The Secret Language of Mundari

Photographer Sandra Ballesteros Moffa

Shortly before dawn, the sound of the drums reaches our camp. The men rouse their animals preparing them for the great passage. The grass is growing scarce and they must move to another of the numerous islands dotting the rushing course of the White Nile. Suddenly one of the men jumps into the water, clapping his hands and producing insistently a loud call, summoning the cattle as if it were a secret language, cajoling them to forget their primal dread triggered by water . One by one the herds rush downstream, filling it with antlers shaken by the current. The show is majestic. South Sudan