Namibia Culture and Etiquette Guide

Language

English is the sole official language, and that was a deliberate choice at independence in 1990: Afrikaans had been the language of the administration Namibians were leaving behind, so a neutral option was adopted instead. English is what you will use everywhere.

It is not, however, what most Namibians speak at home. Oshiwambo languages are spoken by around half the population; Khoekhoegowab (Nama/Damara), Otjiherero, RuKwangali, Silozi, Afrikaans and German are all widely used, and Afrikaans still works as a lingua franca in much of the country.

A few words are received warmly:

• Wa lalapo — good morning (Oshiwambo). Ondi li nawa — I am well.
• Moro — hello, widely understood.
• Tangi — thank you (Oshiwambo). Okuhepa — thank you (Otjiherero).

Khoekhoegowab uses click consonants, written with symbols such as ǀ and ǃ. Do not be embarrassed to fail at them; do be interested.

Greetings and manners

Greet before you ask. A handshake, often the supported form with the left hand at the right forearm, and an unhurried exchange about how someone is. Namibians are generally reserved and polite rather than effusive, and patience reads much better than briskness.

Offer and receive with the right hand or both. Respect for elders is expected. Punctuality is looser than in Europe or North America; a lodge transfer will be on time, a social arrangement may not be.

Herero dress, and why it looks the way it does

The long Victorian-style dresses and horn-shaped headdresses worn by Herero women are among the most photographed things in Namibia, and the reason for them is not decorative.

The style derives from the dress of nineteenth-century German missionaries and settlers, adopted and then transformed into something entirely Herero — the headdress represents cattle horns, and cattle are central to Herero identity. It has since become a deliberate statement of survival by a people who came close to being destroyed. Read our heritage guide for that history before you photograph the dress.

⚠ Himba tourism: what we do not do

Himba communities in the north-west are heavily marketed to visitors, and much of that market is extractive: coach parties delivered to a village, photographs taken of semi-clothed people, a fee paid to an intermediary rather than the community.

We do not sell that. Where our itineraries include time with Himba communities, it is through community-run or community-owned operations, arranged in advance, with the payment going to the community, and you will be told whose it is. Ask before photographing anyone, accept a refusal, and do not hand out sweets or money to children — it does measurable harm and every responsible operator in the country asks you not to.

If a tour offers a "traditional village visit" without naming the community or explaining where the money goes, that tells you what it is.

Traditions on the UNESCO lists

Namibia has two inscribed elements, one on each list:

• Oshituthi shomagongo, the marula fruit festival — Representative List, 2015.
• Aboxan Musik, ancestral musical sound knowledge and skills — List in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, 2020.

The second is on the urgent list because the number of practitioners has fallen. See our festivals guide.

Dress and photography

Casual and practical is fine for travel; Namibians dress neatly in town and for church. Modest dress is appreciated in villages and places of worship.

• Ask before photographing people, every time, and accept a refusal without argument.
• Do not photograph government buildings, military and police installations, border posts, or the diamond restricted areas in the south, which are taken seriously.
• If you promise to send a photograph, send it.

Traveling with LABUSA Travel

Where an itinerary includes a community visit, it is arranged through the community and on their terms — which is also what makes it worth doing.

Banner photograph by SojournNam, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.