08 December 2011, 07:30
cjwPhotos from Ethiopia
This year was my 10th trip to Africa for photo safaris and instead of wildlife as the focus I went to Ethiopia to photograph the tribes along the Omo River. I did do 5 days in Kenya prior to the Ethiopia portion.When I think of Ethiopia I think of desert and starving people. The part of the country I was in (south of Addis Ababa) was a variety of landscapes from lush green almost rain forest areas to the dry, barren grassy plains. Beautiful country an healthy people and animals. And hot (9/15 to 10/10).
Visiting the tribes was like stepping back in time couple hundred years. The villages are the mud huts surrounded by fencing, cattle is the currency (they had goats too), subsistence farming and the women doing the work while the men drink the beer.
We drove for 3 full days to get to the first tribe we visited and according to a map we went 400 miles in those 3 full days. Very poor roads (new roads being built by the Chinese as we speak), lots of up and down mountains). After a half day or so outside of the main cities we would only see half a dozen cars per day and they were mainly tourists. The exception being the work trucks for the Chinese road building). Ethiopia is a country of feet. People walk everywhere.
I saw someone's photos from this area a couple of years ago and was amazed at the people. An opportunity came up to go with a photographer doing a "scouting trip" and I signed up. I am told that the kids do the face painting and nature hats for ceremonies. I'm not sure about that - couldn't find any info about it but for us they started out normal and when we said we wanted pictures they headed into the bush and came out with the elaborate bush hats. So, regardless of the reason, I was amazed. I hope you enjoy the images.
~Cindy
And each area of tribes were different. This lady has on several necklaces. The top one indicates that she is the first wife and the other two necklaces mean there are two more wives (the slaves of the family).
This is another tribe where the women wear the lip plates. I am told that they only have the lip plate in when they are serving the men meals (and beer) and for ceremonies. The majority of the time they do not wear them.
This next image is of the men in one of the villages. There are more tourists on this side of the river and western clothing is slowly making it's way into the tribes. The other side of the river (Omo River) the people wore only traditional clothes.
These women/girls are wearing the traditional clothing and this is what they wear every day. We were near this village for several days and this is what all of the women wore. Some did have t-shirts or tank tops. These women are of the same village as the men above.
Decorative scarring.
