- Mirror UK
Africa – The Himba tribe in the north of Namibia, with an estimated 50.000 people are still living the way their ancestors did. Not many cultures have managed to withstand the ever-growing technological world like the Himba tribe have.
Dressed in nothing more than a loin cloth made out of animal skin, the Himba people challenge the modern world in managing to live according to their beliefs and traditions.
The wife-swapping tradition is known as 'okujepisa omukazendu', which simply means 'offering a wife to a guest', and has existed for centuries within the semi-nomadic tribe in northern Namibia, southwest Africa.
As part of their culture, a husband can allow his wife to sleep with a male visitor, and it is deemed an act of kindness.
Suku himba
The tradition, which is regarded as "completely different from the Western culture", is said to show a 'warm welcome' to strangers and is considered to be a sign of friendship.
The Himba people see it as a healthy outlet and believe it eliminates the kind of sexual jealousy that can affect more conventional marriages.
A documentary by African History TV explains the custom: "For the Himba people, the husbands giving their wives to visitors to have sex with is considered the highest form of hospitality".
The video clip expresses that what is taboo in one place can be a 'welcome idea' in another, and draws a distinction between the marital and moral views of Westernised cultures and ancient African tribes like the Himba.
"Among the Himba tribe, wife swapping is a tradition that has existed for centuries even before civilisation. According to this age-old tradition, a man can allow his wife to sleep with any man who wants to spend the night in his home," it remarked.
Suku Himba.
"While the visitor is spending a nice time with the wife, the husband is expected to spend the night in another room," it continued.
The Himba tribe is estimated to be made up of 50,000 people and one small group, known as the OvaHimba, follows a very traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle that hasn't changed in tens of thousands of years, the Daily Star reports.
Men in the tribe commonly have two wives, and genetic testing of one sample group shows that more than 70 percent of Himba tribesmen bring up at least one child that has been fathered by another man.
