Steve Axford

Photographer and Sony ambassador. Regularly presents on the science and beauty of fungi.

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  2. The world and the people in it
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Africa

These photos were taken in Rwanda, Tanzania and DR Congo. The Massai in Tanzania were very difficult to photograph, but the rest were quite easy. There are some very handsome people in central and East Africa.
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  • Massai mother and child. The Masai are one of the most difficult people to photograph that I have come across. First, they really don't like their photos being taken so the are very wary of camera. Second, they want money if you do take their photos and the usually want it up front. This means that almost all Masai photos are at least partly posed. As a nomadic herding people they don't have much to do if the rains are good (which they were for my visit) so the women will often just stand around waiting for tourists to fleece for photos. In spite of this they are well worth the effort as they are a very photogenic people and even the posed photos manage to show them well.
  • Rwandan farm worker
  • Massai beauty
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  • The Chookoodoo. This is a unique form of transport only found around Goma in the Eastern Congo. It has no power so it can only go downhill, but it can carry up to 400kg. The villages around Goma are all uphill from the city, so the villages can load fresh produce onto the Chookoodoos and ride downhill to the market. They can then be piled on the back of a truck to take back up the hill in the afternoon. They can be difficult to stop at times.
  • The Chookoodoo crash. These are great in a straight line, but they only have foot powered brakes, dodgy stearing and they carry a lot of weight. Crashes must be quite common.
  • Massai boy
  • Family life on the Goma lava flow. <br /> <br /> Goma is a city of around one million inhabitants situated on Lake Kivu in the Eastern Congo (DR Congo that is). It is just over the border from Rwanda and was home to millions of refugees during the Rwandan Genocide first the Tutsi, then the Huti. Revenge killings continued in Goma after the war in Rwanda had ended. When things really couldn't ghet any worse, the nearby volcano, Nyiragongo, erupted spewing out a stream of lava that flowed straight down the main street of the city. Fortunately, it was extremely fluid lava and it made a right turn a a T intersection and flowed out of the town again. Worse than the lava was the 50,000 tonnes/day of SO2 plus flourine gas that came out of the volcano. This destroyed almost all the crops in the area and so caused famine to go on top of war.<br /> <br /> This is a photo of a family who live on the lava flow. They live in the burnt-out wreck of a van. It is a posed photo as they threw rocks at us to start with (in plentiful supply on a lava flow) and only calmed down when I gave them $5. They seemed to think that it was rude just walking into their home and taking photos, though another woman said it was really her land and she would throw them out and rebuild as soon as she could figure out what to do with the lava.<br /> <br /> Nyiragongo is quieter now, though it has a permanent lava lake and it is liable to erupt at any time. There is also another, even larger volcano call Nyamuragira (bet you can't pronounce it) which is a little further away but capable of even bigger eruptions than Nyiragongo. Lak Kivu is also a danger as it has a dense layer of CO2 rich water at the bottom of the lake caused by volcanic activity. If this layer should be disturbed (eg by lava flowing into the lake), it could release the CO2 in a massive bubble which would kill all life within many kilometres of the lake. Goma is not in a good location for long term survival, but it has rich soil and people will always live there.
  • Protection
  • Tailor
  • Massai girl
  • Love that hat
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  • Massai warrior
  • Negotiating a price
  • Massai man
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