Painted Faces in the Omo Valley

Members of the Omo tribe Located in Africa’s Great Rift Valley, wear intricate face paint and headdress made of flower blossoms. This incredible set of pictures allows a glimpse into the lost world of the Omo tribes, who live peacefully and close to nature in one of the most far flung, yet beautiful parts of the world. The incredible photographs which capture the way of life for the 200,000 tribal people who call the lower Omo Valley home were taken by photographer Hans Silvester and have been published in a new book: ‘Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa’, published by Thames and Hudson. The tribes people's way of life is largely untainted by modern life, although the extent to which some of the bleaker elements of civilization are creeping into their world

A young boy plays with a wooden gun. Although the tribes' rustic lifestyles are far removed from modern towns and cities influences have crept in

The tribe members often fashion their beautiful headdresses out of flowers

Some of the tribes people decorate their faces and bodies with coloured clay as often as three times a day

This young child is shown with intricate face paint, a bright red flower in his mouth and strings of hand-strung beads

A woman with her face painted in white circles wears a crown of dried corn and a mouth plate

All photo credit to Hans Silvester

All photo can be found here