The civil war, mentioned earlier, negatively impacted these tribes further by pushing rival groups into closer proximity and raising tensions across the board. During the dry season, cattle are moved south and this is often the flash point for raids and gun battles. Hundreds have been killed in these attacks but the government turns a blind eye, justice is nowhere to be seen. It’s as if the government would like them to wipe each other out to save them the headache.

The traditional method of settling inter-tribe disputes is stick fighting, otherwise known as the Donga or Saginay. These fights are essential for winning a bride and they’re certainly not for the faint-hearted. The men often fight naked and the presence of a referee is required to ensure no foul play.

The best time for these fights is just after the rains and rival villages meet on mass to pit themselves against each other.

There is real danger involved in these battles, they are using massive wooden sticks after all, most fights only last a couple of blows. Surma occasionally die from hits to the stomach; in these cases the man who’s done the killing must give a female relative to the family of the deceased as repayment. Nowadays, because of the size of the crowds and the prevalence of young Suri with guns, these volatile meetings often end in bloodshed.

The most striking feature of the Suri is of course the lip plate, called a sigaro. When the girls are young they have their bottom teeth removed and their bottom lip pierced and stretched, over time, by the clay plate. The largest plates can be up to 16 inches in diameter, and the larger the plate, the more eligible the woman for marriage and the more cows she is worth. Where this strange practice came from is unknown, but one theory is that it was started to put off would-be slave owners from taking them away.

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