Being averse to the 'staged' feel one sometimes gets with cultural experiences, I approached visiting a traditional healer in Makuleke Village with some ambivalence. What a delightful surprise!
With her pharmacy equivalent and open-air consultation area at her home, she went about her consultations without me feeling intrusive in any way. Referring to me as her colleague (not too sure how I feel about that), she met with her patients with a lot of chanting, throwing of bones, lion claws and various other artefacts, for lack of a better word.
She was the real deal and despite having being told we would be visiting, did nothing other than what she does every day. Psychosomatic stuff? Whatever. Western medicine works pretty much the same way, though without the lion claw. Still wondering where she got that!
As a morning activity from Pafuri Camp in Kruger National Park, I'd recommend this and next time I'll take her up on her offer to 'do' me. Perhaps.

As colourful as her door and what a lovely, hospitable lady! Mondesa township, Swakopmund, Namiba.

Traditionally cattle-herding pastoralists, Herero dress was influenced by the Western culture of German missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

The first image of a portrait shoot. Imagine the person behind...

The starkly simple colour palette of Namibia consists of three colours - blue, orange and cream, but converted to black and white, the images become about content, without distraction. The images in this slideshow were mostly created in Photoshop Lightroom and Nik Software's awesome Silver Efex Pro plug-in for both Photoshop and Lightroom.