Pushing the Envelope

Ethiopia - I found my limit.

Always in search of the path less followed, I convinced my Ethiopian guide Kebe to seek out a nomadic Mursi tribe to visit in southwestern part of the country. He tried to talk me out of it but didn't say why.  

After a long dusty drive, we located a tribe.

It was the first place I'd ever been where I couldn't connect - not with the nursing mothers, not with the children, not with the women grinding corn. Kebe kept taking men aside and talking with them, not quite arguing -it looked more like negotiating.  He insisted I didn't pull out my camera until the end of our visit when he finally nodded that it was okay.

Kebe later told me the women remove two of their lower teeth to facilitate their lip plates that represent strength and beauty. The scarring is decorative and for men, it represents social status. 

It wasn't until I returned home that I learned the Mursi tribe are considered to be the most dangerous people in Africa. He told me that a man's status is raised if he kills a lion, elephant, or a human. I'm only guessing what Kebe's negotiation was about.

I ran into these Ethiopian Hamar tribeswomen walking home from market. Their canteens were carrying homemade fermented drink they offered to share and had apparently already cosumed a lot of themselves. They asked me to trade clothes with them. Maybe I did and maybe I didn't.