audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Cut off after 27 years of civil war and buffered to the south by the roadless wilderness of the Namib, nomadic tribes still wander Angola's remote south-western corner, driving their goats and cattle between waterholes as they have for centuries. Angola, more than three times the size of California, extends for more than 1,000 miles along the South Atlantic in southwest Africa. The various tribes and ethnic groups tend to cluster in certain areas of the country each with their own customs, language and history. There are over 90 different ethnic groups in Angola. With every step that a rapidly-developing, oil-rich Angola takes towards modernity, the long-held isolation of these 'lost' tribes' is in danger of eroding.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

July 24, 2016 - Kunene Region, Angola - A young Himba girl with a headdress. Hairstyles are an indication of age and social status among the Himba people. Himba women use a lot of different things, including animal hair and straw, to create their dreadlocks.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

July 24, 2016 - Kunene Region, Angola - The adult Himba women all have beaded anklets (Omohanga) which help them hide their money. The anklets also protect the legs from venomous animal bites.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

July 23, 2016 - Kaokoland, Angola - A woman from the Himba tribe, based in Kaokoland, in southern Angola.The Himba women's elaborate hairstyles take hours to create and include bits of woven hay, goat hair and even hair extensions. Himba women are fiercely proud of their traditional hairstyles and clothes.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

July 24, 2016 - Xangongo, Angola - Gigantic baobab tree at sunset near the town of Xangongo, Southern Angola.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

July 19, 2016 - Kunene Region, Angola - Mucubal Men dancing in the night around their campfire. Mucubal boys and men usually wear a simple loincloth, which they then accessorize with the traditional huge Omotungo knives. Marriages begin young, the wife-to-be is introduced to the husband during the Efico ceremony, when she's about 14-years-old, close to the time when she has her first period. Due to the young age of the bride, the couple will wait a few years before having sexual relations. Later, the husband will usually take several more wives.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

July 20, 2016 - Kunene Region, Angola - Mucubal woman (also called Mucubai, Mucabale, Mugubale). The Mucubal believe in a god called Huku, and also worship their ancestors' spirits called Oyo. Their nomadic lifestyle is based on cycles, between nomadism and staying in villages. Remarkably, couples do not speak to each other in public before they have had their first child, though this period rarely lasts for long.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

July 22, 2016 - Angola - Mucuis boys and girls dressed in leaf skirts. The Cuissis are subdivided into two groups according to their place of residence. The Cuissis of the seashore, with fixed permanence along the coast, and the Cuissis of the interior, established in the mountains. These groups are on the verge of extinction, due to the gradual disaggregation of their way of life, the hostility of the environment and the fact that they have created a certain fragility in relation to the other Bantu groups.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

July 23, 2016 - Kunene Region, Angola - A Himba woman with her donkey. Himba women are remarkably famous for covering themselves with otjize paste, a cosmetic mixture of butterfat and ochre pigment. These pastes cleanse the skin over long periods due to water scarcity and protect the wearer from the extremely hot and dry climate of the Kaokoland, as well as against mosquitos and other insect bites.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

November 26, 2013 - Kunene Region Angola - A Mucuroca (also called Curoca) woman with her young baby. This tribe was probably one of the first Bantu groups arriving in this desert area in the 18th century. Here they met the Mucuis and intermarried. This is why some Mucuis look Bantu, and others look more Khoisan.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

July 23, 2016 - Kunene Region, Angola - A Himba woman with her baby. After a year of marriage, or following the birth of their first child, Himba women add an elaborate animal skin headdress to their hairstyle.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

March 20, 2013 - Kunene Region, Angola - A Mwila girl (also called Mwela, Mumuhuila, or Muhuila). Mwila women, pictured left, are famous for their ornate hairstyles. To create them, they prepare a paste made from a red stone called Oncula. They then mix the paste with oil, butter, tree bark and herbs - some even use cow dung - before applying the concoction to their dreadlocks.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire

July 23, 2016 - Kunene Region, Angola - A Himba elder outside his home. Homes are made from a mixture of earth and cattle dung and contain little beyond a bed and collection of useful implements such as kitchen tools.
© Tariq Zaidiz/Reportage.com/ZUMA Wire