In pictures: Before They Away
- Published
The traditions and customs of the world’s few surviving indigenous tribes have been documented by the British photographer Jimmy Nelson. One of the featured tribes is the semi-nomadic Kazakhs of western Mongolia, seen here during the winter hunting season.
Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern part of one of the world's largest islands and is prone to volcanic activity, earthquakes and tidal waves. Linguistically, it is the world's most diverse country, with more than 700 native tongues. Many tribes, such as the Huli, Asaro and Kalam, featured by Nelson, live in the isolated mountainous interior and have little with one another or the outside world.
Chukotka, on the north-eastern tip of Russia, is staggeringly remote, bordering the Bering Strait and straddling the Arctic Circle, and is home to 68,000 citizens.
New Zealand is dominated by two cultural groups: New Zealanders of European descent and the minority Maori, whose Polynesian ancestors arrived on the islands around 1,000 years ago. The faces of men are marked from forehead to throat, creating a mask-like effect that enhanced the bone structure and confirmed the virility of the warrior.
The former Himalayan kingdom of Lo - now known as Upper Mustang - is a remote outpost largely insulated from the outside world. The region is one of the few places where traditional Tibetan culture has survived intact. Until 1992, it was closed to tourists altogether.
The figure of the gaucho is to Argentina what the cowboy is to America. They are the free spirits who roam the grasslands of the pampas, herd the cattle and owe allegiance to no-one.
Nomadic groups, living on the margins of society in the Horn of Africa, feel under pressure from an encroaching modern world and worry their traditional life is at risk. The Mursi, who are nomadic pastoralists in Ethiopia's South Omo zone, are one such group.
One of the most reclusive and fiercely traditional societies in India is the Rabari, who are now found largely in Gujarat and Rajastha and are believed to have migrated from Iran.
Vanuatu - a string of more than 80 islands once known as the New Hebrides - achieved independence from and Britain in 1980. Most of the islands are inhabited; some have active volcanoes. Land is very important to the indigenous ni-Vanuatus and a big part of their culture.
Nenets reindeer herders have lived in the Yamal peninsula in the Russian Arctic for more than 1,000 years. The herders are against development in the region because they are losing more of the pasture lands that feed the reindeer. Before They Away by Jimmy Nelson, is published by teNeues. www.teneues.com. All Photos: © Jimmy Nelson Pictures BV