Part 1 of Ethiopia
here
The Omo Valley in the far south of Ethiopia (on the borders of Kenya and south Sudan) is the most amazing and bizarre place I have ever been. It is literally another world, even another world apart from Ethiopia which is a world in itself. As you drive through the stunning rolling hills/ mountains of Konso, you suddenly descend into a vast valley which the Omo River cuts through the middle, flowing into Kenya. This valley is literally an anthropologists wonderland, one of the last truly intact tribal areas of Africa. The valley has and is changing, and in 10 or even 5 years I imagine it will have been swallowed by modern Ethiopia. But for now, it is ruled by about 13 tribes, who more or less still live the same way they have lived for thousands of years.
Tribes I visited and photographed are the Mursi; Hamer; Dassanech; Arbore; Tsemai; Karo and Banna.
Also included are a number of photographs of the Hamer tribes coming of age ceremony, bull running! When a Hamer boy wishes to marry, he must prove his worth by running across the backs of about 9 bulls. I was fortunate enough to witness this spectacle. Another more questionable part of the ceremony is that the woman are whipped by hard sticks, causing bleeding and fairly nasty gashes across their backs and legs....not a pretty site. The woman actually goad the men into whipping them more, which I think is a kind of patronising way of telling the men they aren't manly enough to hurt them.
Anyway, without further ado.....
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