We had to talk with the guards, but then they let us to the roof top for a photo shooting. The location was perfect, my model Solita (instagram: @solitacruz) has been once more enthusiastic and the afternoon light just came right.
The idea was to travel to the Maasai village of her family to make photos in genuine Maasai dresses. Unfortunately we didn’t make it so far, but found nice location around Arusha for photo shooting…
A few years back i met that nice lady in Bangalore who invited me to her family stay. Now she’s on a trip trough Europe and i had the honor to meet her again in Zurich for one day. There was a lot to catch up, so we had coffee and chat with her friends who accompany her. Between all the luxurious shops on the famous Bahnhofstrasse we bumped in a guy offering „free hugs“. Big fun and bright smiles guaranteed.
Despite the cool temperature and overcast we had a stroll trough the inner city, seen some ancient spots and cultural highlights. The weekly flea market caught the attention of the visitors. Just before the rain started we made it back to the main train station, where the local „Oktoberfest“-party started…
It’s a day trip over the Swiss alps by motorbike to reach the region of Ticino, the southern part of Switzerland. With the early golden morning sun i picked up a good friend who gave me nice company for this trip. At a lake just before the ascend to the alps started we had a coffee. From there it’s a winding road up to the heights of the mountains. Small, narrow roads, old, stoney bridges -as the „devil’s bridge“- and even a Russian monuments from the war at 1799 shows how busy this route was the last 2000 years.
By motorbike it’s a pleasant journey to lakes surrounded with mountains and palm trees. After a refreshing swim and some original Italian ice cream just over the nearby border, there was a nice stroll trough ancient alleys of town and visiting the castle of Bellinzona. Just before the night fell in, we were already back on the way north, letting the palm trees behind us.
At first sight of the scenery i got confused. A girl was dancing on my dirty Land Rover and many spectators were watching her. As i noticed the film crew with all the equipment and the loud music from the back, i realized my Land Rover gonna be part of their music clip. I didn’t find that clip on internet now, but desperately wanna see it when it’s published. And i’ll share it with you!
One night the pool area at my camp got bright lit by a film crew. When i arrived, a girl was dancing in front of camera team with loud music in background. Filming for a music video, a nice guy explained me. But there was not only music and dancing but also filming for some funny comedy movie. A big mama and a gentleman were acting around the place and making lots of fun. Later on i heard i stumbled into quite famous stars here.
Being a tour guide for my parents was a completely new thing. It brought me a whole bunch of experiences and challenges too. At the start i did a selfie with my crappy cellphone at train station for remembering reason and posted it on Instagram. I repeated it at airport. Somehow i liked it and went on picturing my parents in this selfie style throughout our trip in Namibia. It became a collection of selfies of our journey.
What else could be better than a relaxing bath in hot springs at an end of a long journey on rough, dusty roads, many new impressions and some early mornings? I brought my parents to the newly opened and completely new designed Hot Springs of Gross barmen, not far from Windhoek anymore.
What’s the fascination of the Himba people? Is it their ancient and traditional lifestyle? Is it the bronze color of your skin? Or is it because they walk almost naked but freely and proud trough life? I hear people joking about the nakedness of Himbas, giggeling about bare breasts. I sense how people are unnaturally ashamed about the shameless nature of the Himba tribe. So were my parents rather shy in beginning of our visit in this Himba village. The locals acted completely natural, looked self confident in my camera and went on with their daily work. Of course, i went with my parents to a village open for tourists. The people are used on curious visitors, showed us how the live and what is important in their life and culture. Their proud and serious look turned into a big smile when i showed them the photos on display or tried to imitate their language. Kids played on the ground, made fun of me when i try to catch them with my Nikon and just stick some sweets in my mouth. Meat hung in front of houses, which are circled around an inner fence for the cattle. In centre is always a holy fire too. Everyone takes care it burns eternal, but the chief of the village takes highest responsibility of it. A big income are the little handicraft market, displayed on the ground. I couldn’t resist to take a souvenir myself, but the nicest remembering are the feeling how strange but natural in same time it felt to be amongst those peaceful people.
San people used to be hunters and gatherers. The movie „the gods must be crazy“ gave a strong impression about their life in the Kalahari bush. However, i got aware of the ‚Ombili Project‘ nearby, which was founded to help the San people, who suffer from losing they’re natural habits. On the way to this ‚cultural village‘ i explained my parents what i know about the life of this tribe. Contrary to my expectations and explanations after arrival we’ve seen neither their nomadic huts, nor hunters with poisoned arrows. Instead we got introduced in the huge garden behind solid brick buildings and explained about their success with cattle. The Ombili project turns out to be rather an agriculture school in purpose to give the upcoming generations of San people a new future. Nevertheless there is still a corner in the village to satisfy the visitors with their images of old traditional huts, fire making with a stick and a group who sings wonderful old, traditional songs.
rene bauer photography 