"I really truly do have a feeling of dread about this." "I'm not at all confident." "And..." "I've got the butterflies." "My African adventure has taken me to the Hamar and a way of life ruled by ritual." "I came hoping to see a ceremony where young men prove themselves in a display of strength and agility by jumping over a line of cattle." "But I'm not just watching this ritual - I'm about to go through it myself." "I don't fancy my odds really." "And it's all going..." "It's all happening." "I'm on a three-month expedition travelling down the Omo Valley in the far south of Ethiopia." "I'm passing through one of the most ethnically-diverse parts of Africa." "A land of nomads, warriors and hunters whose traditions have been little changed by the outside world." "I want to find out what life is like in such an amazing place." "I believe the best way to do this is to live with the people I meet." "To experience their culture first-hand." "To become, for a short while, one of the tribe." "I'm crossing the River Omo." "Right here now is the dividing line between two tribal territories." "When my guide Zablon and I reach the other side, we'll be in the land of the Hamar - a people famous for their rituals, which we've come here to see." "This lush landscape is a dramatic change from where I've just been." "The Omo Valley is extraordinary." "I'm only 30 miles from the last tribe I was with, but I'm entering a different world." "I spent the last months on the plains on the western side of the valley, a dry, desolate land." "But Hamar country is in the hills, where the rich soil gets much more rain." "I've come here at a special time, just after the harvest when young men come of age by jumping over a line of cattle." "After half a day's walk, I meet Gello, an educated Hamar man who speaks English." "He says there's a cattle jump this afternoon in a nearby village and offers to take me there." "In a wood, a mile or so from the village, we find some men painting their faces with clay and ochre." "The ritual is about to begin." "I've heard a lot about the Hamar and their extraordinary ceremonies, but nothing could prepare me for what happens next." "For nearly half an hour, the women are whipped by the men, leaving deep wounds on their backs." "I don't know what to make of that at all." "Um..." "I'm not here to judge other cultures but from the perspective of where I come from - my culture... it'd take a lot of persuading for me to think there's good in that." "It doesn't look as if the women are being forced to do this." "It's like they want to be whipped." "It's one of the men who eventually stops the whipping." "Everyone heads off towards the village." "The second stage of the ceremony is about to begin." "The women start to circle some cattle, singing and dancing as if in a trance." "One young guy stands out from the crowd." "Zablon tells me that this is his ceremony." "He is going to jump over the cattle and the women were whipped for him." "I really want to know more about the whipping side of things." "The girls are in great party spirits." "They're all smiling and happy... but they must be in pain." "The men who did the whipping, known as Maza, take charge, lining up some cattle." "Rather them than me in there at the moment!" "There's plenty of action to keep the crowd entertained." "Ooh-ee!" "Jesus." "That's one bull's got away." "That was a bit of a rodeo!" "With a man at each end, the cows are held in place." "The young man takes his first run-up." "Yes." "Yes!" "The women take him aside and bless him." "As everyone else heads off to party, the Maza disappear." "Zablon says they live apart from the rest of the tribe, only appearing to take part in ceremonies." "They'll dance till the early hours, so I leave them to it and go off to make camp nearby." "I'm in a place called Argude - a community of a few thousand people spread out along a ridge in the Bashada area of Hamar land." "It doesn't have a village centre as such." "Instead families live in scattered collections of huts" "I really want to get my head round everything that happened yesterday, but before I do anything, I must ask the chief permission to stay here." "Can you just say to the chief, first of all, that I hope our presence here isn't an imposition on him and his villagers." "The chief tells his son, Jamu, to look after me." "He says I can spend my first few nights in his hut." " So Iki will sleep up here?" " Iki." "Jamu tells me one of his cousins will be jumping the cattle in a few weeks." "I ask if I can meet him." "It would be great to follow one of these ceremonies through all its stages." "It's my first night in the hut and I've just got the flip-screen out on my camera which is a favourite trick of mine to just kind of break the ice." "These guys are loving it." "It's extra interesting in here because it's actually almost pitch-black." "There's a little bit of the fire but this is like an infra-red camera, so I'm showing them now their faces." "If I was to look away from the viewfinder I wouldn't be able to see them at all." "So it's double magic this evening." "It's good." "I've just been given my apparatus for sleeping on." "It's one of these toadstool-shaped seats and I've got to use it as a head-rest." "I don't..." "Feather pillows was what I grew up on." "But this bit of wood, which is quite stiff, is apparently how I'm going to spend the night." "Not too sure if it's going to work or not." "I haven't got anything else, so... we'll see." "The next morning I meet Jamu's cousin who's going to jump the cattle." "Suri has had his forehead shaved to show he's ready for the initiation." "Everything's been organised by his father, Gofa." "They're starting to give out invitations and I'm honoured to be given one." "So what does it mean?" "So each one of these knots is a day..." "When they've gone that's the day you're jumping." "The knots tell me there's about two weeks till his ceremony." "I'll keep this." "That's really kind." "Tell me one thing I want to know." "I've seen once now the bull jump and the walking across the cattle." "How is it you train for that?" "It looks difficult." "Do you have any practice?" "He's practising only on one ox." "The next time you do that, can I come and see you train?" "Yeah?" "Fantastic." "That's a deal." "I'll come and watch you." "Definitely." "Maybe you can teach me as well." "I'm only small, but I'll try." "Suri introduces me to his sisters." "With hair coated in butter and ochre and in all their jewellery, they look amazing." "They'll all be whipped during Suri's ceremony and they're looking forward to it." "If I can get to know these women" "I might start to understand why they're happy to go through such an extraordinary ordeal." "Some tribes in the Omo Valley are starved of rain, but these hills are generally one of the wetter areas." "The Hamar are successful farmers as well as herders." "They've recently had a good harvest of their staple crop, sorghum." "Back in Jamu's hut, his mother is grinding some." "The Hamar use this to make beer for their ceremonies." "Now, you must teach me." "So it's just..." "Men don't usually do women's work but she lets me have a go." "I think I've taken three times as long as she would have done." "But, in many ways, in this culture..." "I'm especially going to try and suss out... a female perspective on what goes on." "Especially this whipping thing that's got me intrigued." "So as much as possible I'm going to try and become one of the girls." "If they'll let me." "If that's any way acceptable or feasible." "I'm going to make that my aim, I think." "Everyone's in watching..." "Today, Jamu's cousin, Suri, is going to show me how to jump the cattle." "Hi, guys." "But first I'm kitted out in a Hamar wrap and belt." "Now he looks like a Hamar." "We line up a couple of cows for Suri to jump over." "We got it tight." "Hooray!" "That is good." "So he doesn't use his hands?" "God, that is quite a big leap." "Don't worry, mister." "Don't worry." "I can't believe they're going to make me do this." "Suri's father, Gofa, looks on with the rest of the family." "This one's a little bit easier." " One more?" " Yeah." "The bull looked huge." "I thought, how is little Brucey going to get on that?" "It's not the steadiest of platforms." "Yeah." "It's er..." "Gets the old ticker going." "It's a proper event, no doubt." "After the practice," "Suri says I can jump the cattle during his actual ceremony." "I thought this would be off-limits but he seems fine about it." "Gofa warns that it's one thing to have a go with two cows, but quite another to do it for real." "Even so, it's quite..." "Though Suri and his father are happy for me to jump the cattle," "I need to get permission from one very important person." "Is there a respectful name I can give her?" "Suri's grandmother, Hailo, has been head of the family ever since her husband passed away." "Hamar women marry young and often survive their husbands, so many households are headed by old ladies like Hailo." "She has spiritual as well as practical responsibilities." "Performing rituals like this naming ceremony - welcoming another grandchild into the family." "Hailo has real power." "If she refuses to take part in the ritual, the baby will be cursed." "When the ceremony is over," "I ask her if I can jump the cattle with Suri." "I ask her how she feels about girls being whipped before the cattle jump." "The next day, I have breakfast at the home of one of Suri's aunts." "I'm getting to know more of his extended family." "This morning we've got a beautiful... like a bread, which is really nice." "With some sour milk, which just goes down a treat." "And then a bit of coffee to finish off." "It's actually a very, very nice breakfast." "Everyone is getting ready for Suri's cattle jump in just over a week's time." "His sisters are practising the songs they'll sing." "Duba is his eldest sister, so she'll be leading the singing and she'll be first in line for the whip." "What are you looking forward to?" "What is special about the day for you?" "Really?" "For you this is the most important thing?" "When it happens, is it painful?" " She says it's not painful." " It's not too painful?" "I don't know if you're telling the truth." "I think it's really painful." "It looks painful." "What do you think of anyone..." "that does not want to be whipped?" "Jamu takes me to another cattle jump just a few miles away." "We arrive after the whipping but in time for the main event." "Jamu hasn't had his own ceremony yet." "I ask him why every young man has to jump the cattle." "So this is more than a coming-of-age." "After he's jumped the cattle, a man can marry and have livestock of his own." "The Maza are here to line up the cattle." "Phew." "Now this man can get married." "But before he does, he'll spend a few months as one of the Maza." "These men have all recently jumped the cattle." "They've left their families and spend their time moving from ceremony to ceremony." "Word has spread about me jumping the cattle with Suri." "Though it's a sacred ritual, no one has a problem with me wanting to do it." "They seem excited that an outsider wants to give it a go." "There's a lot of giggles and, of course, I'm totally out of place but it's friendly now and I've been here a while and I'm getting more and more people wanting to shake my hand..." "I've just got to get over it." "I look like a prize prune but don't I always?" "Jamu tells me that cattle jumps like this bring young men and women together from all over the ridge." "As you might expect, there's a lot more than dancing going on." "This dancing is an unadulterated flirt." "They're in there and they're getting down to it." "What would I do?" "It's the wrong place for me to get stuck in." "A couple of people have said, "Come and dance"" "but I'm just going to leave them to it." "It's not for me, unfortunately." "The next morning I head off with half the village to a market town a few hours' walk away." "These are the first half-decent roads I've seen in the Omo Valley." "Change is coming here, and fast." "I wonder how this is affecting Hamar culture." "Duba and Suri's other sisters are going to sell the family's spare sorghum and buy some things for the ceremony at the end of the week." "Kyra, one of Suri's younger sisters, knows a boy who lives in the town." "Does he think differently of Hamar culture now that he has mixed with other people?" "Kyra tells me some young people in town go to school and a few are questioning their traditions." "Dimeka is a small town of a few thousand people, but it has shops, a health clinic and a police station." "This side of the Omo Valley is much more developed than where I was last month." "But I'm not the only outsider in town." "In recent years there's been a steady flow of affluent and intrepid tourists who, like me, have been drawn here by this fascinating culture." "Duba is buying some ochre to colour her hair for Suri's ceremony." "As well as selling local produce, the town is a gateway for goods from the outside world." "The sisters are buying arak - strong alcohol which will be given out during the ceremony." "There's not only new things here, there are new ideas too." "Keri was brought up in a nearby village and had a traditional childhood, but now she's one of the few Hamar girls who's been to school." "I wonder what Kyra thinks of girls like Keri." "No one seems to know when ritual whipping started or why, but one thing seems to be clear - if you refuse to be whipped you're not a Hamar woman." "The Hamar make the most of their lush landscape." "Every man has a few beehives which he stashes high up in acacia trees." "For the past few days," "Suri's father, Gofa, has been out collecting all of his honey." "Wow!" "That's good." "That really, really is... amazingly nice." "I can honestly say..." "I really think this is the nicest honey I've ever had." "So smooth." "Suri's cattle jump is only a few days away." "The family has made a special shelter for the big day and the Maza come to bless it." "This may only be a warm-up ceremony but they're armed with bundles of whips." "Hailo, Suri's grandmother, arrives to preside over the blessing." "I didn't realise that on this occasion when they come in to bless this area that there was going to be whipping as well." "The Maza are given coffee while the girls provoke them." "Though they'll be whipped again on the day of Suri's jump, the sisters are eager to get their first scars today." "I don't recognise Kyra." "It's like she's in a trance." "Anthropologists suggest whipping is not only about showing you're tough." "Being scarred strengthens a woman's bond with her male relatives." "Suri is about to leave home and get his own livestock but he'll help Kyra if she falls on hard times because she was whipped for him and she has the marks to prove it." "Being scarred today is insurance for her future." "The Maza will spend the night under the shelter and I ask if I can join them." "I've finally got a chance to speak to these mysterious men." "I've been kind of stood off to one side for most of the evening... but now, finally, I'm sat with them and we're having a chat." "It's just the lads and me so, hopefully, I'm going to really... ask some probing questions and get to know these guys a bit better." "At least that's the aim." "The first thing I want to know is, do women ever whip men?" "So the sister..." "So there's kind of a contract between sister and brother." "If she's going to get whipped for you, you'd better not fall when you jump the cattle." "If you do, she'll punish you." "...and then she's angry and she whips him." "I asked them why they have these rituals." "So nobody knows at the beginning..." "It is descended from past times to now and then we are unified with this bull jumping - the Hamar people." "But the Nyangatom... the Nyangatom or the Bume do not jump." "The Mursi cannot jump." "So we are united with our culture." "Though nobody knows its origin, only the Hamar cattle jump." "The tribes of the Omo Valley define themselves by their rituals and customs." "Some wear lip-plates, others scar their bodies." "The Hamar jump cattle." "It's now two days till Suri's ceremony." "At his hut, preparations are in full swing." "His sisters are busy making beer." "Fermented sorghum is made into balls and steamed." "Dumpling stew in there." "There's millions." "It's up to here with those balls." "Honey and water will be added later." "Kyra, do you like the beer?" "Do you ever fall over?" "It can't be that good." "And in the morning, do you have a bad head?" "In the morning, do you have a headache?" "We need to get the recipe." "A beer that gets you drunk but you don't have a headache in the morning." "Inside the hut, even more sorghum is being ground to make beer." "I asked Suri's mum why the drink is so important." "It's been such a good harvest," "Suri's family has 26 pots of sorghum." "All will be made into beer for their guests." "Suri's cattle jump will be followed by one hell of a party." "All the fun of a flip-out screen." "I'm now spending most of my nights in a hut with Kyra, Duba and the rest of Suri's immediate family." "Though most of the beer will be kept back for the party, we're given some with our evening meal." " Is it good?" " Yeah." "It's like sludge at the bottom." "It's very thick." "Oh, no." "Ooh..." "It's very bitter." "There's lots of bits." "Sour..." "It dries the back of your throat." "An acquired taste." "Oh, it's like paint-stripper." "Wonderful." "Thank you." "The girls and I get up at dawn to get milk for tomorrow's ceremony." "Kyra shows me a novel way of getting an early morning drink." "Bloody hell, Kyra." "What are you doing to me?" "Check that out." "Can I have a go?" "Kyra, thank you." "Oh, my Lord..." "That was slightly different." "The other girls have been off getting milk from the rest of the family herd." "But a special ceremony demands a special drink." "There's something else to add to the mix." "I've seen a single cow being bled before but never a production line like this." "The blood is stirred and the clots removed before it's added to the milk." "One girl mixes the clotted blood with butter and roasts it up for breakfast." "It tastes pretty good." "Salty..." "The butter's obviously not salted." "It tastes quite salty." "The blood." "Buttery and a bit chewy." "But, yeah... it's all right." "A delicacy." "Would you have known it?" "I just made a big mistake then." "It tastes fine." "Trying to swallow it is a very different thing." "I tried to swallow it and some of it got down here and the rest was still in my mouth!" "I had to bring it all back up again." "It's an all-or-nothing swallow." "It's just so stringy - a big bit of chewing gum going down your throat." "It's kind of put me off a bit." "Gone." "At sunset, all the family descend on Suri's hut." "There's a great atmosphere as we get in the mood for tomorrow's ceremony." "Everyone's going to stay here tonight." "It's going to be really fun." "Hi." "And, er..." "We've just had some beer which was an offering before we could come into the household." "Tomorrow is the big day and it's really ramping up already." "I'm beginning to feel accepted by the rest of Suri's extended family." "They've started calling me Okuli - "the one who will jump the cattle"." "I'm not being teased, there's no bickering." "None of the stuff that sometimes I get." "It's just a wholesome, healthy acceptance that I'm part of the gang." "And it's such a special day." "It's a real, real honour." "I just hope I can do my family proud tomorrow... and succeed in the bull jump." "That's my one wish." "I've got to get it right." "Suri's best friend is sorting his hair." "This shows he is ready to jump the cattle." "This is the infamous hairstyle of the... the kulei." "When he jumps it's going to be right out here." "Fantastic." "Suri's sisters have been joined by all their female relatives." "They've been drinking beer since daybreak." "Hailo, Suri's grandmother, has come to keep an eye on things." "The Maza appear on the ridge." "The first stage of the ceremony is about to begin." "Five or six girls around every Maza, trying to persuade them that they want to be the one whipped first to prove their love for Suri and all the other complicated issues that go along with this." "I've got to know Kyra and the other girls over the past few weeks." "They're strong, confident young women." "There's nothing submissive about them." "I know now there's so much more to the whipping, but I still find it really hard to watch." "Though they want to be beaten, it's obviously painful." "As Suri's eldest sister, Duba has been whipped more than most." "The Ethiopian government frowns upon ritualised whipping." "I heard there was a cattle jump recently where no women were whipped." "I wonder just how long this tradition will last." "Relatives continue to arrive from far and wide." "Gofa's busy looking after everyone." "They're not just here to drink beer." "They've come to watch Suri, and me, jump the cattle." "My biggest fear of all is not messing up Suri's day." "It's very unusual for somebody else to do this with him and although he's pleased for me to do it and it's on his request, still, I can't let myself take over his big day." "The mile to the cattle jump arena is one of the longest I've ever walked." "I really truly do have a feeling of dread about this." "I'm not at all confident." "I've got the butterflies." "Kyra, Duba and the others round up the cattle, smearing dung on them to make it more slippery." "I'm told there are certain rituals I must go through before I am ready to jump the cattle." "Bands made from tree bark are tied around me in the shape of a cross." "This is a symbol of power, which will protect me from bad things I've done in the past." "Then I rub myself with sand to wash away the sins of my youth." "Next, cow dung is smeared onto my body to give me strength." "And some cow dung." "And I've seen this symbolism in Hamar culture a lot now." "This cross that goes across the front and around the back." "And today..." "I've done it symbolically with sand, these vines and now with cow dung... and I'm just about to do my jump." "Suri and I take off our shawls." "The Hamar say we must be naked as if we're dead." "We've died as children and are about to be reborn as men." "Gofa has given Suri two calves." "These represent the livestock he'll get when he becomes an independent man." "The moment Suri follows them through the gate, he's left his father's home." "We run off into the bush and must stay out of sight until the cattle are herded together." "When the cattle are ready, we return and walk among them." "We pat the cows with closed fists, apparently to calm them down, but with all this noise I don't think it'll do much good." "Mayhem." "I've already picked three thorns out of my feet." "I don't fancy my odds really." "And it's all going..." "It's all happening." "The Maza line up only cows and castrated males." "These represent the women and children of the tribe." "We must pass over them to become men." "One down." "It's me." "I'm up." "Suri's been whisked away." "I wanted to wish him well, but I can't." "On my second run, I step on a thorn which puts me off my stride." "Chaos, but a crowd-pleaser nonetheless." "I had to have a stumble." "Thank God that is over." "How are you?" "Thank you, girls." "Thank you." "I needed your support." "Suri will now become a Maza." "In a few months, he'll be ready to marry." "I might give it a go." "In all the weeks I've been here, this is the first time I've felt accepted enough to dance." "The party will carry on for another day or two." "There's plenty more beer to be drunk and fun to be had." "But I've got to leave." "It's time to head south on the last stage of my journey." "It would be easy for me to condemn the whipping but I haven't been here long enough to understand everything about it." "Though I've come at a time of plenty, this can be an unpredictable land." "The Hamar have to pull together in times of need and these ceremonies help unite such a scattered community." "I'm going now." "Goodbye from both of us." "Jamu, my friend." "It's been really good getting to know you." "Change is on the horizon." "I wonder how long the whipping will go on." "But, for now, all these rituals give the Hamar a sense of identity that has helped their culture survive in this amazing corner of Africa." "Next time, I take to the water with the Dassanech tribe and go hunting for some of the largest crocodiles on earth." "To find out more about the series, log on to bbc." "Co." "Uk/tribe"