TITLE: A little Dassanech

One of the tribes of the Omo River Valley is the Dassanech, whose members are part of the colorful mosaic of peoples and ethnicities of this unique region. Crossing the river in a fig wood boat, you arrive at a village where women with colorful necklaces covering their exposed breasts greet you. It starts to rain and the older girls dance to celebrate the rain. The beads on their necklaces make rhythmic sounds, but the children's attention is fixed on us. Children, excited by the visit of strangers, grab our hands, hug us as far as they can reach and look curiously into the viewfinder of the camera. While the celebration of rain is a common part of their lives since birth, the arrival of strangers is an exceptional event, for many the first such event in their lives. It is a question of how long it will be a rarity for tourists to visit with a camera around their necks and when the time will come when these children will consider Western civilization as a normal part of their lives.

AUTHOR: Tomas Vanourek (Czech Republic)

I studied economics to start an ordinary career, but instead, almost five years ago I decided to follow footsteps of two iconic Czechoslovakian explorers Jiri Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund. In 2018 I travelled along the route of their Asian expedition. In 2021 I have been exploring places which they visited in Africa, and in 2022 I will go to Americas to complete the final leg of their journey. Zikmund and Hanzelka are hugely inspiring figures. They travelled through Africa in 1947-8 in a legendary vehicle Tatra 87, a production car from Czechoslovakia. Their journey was widely followed, including by National Geographic which even brought a picture from their overnight stay on the top of Pyramid of Khafre on its front page. Mr Zikmund, who sadly passed away in December 2021, was personally involved in planning our Expedition Z101. Zikmund and Hanzelka’s journey stands at the heart of Expedice Z101. I travel in a car, just as they did, and follow their footsteps wherever possible. I re-create their photos to capture transformation of Africa’s most iconic places since their visit. But my goal is not only to repeat what Zikmund and Hanzelka did, but also to grasp the atmosphere and dynamics of contemporary African countries. That sometimes means travelling to new locations and visiting local events, which may have not existed in mid-20th century.