Research from different parts of Africa indicates that to grasp the HIV/AIDS catastrophe, an in-depth
understanding of conjugal relationships is crucial. In casual, short-term sexual interactions, safer sex practices,
foremost condom use, have become more and more prevalent. This does not hold true for long-term
relationships. Marriage rates have substantially declined in many parts of southern Africa. Without marriage
as a possible frame for conjugal relations meanings and practices of ëloveí have become the structuring concept
of conjugality. Love relations are perceived as based on trust. This contradicts the use of condoms, a visible sign
of mistrust. Based on long-term ethnographic field research in rural northwest Namibia we analyse the
interconnections between conjugal relations, perceptions of risk and practices of safe sex in detail.