Mursi Tribe in Mago National Park

Gloves and i gave the Mursi tribe a miss in 2011 – we felt it was too much a human zoo. But this time i am prepared to give it a go. And i am very pleased i do.

There are only some 6,000 Mursi tribalists scattered through the park, and are most notable of tribes by the lip-plates worn by the women. Their lips are cut at puberty to fit in a small plate and are upgraded to larger ones as they get older and the skin stretches further. This will inevitably mean the removal of the front lower teeth to insert larger and larger plates. On the death of their husbands, the plate is removed completely and the lower lips return to something resembling a degree of normality. The plates are not worn all the time, leaving the women with what looks like a hang-dog grimace on their faces.

The men’s rite of passage is equally unpleasant with stick fighting using 2 metre poles and although they do not fight to the death, they are not far off.

Each year there is a “Fat” competition where the men try to pile on the pounds to choose a new wife. Allegedly, at the end of the period, there is a plant that is eaten whereby the fat can be removed within a period of less than a week. If only they could share their secret and market these potential weight reduction pills.

Their diet is the most monotonous of all the tribes – consisting of just sorghum porridge with cows’ blood for additional protein. Meat is only eaten during large celebrations.  

NGO’s have moved into the area, begging the Mursi to stop the mouth mutilations and their doctors have offered free restitching to repair lip damage. A proposed sugar plantation will employ Mursi tribalists, and their future looks very different from their current pastoral lives.

check out the tattoos

A guide is mandatory and you will have to pay for car entry into the park and entry to the village.