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A group of Maasai warriors,resplendent with long Ochred braids,chat outside their traditional houses. These squat houses with rounded corners have roofs plastered with a mixture of soil and cow dung,so need regular repairs during rain.
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A large gathering of Maasai warriors,resplendent with long Ochred braids,listen to instructions from their chiefs and elders during a ceremony
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A Maasai elder herds his cattle near the foothills of Ol doinyo Orok (the Black Mountain).
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A Maasai warrior resplendent with his long ochred braids tied in a pigtail watches over his family's cattle,spear in hand. The singular hairstyle of warriors sets them apart from other members of their society.
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During their dances,Maasai warriors take turns to leap high in the air from a standing position without bending their knees. They achieve this by flexing their ankles in a seemingly effortless way .
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A Maasai warrior resplendent with long ochred braids tied in a pigtail at the back,puts red ochre on his friend's plaits. Red ochre is anatural earth,which is mixed with animal fat to the consistency of greasepaint.
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Maasai warriors resplendent with long ochred braids relax and wait for the start of a ceremony. Red has always been their preferred colour.
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Maasai warriors draw water from a deep well. The depth of wells is measured by the number of men required to bring water to the cattle troughs at the top of them. A three-man well will be about 24 feet deep since the buckets are thrown between the men in a rhythmic chant.
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A back view of a Maasai warrior resplendent with long ochred braids tied in a pigtail. This singular hairstyle sets him apart from other members of his society. His beaded belt is of a style only worn by warriors. The little copper bell-shaped ear ornament hanging from his elongated and decorated earlobe is also peculiar to the Maasai.
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Kenya,Kajiado,Maparasha. A Maasai warrior resplendent with long,ochred braids. This singular form of hairstyle distinguishes warriors from the rest of their society. This man has looped his elongated and decorated earlobes over his ears - a common practice when walking through thorn scrub country to prevent the loops being snagged by thorns.
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A warrior of the Kisongo section of the Maasai with his long Ochred braids decorated with beaded ornaments. His broad armulet is typical of the Kisongo living in northern Tanzania where white is the preferred colour of their beadwork.
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Maasai warriors take enormous trouble over their appearance especially their long hair,which is braided,Ochred and decorated with beaded ornaments. This singular hairstyle sets them apart from the rest of their community.
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Detail of a Maasai warrior's ear ornaments and other beaded or metal adornments. The Maasai practice of piercing ears in adolescence and gradually elongating the lobes is gradually dying out. This warrior's body and his long braids have been smeared with red ochre mixed with animal fat.
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A Maasai warrior blows a trumpet fashioned from the horn of a Greater Kudu. The strap is decorated with cowrie shells. Kudu-horn trumpets are only sounded to call men to arms or on ceremonial occasions.
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A Maasai warrior with his long braids and body coated with red ochre mixed with animal fat. He has put ochre dust round his eyes to enhance his appearance ready for a dance. The singular hairstyles of Maasai warriors sets them apart from other members of their society.
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A Maasai warrior has daubed himself with red ochre mixed with animal fat to participate in a dance. His long ochred braids have been drawn forward from the crown of the head and tied in three places. This singular hairstyle sets warriors apart from the rest of their society.
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A Maasai warrior resplendent with long ochred braids. His body has been smeared with red ochre mixed with animal fat while parts of his face have been covered with ochre powder.
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A Maasai warrior in full regalia. He has stuck a porcupine quill in his beaded headband to add to his other decorations. His long,Ochred plaits have been drawn forward from the crown of his head and tied in three bunches.
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Kenya,Kajiado,lpartimaro. Two Maasai warriors in full regalia. The headress of the man on the left is made from the mane of a lion while the one on the right is fringed with black ostrich feathers. Their traditional weaponry includes long-bladed spears and shields are made of buffalo hide.
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One of the most important Maasai ceremonies is the eunoto when warriors become junior elders. Early one morning before the cattle are taken to pasture,their mothers shave their long ochred locks,which makes their appearance very different. One initiate can be seen blowing a Kudu horn trumpet.
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During an eunoto ceremony when Maasai warriors become junior elders,their heads are shaved and they daub themselves with white clay.
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A Maasai warrior with his hair styled in a most unusual way. His long braids have been wrapped tightly in leather,decorated with beads and tied in an arch over his head. A colobus monkey tail sets this singular hairstyle apart from the more traditional warrior styles.
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Two Samburu warriors resplendent with long Ochred braids and beaded ornaments relax in typical pose beside a river bank.
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Two Giriama girls pound corn outside their home using a large wooden mortar and pestles. Their small skirts are made from strips of printed cotton material - a traditional dress of Giriama women and children.
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A Giriama girl from Kenya's Coast Province carrying a gourd full of water on her head. Her small skirt is made from strips of printed cotton material.
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A young Maasai girl in all her finery pauses at the entrance to her mother's home. The wall and roof of the house are plastered with a mixture of cow dung and soil.
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Maasai girls in all their finery and with bells tied round their legs wait at the entrance to a house before dancing with warriors.
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Kenya,Trans-Mara,Lolgorien. The Maasai do not eat game meat or birds. Consequently,the wildlife in their vast grazing areas has been left relatively undisturbed. The warriors do hunt lions,however,when their cattle are killed. The warrior who spears a lion to death will make a busby-style headdress from its mane.
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A young Turkana girl wearing an attractively beaded leather apron and belt stands outside her mother's home. Sansevieria or wild sisal lines the lower walls of the house. Cicatrization round the nipples of a girl is not an uncommon form of beautification.
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A Maasai warrior speaks on his mobile phone from the saddle of his camel near Lake Magadi in Kenyas Rift Valley Province.Mobile phones are a popular method of communicating with family and friends in remote areas of Kenya.
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Maasai men ride camels in the dry bush country at Olorgasailie,situated between Nairobi and Lake Magadi.
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Maasai men ride camels in the dry bush country at Olorgasailie,situated between Nairobi and Lake Magadi.
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Two Maasai men ride camels near Lake Magadi in Kenya's Rift Valley Province. Although the Maasai do not customarily keep camels,much of the semi-arid land of southern Maasailand is more suited to camels than cattle.
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In the early morning,Maasai men lead a camel caravan laden with equipment for a 'fly camp' (a small temporary camp) along the shores of Lake Magadi.
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Maasai men lead a camel caravan laden with equipment for a 'fly camp' (a small temporary camp) past Lake Magadi. Clouds hang low over the Nguruman Escarpment (a western wall of the Great Rift Valley) in the distance.
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Maasai men lead a camel caravan laden with equipment for a 'fly camp' (a small temporary camp) close to Lake Magadi in beautiful late afternoon sunlight.
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Maasai men lead a camel caravan laden with equipment for a 'fly camp' (a small temporary camp) close to Lake Magadi in beautiful late afternoon sunlight.
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A young Galla herdsboy with his family's cattle outside their homestead.
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Deep Maasai wells at Loibor Serrit where cattle paths are cut deep into the soil to allow livestock nearer to the source of water. Despite this immense amount of manual labour.Four fit, young men are necessary to bring water to the stock troughs about 30 feet above the water level at the bottom of the hand dug wells.
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Maasai warriors stride across the golden grass plains at the foot of Ol doinyo Lengai, the Maasais Mountain of God. Ol doinyo Lengai is the only active volcano in the Gregory Rift, an important section of the eastern branch of Africas Great Rift Valley system that stretches from northern Kenya into Northern Tanzania.
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A Nyangatom woman stands with her baby on her hip beside her grass hut in his temporary camp. Nyangatom married women wear elaborately beaded skirts which reach the ground at the back and often have panels of different coloured calkfskin sewn into the tail The Nyangatom or Bume are a Nilotic tribe of semi nomadic pastoralists who live along the banks of the Omo River in south western Ethiopia.
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As the sun rises above the forested peaks of Mount Nyiru,members of a Turkana family chat and plan their day's activities outside their domed-shaped homes,which provide scant protection from the elements.
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A Samburu warrior has his Ochred hair braided by a friend. A mixture of cow's urine and ashes is often rubbed into the hair first to help straighten it. The wooden headrest is used as a pillow at night. Long braids of Ochred hair distinguish warriors from other members of their society. The warriors are vain and proud,taking great trouble over their appearance.
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Two Samburu warriors dress the braids of a colleague. Long braids of Ochred hair distinguish warriors from other members of their society. The warriors are vain and proud,taking great trouble over their appearance. Round ornaments,often made of ivory,adorn the pierced and extended earlobes of warriors.
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Two Samburu warriors converse,their long braids of Ochred hair distinguishing them from other members of their society. Samburu warriors are vain and proud,taking great trouble over their appearance. An ostrich feather pompom decorates the top of a spear.
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A Samburu warrior resplendent with long braids of Ochred hair. His round ear ornaments are made of ivory. Samburu warriors are vain and proud,taking great trouble over their appearance. They use ochre extensively; it is a natural earth containing ferric oxide which is mixed with animal fat to the consistency of greasepaint. By tradition,warriors always used to carry two spears.
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A Samburu warrior resplendent with his long braids of Ochred hair. His round ear ornaments are made of ivory. Samburu warriors are vain and proud,taking great trouble over their appearance. They use ochre extensively; it is a natural earth containing ferric oxide which is mixed with animal fat to the consistency of greasepaint.
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A Samburu warrior resplendent with long,braided,Ochred hair. The braids at the front have been fashioned in a protruding fringe rather like a sunshade. The cloth on top keeps the braids in place. The round ear ornaments of the warriors are made of ivory. Samburu warriors are vain and proud,taking great trouble over their appearance.
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A Samburu warrior resplendent with long,braided,Ochred hair. The round ear ornaments of the warriors are fashioned from ivory. Samburu warriors are vain and proud,taking great trouble over their appearance. Ochre is a natural earth containing ferric oxide which is mixed with animal fat to the consistency of greasepaint.
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A Samburu warrior talks to children about the bush on a Cheli & Peacock family safari.
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A Samburu moran teaches children the skills of being a warrior during a Cheli & Peacock family mobile safari.
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Maasai pastoralists water their livestock at the seasonal Sanjan River,which rises in the Gol Mountains of northern Tanzania.
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Maasai men,spears in hand,drive their laden donkeys across pristine volcanic grassland at the southern end of Lake Natron. Donkeys carry loads in leather panniers strapped loosely to their flanks
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A Maasai warrior and a young herdsboy draw water for livestock from the deep wells at Naberera where cattle paths are cut deep into the soil to allow livestock nearer to the source of water.
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Maasai livestock watering at the seasonal Sanjan River,which rises in the Gol Mountains of northern Tanzania.
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Maasai livestock watering at the seasonal Sanjan River,which rises in the Gol Mountains of northern Tanzania.
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Maasai men,spears in hand,drive their laden donkeys across pristine volcanic grassland at the southern end of Lake Natron. Donkeys carry loads in leather panniers strapped loosely to their flanks.
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A Maasai man,spear in hand,drives his laden donkeys across pristine volcanic grassland at the southern end of Lake Natron. Donkeys carry loads in leather panniers strapped loosely to their flanks.
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A Colourful Maasai livestock market near the towering extinct volcano of Kerimasi.
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A colourful Maasai livestock market near the towering extinct volcano of Kerimasi.
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Old and new. Dressed traditionally and carrying familiar wooden staff,two young men give hints that the lifestyle of younger Maasai generations is changing gradually in Tanzania.
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A young Nyangatom woman carries her baby on her hip in an elaborately braided papoose. Her hair has been reddened with a mixture of ochre and animal fat. Typical of her tribe, she wears a calfskin skirt, multiple layers of bead necklaces and metal bracelets and amulets. The Nyangatom or Bume are a Nilotic tribe of semi nomadic pastoralists who live along the banks of the Omo River in south western
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A Nyangatom woman wears multiple layers of beads in necklaces, an elaborately beaded calfskin skirt and metal bracelets, amulets and anklets. She is standing beside a temporary beehive construction of sticks, grass and leaves built to provide shade for her goats. The Nyangatom or Bume are a Nilotic tribe of semi-nomadic pastoralists who live along the banks of the Omo River in south western Ethio
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A Maasai warrior,his face and body decorated with red ochre and clay,wears an ostrich feather headdress. This singular adornment was once worn by warriors going into battle and was likely designed to frighten an enemy.
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A Maasai warrior drives his family's cattle to the Sanjan River in northern Tanzania
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Two Maasai warriors,spears on their shoulders,leave the friable dusty banks of the Sanjan River after watering their cattle.
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A young Maasai girl wears a headband decorated with chains and cowrie shells that signifies her recent circumcision. Clitodectomy was commonly practiced by the Maasai but it is now gradually dying out.
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Kenya, Samburu District, Wamba.Immediately an initiate completes his lmuget loolbaa ceremony a month after his circumcision, he becomes a junior warrior of the Samburu tribe. From wearing a drab black cloak and carrying a bow and arrows, he proudly dons the ochred finery of a warrior, spear in hand. Overnight, he is transformed from a boy into a man, confident of his new role in tribal affairs.
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A month after a Samburu youth has been circumcised, he becomes a warrior.He will go to the nearest stream or Waterhole to wash off a months grime.He then decorates himself with a mixture of ochre and animal fat, and adorns himself with beads. The sudden change in his appearance is remarkable.
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A lively Nyangatom dance is enjoyed by villagers in the late afternoon.The elevated houses in the background are both homes and granaries, which have been built to withstand flooding when the Omo River bursts its banks The Nyangatom are one of the largest tribes and arguably the most warlike people living along the Omo River in Southwest Ethiopia.
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In the late afternoon, family and friends sit outside a high dome roofed Karo home.The Karo excel in body art. Before a dance, they will decorate their faces and torsos elaborately using local white chalk, pulverised rock and other natural pigments. The polka dot or guinea fowl plumage effect is popular.
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A Samburu warrior drinks blood straight from the fold of skin cut in a goat's neck.During every Samburu ceremony,livestock is slaughtered and meat is roasted over wood fires. Warriors will never eat meat in the presence of married women.
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Ole Senteu Simel,grandson of the famous Maasai Laibon Mbatian (after which the highest peak of Mount Kenya is named),was the most respected laibon of the Maasai until his death in 1986. This photograph was taken three weeks before he died. Maasai Laibons are the soothsayers and clairvoyants of the tribe and control all ceremonial occasions.
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A young Maasai girl wearing a wooden plug in her pierced ear to elongate the earlobe. It has been a tradition of the Maasai for both men and women to pierce their ears and elongate their lobes for decorative purposes. Her two lower incisors have been removed - a common practice that may have resulted from an outbreak of lockjaw a long time ago.
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A Maasai boy herds his family's cattle near a waterhole in the foothills of Ol doinyo Orok (the Black Mountain). Childhood is very short in Maasailand; children begin to help their parents at a young age and may never attend school.
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Two young Maasai girls help to herd their family's cattle near a waterhole in the foothills of Ol doinyo Orok (the Black Mountain). Childhood is very short in Maasailand; children begin to help their parents at a young age and may never attend school.
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Almost everything a Turkana family owns is kept in a wife's day hut. Wooden containers,gourds,utensils and personal clothing or ornaments hang from the ceiling or walls. Watering troughs,donkeys panniers and a grinding stone lean against the walls. The wife's eldest daughter will look after the home during the day while being nanny to her younger brothers and sisters.
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The adornments of Samburu warriors change from generation to generation. In the 1990's cheap plastic flowers from China became fashionable to decorate their Ochred braids. This warrior has had his hair styled in the 'sunshade' look by having his braids at the front combed forward.
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The adornments of Samburu warriors change from generation to generation. In the 1990's cheap plastic flowers from China became fashionable. This warrior is wearing several bracelets,which bear the Kenyan coat of arms.
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