inherit his father’s cattle but those of his maternal uncle. The system assists the Himba’s survival by diversifying their assets. When they settle, they do so in a village built around an ancestral fire which is the focus for their worship of the ancestors and their god Mukuru. The difference between these two is that while Mukuru blesses, the ancestors can both bless and curse. Like most families, then...