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A young Datoga man tends his family's livestock on the plains east of Lake Manyara in Northern Tanzania.The Datoga (known to their Maasai neighbours as the Mang'ati and to the Iraqw as Babaraig) live in northern Tanzania and are primarily pastoralists..
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A pretty Borana girl at Mega in southern Ethiopia wears brightly coloured cotton cloth and numerous strings of beads. The pastoral Borana live either side of the southern Ethiopian/northern Kenya border and form a large and important group of the Oromo-speaking cluster of tribes.
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Turkana elders wear decorative ivory lip ornaments,secured in position by a spigot which is inserted in a hole pierced below the man's lower lip after initiation. This singular form of decoration was once widespread but is rarely seen today.
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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 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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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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An attractive girl from the Kediyo tribe carries a large,beautifully made umbrella. Its wooden frame is covered with the dried leaves of ensete,the false banana plant (seen growing in the background). Widely cultivated in southern Ethiopia,ensete roots and stems,which are rich in carbohydrates,are either cooked and eaten as a porridge or made into bread.
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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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Maasai girls gather to celebrate a wedding. Their broad beaded necklaces with predominantly white glass beads mark then as Kisongo Maasai,the largest clan group of the tribe which lives either side of the Kenya-Tanzania border.
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A Maasai woman wearing a very fine beaded necklace. The predominant white colour of her glass beadwork marks her as a Kisingo Maasai,the largest clan group of her tribe living either side of the Kenya-Tanzania border.
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An Afar girl has tribal scarification on her cheeks. Scarification is practiced in only a few sections of her tribe. Proud and fiercely independent,the nomadic Afar people live in the low-lying deserts of Eastern Ethiopia.
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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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Karo men 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. While older men style their hair with clay, young men prefer to braid theirs.Every man carries a wooden stool, which doubles as a pillow at night.The Karo are a small tribe living in three main villages along the lower reaches of the
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Young Samburu girls dance during a wedding celebration. By arching their backs and thrusting out their chests,they flick their beaded necklaces up and down while dancing silently to the songs of the warriors. Their bodies and necklaces have been smeared with red ochre.
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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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Kenya, Samburu District. Young Samburu girl in traditional beaded necklaces.
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A young Samburu girl dances during a wedding celebration. By arching her back and thrusting out her chest,she flicks her beaded necklaces up and down while dancing silently to the songs of the warriors. Her body and necklace have been smeared with red ochre,and her eyebrows blackened with charcoal dust mixed with animal fat.
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A young Turkana girl adorned with necklaces of a style the Southern Turkana prefer to wear.
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This old Samburu woman was about ninety years old when the picture was taken. Frail and partially blind,she had never had a day's illness in her strenuous life.
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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 young mother and child of the Arsi-Oromo people west of Aje. Both have unusual hairstyles. The braids falling from the crown of the mother's head have been attractively woven with wool to make a colourful fringe.
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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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A Turkana woman wears all the finery of her tribe: brass lip plug,beaded collar decorated with bleached shells of the African land snail,leaf-like ear ornaments and metal earrings from which hang tiny rings of goat horn.
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A Karo woman sits with child. A small Omotic tribe related to the Hamar,who live along the banks of the Omo River in southwestern Ethiopia,the Karo are renowned for their elaborate body painting using white chalk,crushed rock and other natural pigments. Typically for a Karo woman,the mother has ochred her hair in tight ringlets and has a ring through her bottom lip.
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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 girl in traditional attire. The predominant white colour of her beadwork and the circular scar on her cheek denote that she is from the Kisongo section of the Maasai,the largest clan group,which lives either side of the border in Kenya and Tanzania.
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Back view of lady wearing colorful dress, carrying basket with grass brushes on her head to market, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkino Faso
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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 Turkana girl's necklaces are well-oiled with animal fat and glisten in the sun. Occasionally,a girl will put on so many necklaces that her vertebrae stretch and her neck muscles gradually weaken. The partially shaven head is typical of Turkana women and girls.
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A pretty young Turkana girl has already had the flesh below her lower lip pierced in readiness for a brass ornament after her marriage. The rims of her ears have also been pierced and the holes kept open with small wooden sticks.
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Close-up of woman's legs and feet, sitting on decorated round henhouse with eggs, Tiebele, Burkina Faso
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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 young Dassanech girl wears a beautiful array of beaded necklaces. Much the largest of the tribes in the Omo Valley numbering around 50,000,the Dassanech (also known as the Galeb,Changila or Merille) are Nilotic pastoralists and agriculturalists.
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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.
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A Karo women stands in the doorway to her hut in the village of Duss. A small Omotic tribe related to the Hamar, who live along the banks of the Omo River in southwestern Ethiopia, the Karo are renowned for their elaborate body painting using white chalk, crushed rock and other natural pigments. In addition to painting her face she has decorated her body with whorls of goat hair tied by leather co
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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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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 Turkana woman sitting in the doorway of her hut. Her heavy mporro braided necklace identifies her as a married woman. Typical of her tribe,she wears many layers of bead necklaces and a beaded headband.
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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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A young Dassanech girl wears a leather skirt,metal bracelets and amulets and layers of bead necklaces. Much the largest of the tribes in the Omo Valley numbering around 50,000,the Dassanech (also known as the Galeb,Changila or Merille) are Nilotic pastoralists and agriculturalists.
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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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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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An old Turkana woman,typically wearing many layers of bead necklaces and a series of hooped earrings with an pair of leaf-shaped earrings at the front.
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A Turkana girl in all her finery. Among the Turkana,cicatrization is a common form of beautification. She wears a crucifix given to her by a missionary; they are popular ornaments despite not necessarily being associated with Christianity.
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A Dassanech girl braids her sister's hair at her village in the Omo Delta. Much the largest of the tribes in the Omo Valley numbering around 50,000,the Dassanech (also known as the Galeb,Changila or Merille) and Nilotic pastoralists and agriculturalists.
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An Afar girl with braided hair has very noticeable scarification on her cheeks. Scarification is practiced in only a few sections of her tribe. Proud and fiercely independent,the nomadic Afar people live in the low-lying deserts of Eastern Ethiopia.
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Samburu girls are given strings of beads by their fathers when they are still young. As soon as they are old enough to have lovers from the warrior age set, they regularly receive gifts from them.Over a period of years, their necklaces can smother them up to their necks.
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Two Turkana girls set off to fetch water from a nearby Waterhole. Their water containers are made of wood by the women of the tribe. Their 'V' shaped aprons are made of goatskin and have been edged with hundreds and hundreds of round discs fashioned out of ostrich eggshells.
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A jovial group of Turkana girls in traditional attire. Their aprons are made of goatskin,either beaded or cut into thin strips before braiding. The two girls in the middle have already had the flesh below their lower lips pierced in readiness for a brass ornament after marriage.
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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 young Afar girl at Filwoha in the Awash National Park. Filwoha in the Afar language means 'hot water'. The beautiful springs are surrounded by doum palms and rise from deep underground at about 96.8 degrees F.
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Karo men excel in body art. They decorate their faces and torsos elaborately using local white chalk, pulverised rock and other natural pigments. Their braided hairstyles are typical of young men from the tribe.The Karo are a small tribe living in three main villages along the lower reaches of the Omo River in southwest Ethiopia.
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A Karo woman with her face painted in preparation for a dance in the village of Duss. A small Omotic tribe related to the Hamar, who live along the banks of the Omo River in southwestern Ethiopia, the Karo are renowned for their elaborate body painting using white chalk, crushed rock and other natural pigments. She is wearing a goatskin apron and carries a leather belt decorated with cowrie shells
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A Samburu boy in reflective mood after his circumcision.A day after the ordeal, he will hang in his pierced earlobes copper earrings normally worn by married women and put on a new headdress of ostrich feathers fastened to a narrow band of plaited fibre, which fits tightly round his forehead.
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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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Childhood is brief in nomadic communities. From an early age,Turkana girls help their mothers with the household chores,while boys learn to look after the small stock. There are only short periods in a day when children can relax and play.
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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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During Samburu wedding celebrations,warriors resplendent with long Ochred braids dance with young girls who have put on all their finery for the occasion. Both warriors and girls smear their faces,necks and shoulders with red ochre mixed with animal fat to enhance their appearance. Two spears are tipped with ostrich-feather pompoms.
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In the early morning,a Maasai herdsboy and his sister drive their family's flock of sheep across the friable,dusty plains near Malambo in northern Tanzania.
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A young Dassanech girl wears a leather skirt,metal bracelets and amulets and layers of bead necklaces. A long leather strap decorated with cowrie shells hangs down her back. Much the largest of the tribes in the Omo Valley numbering around 50,000,the Dassanech (also known as the Galeb,Changila or Merille) are Nilotic pastoralists and agriculturalists.
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Samburu girls are given strings of beads by their fathers when they are still young. As soon as they are old enough to have lovers from the warrior age-set,they regularly receive gifts from them. Over a period of years,their necklaces can smother them up to their necks. The metal cross-like ornament hanging from the girl's headband has no religious significance.
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Karo men excel in body art. They decorate their faces and torsos elaborately using local white chalk, pulverised rock and other natural pigments. Their braided hairstyles are typical of young men from the tribe.The Karo are a small tribe living in three main villages along the lower reaches of the Omo River in southwest Ethiopia.
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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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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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A Mursi woman wearing a large wooden lip plate. Shortly before marriage, a girls lower lip will be pierced and progressively stretched over a year or so. The size of the lip plate often determines the quantum of the bride price. They live in a remote area of southwest Ethiopia along the Omo River.
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Young Maasai girls decorate their faces with ochre and clay in preparation for a dance.
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The Turkana spear-fish in the shallow waters of Lake Turkana. The wooden shaft has a detachable metal tip with a sharp barb,which is secured to the end of a long piece of rope. Here,a fisherman waits motionlessly at the ready while standing on a raft made from four or five doum palm logs lashed together.
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Africa,Kenya,Kajiado District,Ol doinyo Orok. A Maasai elder blesses a warrior by smearing the fat of a ceremonial ox on his face during an Eunoto ceremony when the warriors become junior elders and thenceforth are permitted to marry.
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Up to a year before his circumcision,a Samburu boy will style his hair is a distinctive 'pudding bowl' shape and often rub charcoal and fat into it.Uncircumcised boys are considered children whatever their age. They have no standing in the tribe and do not belong to an age-set..
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A young Datoga boy attired in beads. The metal bells worn around his ankles ensure that he does not wander far from home without his mother or another member of the family hearing him. The Datoga (known to their Maasai neighbours as the Mang'ati and to the Iraqw as Babaraig) live in northern Tanzania and are primarily pastoralists.
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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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Black clothing,Black ostrich feathers and the intricate white patterns on the face of this Maasai youth of the Kisongo section signify his recent circumcision.
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Turkana women and girls are responsible for watering livestock,which is unusual among pastoral societies. Here,a young girl waters goats from a waterhole dug in the sand of a seasonal watercourse. Her young brother will control the flow of stock to the water trough. In the background,a man digs out another waterhole; they have to been deepened regularly towards the end of the dry season.
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A Turkana woman,typically wearing many layers of bead necklaces and a series of hooped earrings with an pair of leaf-shaped earrrings at the front,sits in the entrance to her hut.
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A young Dassanech girl holds her little brother. She wears a leather skirt with an elaborate fringe of wooden and metal tassles. Much the largest of the tribes in the Omo Valley numbering around 50,000,the Dassanech (also known as the Galeb,Changila or Merille) are Nilotic pastoralists and agriculturalists.
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A Karo woman wears an elaborate headdress made from the wing-cases of beetles and a cape of calf skin fringed with cowrie shells. A small Omotic tribe related to the Hamar,who live along the banks of the Omo River in southwestern Ethiopia,the Karo are renowned for their elaborate body painting using white chalk,crushed rock and other natural pigments.
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A Samburu boy the day before his circumcision.He has daubed the right side of his face and body with white clay while drawing water from a source that never dries up. Each boy will carry for this purpose a new gourd shaped container made by his mother from hollowed out wood.
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A Hadza boy carrying a bow and arrows. The Hadzabe are a thousand-strong community of hunter-gatherers who have lived in the Lake Eyasi basin for centuries. They are one of only four or five societies in the world that still earn a living primarily from wild resources.
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A Wa-Arusha warrior carries home a yoke. His brown necklace is made from aromatic wood. The Wa-Arusha are closely related to the Maasai and speak the same maa language. Unlike the Maasai,however,they till the land. In the past,this has brought them into conflict with their pastoral neighbors who disdained cultivation.
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Mali,Tupe,Niger Inland Delta. A woman with gold hair ornaments leaves the Niger River with a headload of cooking pots and utensils. Her facial markings and the light tattooing round her lips indicate that she is from the Peul tribe.
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A young Dassanech girl wears a beautiful array of beaded necklaces,some secured at the back by metal rings,and a beaded headband. Her ears are pierced several times,the holes are kept open by small wooden plugs. Much the largest of the tribes in the Omo Valley numbering around 50,000,the Dassanech (also known as the Galeb,Changila or Merille) are Nilotic pastoralists and agriculturalists.
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A young Maasai herdsboy controls his family's cattle at the Sanjan River to prevent too many animals watering at the same time.
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A Samburu warrior gazes at the eastern scarp of Africa's Great Rift Valley at Losiolo,north of Maralal. From 8,000 feet the land tumbles away 3,000 feet into rugged country,the domain of nomadic pastoralists,before rising again 75 miles away. The views at Losiolo are the most spectacular in Kenya of the largest,longest and most conspicuous physical feature of its kind on earth.
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