Celebrities Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who have catapulted sleepy Namibia to overnight international fame, plan to have their baby in the Southern African nation and even give it a local name, according to a South African newspaper.
The Sunday Times reported that Samuel Sheefeni Nuuyoma, governor of the Erongo region, had breakfast on Friday with the famous couple, who are staying with Jolie’s adopted children in a heavily guarded lodge surrounded by some of Namibia’s most outstanding scenery.
”They are having the baby here, and they talked about giving the child a Namibian name,” he was quoted as saying by the Sunday Times. He said Jolie had made the choice because ”she loves Namibia.”
It was not immediately possible to reach Nuuyoma for confirmation.
The couple have been shielded from reporters by heavy security.
But the paper carried what it billed as ”exclusive” pictures of Jolie hugging one-year-old Zahara and Pitt carrying sleeping Maddox, four, to a sports utility vehicle. Both Pitt and Maddox, adopted by Jolie in Cambodia, sported matching haircuts.
It also had a photograph of a security official chasing a photographer — after allegedly pepper-spraying him — along the beach.
The couple are reportedly staying at the luxury Burning Shores resort hotel between the scenic old colonial German town of Swakopmond and the resort of Walvis Bay, in an area where the desert sand dunes descend spectacularly to the sea.
The paper reported that Pitt had managed to evade the awaiting paparazzi and go quad-biking in the desert dunes and rode his Ducati motorbike along the trans-Kalahari highway. It said that Pitt, Jolie and the children had visited various nature reserves.
Local inhabitants have said they welcome the presence of the international celebrities, but are unhappy with the excessive security.
The Namibian government, anxious to keep its high-spending visitors, has warned journalists entering the country without a valid work permit that they risk arrest.
Local governor Nuuyoma said he wanted his guests to feel ”at home and free”.
”Namibia is a country where everyone has the right to freedom of movement, and they must not feel inhibited when they visit this beautiful country of ours,” he said.
More than 21 percent of Namibians are HIV-infected. The country
also suffers from deep poverty and perennial food shortages, but
rarely makes international headlines.
The country is a popular destination for South Africans for its brilliant scenery and teeming wildlife, but otherwise remains an insider tip for small numbers of foreign tourists.
Jolie reportedly fell in love with the Southern African nation in 2002 when she spent several weeks in Namibia filming Beyond Borders.
Jolie has travelled to Africa frequently both to shoot films and as a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. She has called the continent one of hope and possibility, and adopted Zahara from Ethiopia last year.
Jolie and Pitt costarred in the film Mr & Mrs Smith. Pitt accompanied Jolie when she went to Ethiopia to adopt Zahara. Pitt’s publicist said on January 11 that Jolie is pregnant with Pitt’s child, but no due date has been announced. – Sapa-AP