Plight of Namibia’s Indigenous People

Namibia’s indigenous people make up just under 10% of the country’s total population. Most of them live in two parts of the country: the San live in the Kalahari desert while the Damara (ǂNūkhoen), Ovatjimba, Ovatue and Ovahimba live in Kunene Region in the north of the country. 

While many of Namibia’s indigenous people have been captured on film thousands of times and their photos have been taken by tourists, travel photographers and bloggers for media content that has been viewed billions of times, their lives are far from glamorous. 

As anthropocentric development takes hold, their lives are being upended by mining, climate change and dispossession by connected absentee landlords.