A long time ago I saw a documentary about Leni Riefenstahl. In the 1930s she was a prominent cinematographer with potentially a glittering career ahead of her. WW2 erupted and Hitler coopted her to be his cinematographer and she made a number of propaganda films for him. Viewing them now in grainy black and white one can ee she is a master of her craft. Post WW2 she maintained that she was forced into making these films but her career as a movie maker was over. In her sixties she flew over and lived with the Nuba in South Sudan. Her eponymous book published in 1972 I have at home and is a remarkable photo essay of these proud, statuesque noble people. It is a glimpse of this that I am here to see. Interestingly this amazing woman took up SCUBA diving when she was 90 years of age and lived to the age of 101 as a vigorous active amazing lady.
The Mundari are a seminomadic pastoralist tribe. The actual drive to them only takes 40 minutes from Juba which is visible on the horizon from their camp. These people have a rich culture based upon their cattle herds. They take the animals out to graze during the day returning at night to tie them up securely to pegs laid out on ground. The setting sun provides the backdrop for the securing of hundreds of lowing cattle each of them tenderly managed including a dusting of ash to ward off insects. There is an intimacy, almost mysticism about being here to watch this.
We camp overnight with the Mundari. The morning is a flurry of activity. Obviously they milk the cows but That’s not all. They do not kill the cows at all so don’t use milk and hides unless they die of natural causes. They do, though, use the dung drying and burning that for ash to decorate themselves and also repel insects. They also use their urine in the morning supposedly as antiseptic and to moisturise skin but the end result is literally a “golden shower”. It does not stop there if a crow’s milk is declining they employ a technique of blowing into the vagina of the cow which apparently stimulates milk production.
