Saturday 9 November 2013

Disappearing lives: the world's threatened tribes – in pictures



Photographer Jimmy Nelson spent nearly three years visiting 31 remote and unique tribes and cultures around the world, witnessing their rituals and capturing their traditional dresses, jewellery, weapons and symbols in a series of beautiful portraits. His book, Before They Pass Away, is published by teNeus.
 
Maasai, Kenya and Tanzania: The semi-nomadic Maasai people of east Africa live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania along the semi-arid and arid lands of the Great Rift Valley. The Maasai occupy a total land area of 160,000 km2, with a population between half a million and a million people. To be a Maasai is to be born into one of the world’s last great warrior cultures. From boyhood to adulthood, young Maasai begin to learn the responsibilities of being a man and a warrior. The Maasai are famous for their jumping dance (adumu), performed by the men of the village, who leap into the air to show their strength and stamina as tribal warriors. Photograph: Jimmy Nelson