Africa's Undiscovered Myths

Photographer Janis Miglavs in the Omo

This is a return trip for me to the Omo. I first went there in 2001, to study with six of the least-touched tribes in this remotest corner of Africa. As I interviewed the elders, shamans, chiefs and storytellers about their myths and archetypal personal dreams, I wondered if the seeds of their oral stories predated written history.

Amazingly, anthropologists tell me that I am the only person to ever record those oral stories. These are the stories that answer the big questions of life such as where the first person came from, is there life after death and is there a God? From the detailed interviews, I created photo illustrations to visualize the tribal myths and dreams. You can visit my web site to get a more complete picture about Africa’s Undiscovered Myths Project and my previous four Africa trips at www.jmiglavs.com.

On this return trip, I want to share the work I have done with the people of the Omo tribes and hear more stories. I want to talk again with the Konso elder whose advice to world leaders was: “We are all the same. We all have five fingers,” he said as he held up his hand. “Even if we have different religions.” I want to hear shaman Haska Galede tell me more about the personal god that each Karo and Hamar has.

My previous Africa trips have been solo. I wanted a total immersion into the life, culture and spiritual wisdom of these least-touched tribes. While that was very effective, there were lots of questions that didn’t get asked because I didn’t think of them until someone asked when I got home.

This time, besides traveling with my youngest son, Ryan, I want to interactively involve the entire world to share in these travel adventures and spiritual experiences. This is an open invitation for you to share your thoughts, perspectives and questions as my son Ryan and I travel to the Omo, searching for the roots of Modern Man, searching for what we humans have learned since the first tribes people left the Omo 150,000 years ago.

Janis Miglavs