Tribes of the Great Rift Valley

Large format hardcover, 272 pages, illustrated throughout, NOT ex-library. Weight over 2.2kg. Book is clean and bright throughout with unmarked text, free of inscriptions and stamps, firmly bound. Gentle external handling wear. Dust jacket shows light edgewear. -- This is a coffee-table photographic record of the traditional communities living along the Great Rift Valley, stretching from the Gulf of Aden to the plains of Tanzania and Malawi. Elizabeth L. Gilbert, a veteran photojournalist who spent over a decade in the region, uses black-and-white photography to document societies facing rapid transformation. The work serves as a visual time capsule of diverse ethnic groups and their specific customs, featuring the Maasai and Samburu warrior cultures alongside the Mursi, Karo, and Hamar tribes of Ethiopia. Gilbert's portraits focus on distinctive rites and adornments, such as the Karo's "guinea-fowl" body painting and the Hamar bull-jumping ceremonies, while also documenting the Batwa honey seekers of the forest. The photography combines intimate close-ups with broad views of the harsh Rift Valley terrain, emphasizing the scale of the landscape and the presence of its inhabitants.…