Mundari Culture

This images are a part of a photographic reportage about the small ethnic group of Mundari. The Mundari are cattle herders of South Sudan, the world's youngest country, who dedicate their lives to the care of their Ankole Watusi cattle, characterized by their large horns. They live in symbiosis with their cattle and nothing is more important for them than their bovines. In a cattle camp, everyone plays their role. Kids are doing most of the daily work collecting the fresh cow dung and putting it into piles which are then set on fire to repel the (extremely) numerous and voracious mosquitoes of the area. The men lead the cows into the fields during the day. The cattle disperse from the banks of the White Nile river into the long grasses of the alluvial floodplain and they return at dusk instinctively before the sunset, when the dust lift by the herd and the smoke of the fires intermingle to create an evocative atmosphere. Men are used to squat under streams of cow urine, which they see as a natural antiseptic to fight infection to largely keep themselves clean. The act also tinges their hair orange. Mundari use the ash created by the fires to rub on themselves and their cattle, creating a protection against mosquitoes. Mundari massage their bovines twice a day. The children with few guardinas are sleeping with the cows. The ash from dung fires, as fine as talcum powder, is often used as bedding.