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Mursi Children

The Mursi and other tribes of the region often paint their bodies with a paste made from limestone. The main purpose of the paint is to act as an insecticide, but it also become a means of artistic expression as lines and dots and patterns are often drawn on the body.

 

The Mursi also often adorn themselves with plants - fruits, leaves, branches, etc. The child on the left wears the fruit a plant from the Solanum family (the same family which brings us tomatoes and deadly nightshade). I am unable to determine which species of Solanum this is - perhaps Solanum aculeastrum.

 

Mago National Park, Omo Valley, Ethiopia

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Uploaded on April 16, 2012