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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 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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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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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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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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Young Maasai girls decorate their faces with ochre and clay in preparation for a dance.
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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 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 young Karo girl in the doorway of 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.
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When a Turkana woman gives birth,four goats will be slaughtered in a twenty-four-hour period to celebrate the occasion. The skin of the first goat will be made into a pouch for carrying the baby on its mother's back. The small wooden balls on the back of this pouch are charms to ward off evil spirits. The baby is wearing a bracelet of ostrich eggshell beads.
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A young Maasai girl wears face paint and numerous beaded ornaments in preparation for a dance with warriors.
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A young Pokot girl in traditional attire. Girls wear leather skirts and capes made from home-tanned goatskins. Her broad necklaces are made from small segments of sedge grass. Her ears have already been pierced in four places,ready to insert the large brass earrings she will acquire after marriage.
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A young married woman of the Pokot tribe. Her married status is denoted by her large brass earrings and broad beaded collars and necklaces that are smeared with animal fat to glisten in the sun.
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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 young Maasai girl keeps the holes in her pierced ears from closing with grass and rolled leaves. She will gradually stretch her earlobes by inserting progressively larger wooden plugs. By tradition,both Maasai men and women pierce and elongate their earlobes for decorative purposes.
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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 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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Kenya, Samburu District. Young Samburu girl in traditional beaded necklaces.
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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 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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A young married Pokot woman wearing the traditional beaded ornaments of her tribe which denote her married status. The Pokot are pastoralists speaking a Southern Nilotic language.
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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 young Turkana girl adorned with necklaces of a style the Southern Turkana prefer to wear.
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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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A Turkana girl's necklaces are well-oiled with animal fat and glisten in the sun. The use of red ochre has been copied from their Samburu neighbours and is not widespread. 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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Kenya, Samburu District. A Samburu woman, wearing intricate beaded necklaces, leans against her mud hut towards the end of the day.
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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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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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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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A Turkana girl with a large gourd-like container used as a receptacle for water or milk. In the absence of gourds,the Turkana carve their containers from soft wood,such as that from the common commiphora species,which thrives in semi-arid country.
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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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A Samburu woman wearing a mporro necklace,which signifies her married status.These necklaces,once made of hair from giraffe tails,are now made from fibres of doum palm fronds (Hyphaene coriacea). The beads are mid-19th century Venetian glass beads,which were introduced to Samburuland by early hunters and traders.
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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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An Afar girl has her attractive hairstyle embellished with buttons and beads,which is typical of the young girls of her tribe. Proud and fiercely independent,the nomadic Afar people live in the low-lying deserts of Eastern Ethiopia.
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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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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 Samburu woman singing. The strings of black and white beads hanging from her ears signify that she has two grown-up sons who are warriors of the tribe. Note: the traditional horn snuff container hanging from her neck.
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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 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 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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A Turkana man with a fine clay hairstyle,so typical of the southern Turkana. The black ostrich feather pompoms denote that the man belongs to the ng'imor (black) moiety of his tribe.
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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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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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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 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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A young Pokot woman sings to celebrate the opening of a new pre primary school at Ngaini, a remote area of the Kerio Valley. Despite her youth, her jewellery denotes she is already married.
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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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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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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 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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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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A young Daasanech girl beside the Omo River. Her hairstyle, necklaces and metal armbands are typical of her tribe.The Dassanech people live in the Omo Delta of southwest Ethiopia, one of the largest inland deltas in the world.
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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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Kenya, Samburu District. A tourist attempting to jump as high as a Samburu warrior, in the dry river bed of the Ewaso Nyiro.
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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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A close-up of a Pokot woman's earrings,hairstyle and beaded ornaments. Only married women wear brass earrings and glass-beaded collars. The band over her head supports the weight of her heavy earrings.
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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 young Dassanech boy with an elaborate clay hairdo and headband of beads at his 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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Elaborate headdress and body adornments worn by Samburu moran (warrior).
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Gabbra women sing and dance to celebrate a wedding. The traditional metal ornamentation on their heads is called malmal.
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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 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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Two young Karo girls stand in front of the massive trunk of a fig tree. 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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Childhood is brief in nomadic communities. From an early age,Turkana girls help their mothers with the household chores and look after their younger brothers and sisters during the day. The baby has wooden charms round her neck to ward off evil spirits.
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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 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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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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A Datoga young man in traditional attire.His braids are embellished with beads and aluminium can openers.Many of his white plastic bracelets are beautifully decorated with abstract and geometrical designs; long ago these bracelets would have been made of ivory.
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Turkana girls return home from a Waterhole with water containers made of wood. Their cloaks are goatskin embellished with glass beads.
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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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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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Black clothing and the intricate white patterns on the face of this Maasai youth of the Kisongo section signify his recent circumcision.
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A Hadza girl wearing a beaded headband and necklaces.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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In the semi-arid terrain of Turkanaland,women have to travel great distances to collect firewood. Like other Nilotic people,Turkana women balance heavy loads on their heads with graceful carriage and poise. The attire of this woman is typical of married women in the tribe.
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Gabbra women sing and dance to celebrate a wedding. The traditional metal ornamentation on their heads is called malmal.
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Kenya, Samburu District, South Horr, Samburu District, Kenya. The ritual helpers of two Samburu boys slaughter and skin rams the day before the boys are circumcised. The boys will sit on the skins while they are being circumcised.
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Kenya, Samburu District, South Horr, Samburu District, Kenya. A ritual helper of a Samburu boy makes him new sandals the day before he is circumcised which he will wear for a month and then discard.
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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 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 Datoga woman relaxes outside her thatched house.The traditional attire of Datoga women includes beautifully tanned and decorated leather dresses and coiled brass armulets and necklaces. Extensive scarification of the face with raised circular patterns is not uncommon among women and girls.
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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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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 Maasai woman in traditional attire. The preponderance of white glass beads in her ornaments denotes that she is from the Kisongo section of the Maasai,the largest clan group,which lives on both sides of the Kenya-Tanzania border.
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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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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 Hadza woman digs for edible tubers with a digging stick.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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