Fights on the tribe sticks

The tribe of the Curma living on the West Bank of the Omo River Valley, divided into four clans, and in each of them there is its own supreme leader. Get to the fourth, the most isolated clan of the tribe of the CURMMA and meet the leader named Ecota was very difficult. As far as I was able to understand the translation of the stories of local residents (communication went through my friend-translator by name Chaga), in this mountain, difficult country «very, very long ago» Sitted helicopter. People made injections into the hands of everyone who came out of the villages and then flew away. A few more guys from the clan Ecota were in the villages and saw Europeans, but on the territory of the fourth clan none of the Europeans before me. It turns out, I closed one of the last relative to white spots on the map of Africa.

Before visiting this virgin corner of the Black Continent, I spent many months in the territory of the three other clans of Surma, shooting the film «Black and white bull». Explorer named AriPula (which means just «black and white bull») I told me about the life of the tribe, about the round valley in which they live, about the multicolor mythical snake named Moldova, about the bloody campaigns to the territory of the enemy and about disputes behind the territory, the price of redemption for his wife (which is measured by cows) and, of course , on the unique tradition of wold fighting — Sagnu. This battle, which is held once a year, in the event of a successful harvest and enough food, is similar to the primitive version of the Knight’s Middle Ages tournaments, where the main thing is to fight for the attention of the ladies of the heart. These battles, beginning like a sticky, end sometimes by shootouts from Kalashnikov machine guns. Some frames of this selection are removed on the camcorder, as sometimes I just did not have time to get the camera.

It is necessary to add that five years ago in this area finished building the road to the border with Kenia. The life of the tribe began to change dramatically. Perhaps we were the last, who else caught the life of Surma in her old condition.

We invite everyone who wants to join the album mercy «Dialogue with peace» about the amazing places of our planet.