Vietnamese man lives with mysterious tribe, women wear plates on their lips

This is one of the rare tribes that still maintains a wild lifestyle and is separate from the modern world.

Their emotions are quite erratic - sometimes they are very open and friendly with tourists but sometimes they become aggressive and unwelcoming to strangers.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the Mursi tribe relied heavily on tourists. A woman in the village said she could earn about VND500,000 ($22) a day from tourists.

But since Covid-19, they have no more visitors. Therefore, they are forced to find ways to survive the same way their ancestors did, which is farming and hunting.

Nowadays, they grow a lot of food crops to have a stable food source, especially buttercups. They also limit hunting, instead they raise cattle to have a source of meat to supply to households.

The Mursi are nomadic people, changing their residence every seven years. Their dwellings are round huts made of wood and covered with dry leaves. The entrances to their houses are very small, and you have to bend down to enter.

Mr. Giap visited the most crowded and friendly village of the Mursi tribe on the day when the men went to herd cattle and the women were busy tending crops, so there were not many people left in the village.

Sorghum is a common crop of the Mursi people. After tasting this dish, Mr. Giap commented that it was quite easy to eat. In addition to sorghum, they also eat naturally grown green vegetables by simply boiling them.

Whenever the men of the village hunted an animal, the whole village would eat meat. To cook the food, the Mursi used wooden sticks to make fire, just like primitive people.

Although there has been progress in animal husbandry and farming, the daily food supply does not provide enough nutrition for them. Therefore, men who herd cattle often supplement their nutrition by drinking cow's blood and milk.

They use a bow-like tool, stand very close to the cow and shoot at the right spot to get the blood. The blood will flow out and only leave a small mark on the neck. After that, the cow can still live a healthy life.

The blood is drunk raw immediately afterwards. A man, after drinking the blood, will wipe his mouth with cow dung and smear it on his face to thank the gods for giving him food.

Men who herd cows often travel 10-15 days before returning to the village because the herding location is usually about 10km from the village.

One special thing is that the people of this village do not eat fish because they believe that fish is only for the poor, for other poorer villages. They are the most populous and prosperous village among the Mursi villages.

While the men went out to herd cattle and hunt, the women stayed home to grow crops, cook, and do all the other work.

The women here have a very special type of jewelry, very large earrings. From a young age, the woman's earlobes are cut to fit these earrings.

Similar to their ears, their lower lips were also cut out to accommodate circular plates. Over time, their lip rings grew larger due to the weight of the plates. Some older women even had their lips and earlobes severed.

Lip cutting and jewelry are considered to be purely cosmetic in their opinion, so they are not required. That is why most young girls of the tribe today no longer do so.

Another interesting piece of information that the guide provided to Mr. Giap was that in order to get a wife, men here have to go through a fight with sticks.

Whoever wins gets to choose the woman he wants to marry. This war has left many young men injured and even killed.

To marry the girl, the man also had to prepare a gift of 42 cows - a very expensive gift compared to other villages.

Although the Mursi people's lives are still wild and primitive, about once a week they go to the market in Jinka town, 70km away, to buy vegetables, salt, wine, etc. for their daily needs.

After a day of work, the Mursi people sit around the fire chatting, children dance and sing. Their life goes on like that every day, carefree.