The tribes of the Omo Valley

Photographer Marcos Lira took these pictures in 2010 during his trip to the valley of the Omo River, which is three days away from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, and remains one of the most undeveloped parts of the world.

This amazing place can be defined as a kind of a huge open-air museum - live here four major African language groups. More than twenty tribes, some of them have tens of thousands of people, while others - less than 500, but the culture of each of them is unique and authentic.

The tribes all live in isolation as from public authorities and from each other, and because almost every man here on your shoulder hangs a Kalashnikov assault rifle, ready for direct use. Photo: A man from the tribe of Suri posing with AK-47

Many travelers say the beauty of the girls Hamer tribe.

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The content of this material intended only for adults (18 and over).

A woman from the tribe Surma, who lives on the banks of the same river, in south-western Ethiopia. Semi-nomadic tribes Surma not easily separated from the world by mountains.

A young mother from the tribe Surma with a child. Like many other tribes tribe Surma Valley Ohm is not directly in contact with civilization.

Due to the dense jungles and harsh dry climate of the region remains one of the most undeveloped in the world.

An elderly woman from the tribe Surma smokes a pipe.

A boy from the tribe Surma. Although the tribe has a firearm, and even Kalashnikovs, tribe leads a primitive way of life. The tribe does not hunt, and live at the expense of cattle in Surma is the main wealth.

In both adults and children head shaved is a measure of beauty in both sexes. The expression of close friendship among children the same drawings on the body or on the face makeup, which they carefully decorate each other.

Statement Surma say: "We are better than others, because we enjoy freedom in the forest, we do not have owners, this land is ours and we can drink milk ad libitum. We do not want to abandon the drawings on the body cane fighting, lip plates. It is our life. We are faithful to their traditions. "

When a woman turns 20 years old, she pierced lower lip (a painful and dangerous due to possible contamination of the operation) and is inserted into the hole a little calcined disk. During the year, gradually inserted more and more wide plate.

The more wood (or clay) plate inserted into the lower lip, the girl more than cattle, which parents can give as a dowry.

The women of the tribe Hamer on the way to market.

Every valley tribe speaks its own language, each with its own customs and religion.

Girl Hamer tribe with a child.

The people of the tribe to protect from the sun the hair and skin spreading a mixture of red clay, water, and raw eggs.

Ethiopia's population is over 60 million. People, but it is divided into more than 80 ethnic groups. Most of them belong to the Ethiopian race, which is intermediate between the Caucasoid and Negroid.

One of the elders of the Hamer tribe.

No names or passports Hamer living the primitive communal system, - of course not. Not fixed and age. Woman taking in marriage when she appeared secondary sexual characteristics (approximately 12 years).

Before her marriage, she will, under penalty of death, must remain chaste.

They work in the Hamer tribe only teenagers, men who can not already hold a weapon, and a woman who can not give birth.

The young woman is also not doing anything but care for babies and improve their own body. In the latter art they can give odds to any spa.

Typically, a man of the tribe Hamer - two or three wives and many children.

The village tribe consists of several dozen round, standing on stilts huts with conical roofs. The skeleton of their tally of poles, and the top is covered with a thick layer of dried grass and straw.

Inside the cabin is divided into the residential part (with a fireplace and a bed to sleep), granary-goth and corral for goats. Master's bed - unusually wide. It was built of stone covered with a layer of clay and straw, and the top covered with a variety of goat skins.

The women of the tribe of Hamar for styling hair. Representatives of these African tribes used clay for this purpose.

Girl tribe Hamer

The woman of the tribe Hamer for drinking water

The western and south-western regions of the country, where it is the Omo valley, inhabited by tribes of ethnic groups blacks:. Afar, Agau, Oromo, Sidamo, Somali, cafes, badge, etc. And when you consider that each ethno -group includes up to a dozen different tribes, speaking their own dialects, the different languages ​​in Ethiopia get more than 200.

One of the characteristic features of the tribes of the Omo valley - an unquenchable passion for decorating his own body.

Surma tribe, for example, reached a particular height in the drawings in the skin, and the tribe Hamer - to create complex layered hairstyles.

Famous lip disks are of two types - flat and wedge-shaped. It is believed that the tradition of wearing lip discs originated during the mass hunting of slaves: the natives disfigured appearance to become non-conforming "human beings", just as the early Christian nuns cut off their noses to defend his innocence against the barbarians.

But the Surma and Mursi lip disc has traditionally played an important social role. The larger the diameter, the higher authority girls, so it enjoys a large demand on brides fair.

Of course, women do not wear wheels all the time: they take them out, for example, during a meal or at bedtime, but outside the house or on the people not to part with them. In addition, women Surma and Mursi in the habit of exchanging these creepy decorations are not included in the cycle, only those that were given to her husband.

For pipe smoking