“They seemed like they enjoyed the attention of being photographed and liked seeing their images on the LCD screen on the back of my camera.
“They posed quite willingly and were very cooperative – I’d love to see them again.”
He continued: “The way the Karo decorate their faces and bodies is fascinating.
“They use a mixture of ash, animal fat, and water to create striking designs.
“Their body decorations are for two reasons – for beauty and for battle.
“The men decorate themselves brighter than the women so they look more attractive and courageous.
“In addition, tribal people are often very superstitious, and a painted warrior looks fearsome to outsiders.”
However, it seems the future is uncertain for the tribe, and the way of life could be set to change forever.
“The Karo is the smallest tribe in South Ethiopia fluctuating between 1000 and 2000. They live along the Omo River and practice ‘flood retreat cultivation’. This means they use the silt left by floodwaters that occur during the monsoon season to fertilise their crops,” said Mr Zuckerman.
“But recently the Ethiopian government, needing to create more electricity, built a dam on the Omo River.
“This affects the flooding of the river, and this, in turn, causes disruptions in the natural fertilisation of farmland as well as impacts the traditional flow of water to the tribes below the dam.”
