Kunene Region
Kunene's Skeleton Coast and Himba pastoralists face 2024's worst cattle mortality, lacking abattoir infrastructure while tourism commodifies traditional culture.
Kunene occupies Namibia's northwest corner where the Skeleton Coast's fog deserts meet the mountainous interior that the Himba people have inhabited for centuries. The region's name derives from the Kunene River that forms the Angolan border, the water source that makes limited settlement possible in otherwise hostile terrain.
Cattle farming represents the primary livelihood for pastoralist communities, but the 2024 drought caused cattle mortality more severe in Kunene than any other region. The lack of a regional abattoir constrains commercial development of the livestock sector, farmers unable to access markets that infrastructure would enable. This infrastructure gap exemplifies how remoteness limits economic options beyond subsistence.
Tourism provides alternative income through attractions including Etosha's western reaches and the Skeleton Coast's stark beauty, visitors paying to experience landscapes too harsh for permanent settlement. The Himba communities themselves become tourism assets, their traditional practices attracting visitors while raising questions about cultural commodification. Whether Kunene can develop economically—or whether climate change accelerates the cattle mortality that drought demonstrated—tests the viability of pastoralism in marginal environments.