Tribes of the Great Rift Valley

Tribes of the Great Rift Valley is a celebration of the traditional peoples who occupy the lands of the Great Rift Valley, from the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Eritrea, across the Ethiopian highlands, and down to the great lakes and plains of Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi. Here are the proud, majestic warriors of the Maasai and Samburu, the Mursi with their jutting lip-plates, the guinea-fowl-painted faces of the Karo, the bull jumpers of the Hamar, and the honey seekers of the forests, the Batwa, among many other tribes. These fascinating peoples of the Rift Valley are remarkably diverse, yet sadly, nearly all of these communities face extinction in the near future due to Western influence.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s glorious black-and-white photography accompanied by her thoughtful, engaging text, offers sweeping views of this magnificent and sometimes harsh landscape and its peoples. Thought-provoking and remarkable, Tribes of the Great Rift Valley is a time capsule, perhaps even the last record, of age-old traditions and a way of life that will almost certainly soon vanish from our planet.

Elizabeth L. Gilbert moved to Africa in 1991 to work as a photojournalist. Her images of conflicts and cultural issues in Somalia, Rwanda, and other East African countries have appeared in Time, Newsweek, Life, and The New York Times, as well as numerous major European publications. She is the author of Broken Spears: A Maasai Journey.