Bonko belongs to the Mursi people of the Omo River Valley in Southern Ethiopia. The men distinguish themselves by decorating their bodies with colour ochre, white chalk, yellow mineral rock, charcoal and pulverized iron ore.
The Kalashnikov’s imported from Sudan and Somalia are deployed in response to constant threat of cattle raids and intense competition for grazing land with sparring ethnic groups.
My home was a modern tent positioned among conical thatched huts, stilted granaries and animal corrals all washed in dust. During my time there I observed crocodiles, a pageantry of opportunistic baboons, colobus monkeys and listened to the haunting cries of fish eagles.
I was impressed by Bonko’s preindustrial lifestyle and adaptation to a land where limited resources prevail. I was left wondering though how long all these agro- pastoralists, cultivators, and hunters could survive the threatening contagion of today’s world.