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Scars, Beads, and Braids
The Nyangatom are one of the many unique ethnic groups living in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley. Both men and women practice scarification for decoration. A woman’s age and status can be determined by the weight and quality of her beads: she gets her first strand from her father, and adds more every year.
Some trips produce such a maelstrom of impressions and images that, when reviewing the photos, it makes sense to start at the end.
So it was with Ethiopia!
The first photo-stories I posted about this landlocked country, split by the Great Rift Valley, were from the last tribe I visited, the Mursi people, whose villages are deep in the wild territory between the Mago and Omo Rivers (see: Mursi Portraits).
This current post, the last of the sets from the Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, takes place further south: on the western side of the Omo River, bordering South Sudan. This is now the domain of the Nyangatom, a Nilo-Saharan group thought to have migrated there from northern Uganda in the mid-late 19th century.
Being a visitor to these remoter areas of the world always raises dilemmas. I’ve seen photographers ask subjects to remove their shirts, remove their shoes, and hide their mobile phones: some people expect ‘traditional’ culture to be ‘static’.
Which, of course, it isn’t.
Even without the the encroachment of the modern world, culture changes. As an outsider, it is impossible to know how to balance the social benefits of traditional tribal life against the hardships, the regimented structures, the lack of education and choice, and the low life expectancy inherent in these subsistence-lifestyle communities.
In this region, the building and expansion of the Gibe III Dam on the Lower Omo has had – and continues to have – life changing consequences for all the ethnic groups along the river (q.v.: Mongabay Series; The Conversation; and Survival International). The dam is a hydro-electric boon to the whole country, and an irrigation gift to local sugar producers. But, it is all but destroying the flood-retreat agriculture that traditional ethnic groups depend on and have been practicing for generations.
I was travelling with a small group of photography enthusiasts on a Piper Mackay tour lead by photographer Ben McRae. From Addis Ababa we had flown into Arba Minch, the second largest town in the rather-clumsily named Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia. From there, days of bumping along in four-wheel drives along highways, dirt roads, and jungle tracks, gave us access to a number of the unique ethnic groups along the Omo River (see: Omo Valley).
Somehow, it seems appropriate, that on our last day in the country, while we drove to the Jinka Airport – little more than a stretch of runway and an over-sized tin shed in a grassy field – to return to Addis Ababa, baboons showed us their bottoms with contempt as they retreated to the scrub.
And, the last image I took along the road was of a truck full of soldiers with their rifles pointed willy-nilly, off to protect – not people – but the sugar from the local factories.
Certainly, a kaleidoscope of mixed impressions!
The Nyangatom were the penultimate group we spent time with. I’ve described some of their customs previously (see: Dark Eyes and Layers of Beads). Let’s revisit them before their ways disappear – along with the receding river.
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High, Hot, and Dry
The Nyangatom side of the Omo River sits on a high plateau over the running waters below.
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Goat in the Kraal
The homes in the settlement are surrounded by a thorn-bush fence – which includes areas for the cattle and other animals, and which is opened up in the daytime.
Young Nyangatom Man
These small ethnic groups in the Omo Valley have very little to sell, but they have learned that their appearance is marketable to tourists. In most places, we had to barter on the ‘Pay per Click’ model. This includes paying for pictures of people’s homes and livestock. In this instance, however, we paid a fixed price for the whole village. This gave me much more freedom to wander, and my interactions with people felt more natural.
Nyangatom Woman in Brown Beads
I’ve shared pictures of this lovely Nyangatom woman before. Women wear up to 8 kg (17 lb) of beads, which they don’t take off.
Woman in Red, White, and Blue
The material used in the small lip plugs worn by both men and women can be determined by status. Elder women wear copper, and elder men wear ivory.
A Calabash and a Mobile
All across the Omo Valley, calabash gourds are hollowed out and dried, and used as drinking utensils or for carrying water.
Man in Green
Men all carry their wooden stools, so unlike the women, they don’t sit directly on the ground.
Colourful Beads and a Headdress
The keys on this woman’s necklaces look too clean to be purely decorative; I don’t know what they lock/unlock.
In a Nyangatom Courtyard
Nyangatom men are polygamous, and their wives all have their own woven beehive huts within the village compound.
Kids in the Courtyard
Children are everywhere.
Young Man in Colourful Blanket
Mornings are cool – even here in the Tropic of Capricorn – and people wrap themselves in whatever they have.
Arm Decorations
Both men and women practice scarification for decoration. Thorns or razors are used to cut the skin, and ash is rubbed into the wounds to create the raised scars.
Smiling Lad
Nyangatom Elder in Green
These faces could tell some stories …
Smiles of an Elder
… and the smiles are infectious – even without a shared language.
Can you Read his T-Shirt?
Men all carry their walking sticks and stools with them. I have no idea what the Ethiopian text on this t-shirt says; chances are, this elder doesn’t either!
Beads and Beauty-Scars
Beauty-Scars, Beads, and a Baby
Men with Automatics
Territorial warfare and cattle theft are very real problems in this region: young men here are expected to be well armed, and most have AK-47s left over from the civil war in neighbouring (South) Sudan.
Elder in Tattoos
When men kill an enemy, they cut patterns into their shoulders and chest to release any bad spirits.
Village Tableau
Nyangatom bee-hive huts are dark inside, with low doorways and no windows.
Young Man
Donkeys on the Horizon
Nyangatom are semi-nomadic, and keep donkeys to help with transport when they move their settlement to follow their cattle and goat herds.
Omo River Waterfront
The river is the lifeblood for these people. As we were leaving the village in our outboard boat, we watched herds of zebu cattle being guided down to the water’s edge to drink.
Goats in the Road
Livestock are how many Africans measure their wealth. The next day, on our drive out the National Parks towards Jinka, we had to wait for a herd of goats crossing the dusty main road.
Ethiopia is hot, and dusty, and dirty, and – like the rest of Africa – it gets into your blood; as soon as I had landed home after transiting what has to be one of the world’s worst international terminals, I was trying to figure out how I could go back.
One day …
Happy travels!
Photos: 22October2018
