Traditional African Society Collection

Two Hamar children silhouetted by the setting sun. The Hamar of Southwest Ethiopia are semi-nomadic pastoralists whose whole way of life is based on the needs of their stock

A Hamar woman blows a tin trumpet at a Jumping of the Bull ceremony

The Karo excel in body art. Before dances and ceremonial occasions, they decorate their faces and torsos elaborately using local white chalk, pulverised rock and other natural pigments

In the early morning, a Dassanech man puts on his serval cat skin cape and ostrich-feather headdress to participate in his Dimi ceremony, an important initiation ceremony

A Dassanech man with a shock of hair.; The Omo Delta of southwest Ethiopia is one of the least accessible and least developed parts of East Africa

Assisted by her husband

A Hamar mother and child moving home

An elaborate hairstyle of a young Hamar man nears completion by his friend; The Hamar of Southwest Ethiopia are semi-nomadic pastoralists whose whole way of life is based on the needs of their stock

A Hamar woman is left with bloody wheals

During a Jumping of the Bull ceremony.; The semi-nomadic Hamar of Southwest Ethiopia embrace an age-grade system that includes several rites of passage for young men

Two Datoga men participate in a mock stick fight. The Datoga (known to their Msai neighbours as the Mang ati and to the Iraqw as Babaraig) live in northern Tanzania and are primarily pastoralists

Datoga baby on his mothers back
A Datoga baby is carried in a leather carrier on his mothers back The traditional attire of Datoga women includes beautifully tanned and decorated leather dresses

A young Datoga boy
A young boy of the Datoga tribe crosses the plains east of Lake Manyara in Northern Tanzania. The Manyara escarpment (a western boundary wall of the Gregory Rift) is visible in the distance

The contrasting leather aprons or skirts of two Nyag atom girls

A Karo homestead close the Omo River. The small thatched huts built off the ground are food stores

A Mursi mother and child

Hamar women dance, sing and blow small tin trumpets during a Jumping of the Bull ceremony

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